Ps 279 Capt Manuel Rivera Jr, Bronx NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 279 Capt Manuel Rivera Jr

PS 279 Captain Manuel Rivera Jr. sits on Walton Avenue in the Bronx, serving kindergartners through eighth graders in NYC Geographic District 10. The school is large for a K-8 building, and its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up most of the remainder. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this squarely in one of the more economically stressed corners of the city's school system. English learner counts and IEP rates were not reported in the data we reviewed, so parents with children in either category would want to ask the school directly about those services.

The academic picture is genuinely mixed, and the grade-by-grade breakdown tells the more useful story here. On the New York State Testing Program, math proficiency in the elementary grades is strong by any fair measure: the third-grade class cleared the state bar at a rate that places the school well above what most families would expect in a high-poverty Bronx setting, fourth grade is stronger still, and fifth grade is stronger yet, with a clear majority of students scoring proficient or above. ELA in those same elementary grades runs somewhat lower than math but still shows more than half of students reaching proficiency across third, fourth, and fifth grades, which is a solid result in context.

The middle school grades tell a different story. Sixth and seventh grade ELA proficiency drops into the low-to-mid forties, and while eighth grade recovers somewhat, it stays below what the elementary grades would lead you to expect. Math in sixth and seventh grade follows a similar dip before climbing back in eighth grade, where a majority of students again reach proficiency. Science is the weakest area: fifth-grade science proficiency is low, and eighth-grade science, while better, remains well below the school's math performance. Parents of students entering sixth grade may want to ask the school how it manages the elementary-to-middle transition academically, because the data suggests something shifts there.

Compared to other schools with available proficiency data among Bronx County's districts, PS 279 lands in the top quartile on the overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades. That is a meaningful position given how competitive and varied the Bronx school landscape is.

On the district side, a few changes are worth knowing. District 10 was part of the second phase of the citywide NYC Reads rollout, meaning elementary classrooms at PS 279 adopted a new phonics-based reading curriculum beginning in the 2024-25 school year, replacing the prior school-chosen approach. Whether that shift contributed to the elementary ELA results in the most recent data is an open question, but the change itself is structural and lasting. Separately, the city's middle school application rules changed for fall 2024 admissions, allowing fifth graders to apply to any middle school citywide, which in practice expands both the options families have and the competitive pressure on in-district schools to retain students.

The Walton Avenue neighborhood is dense, urban, and well-connected. The broader section of the Bronx around this address is walkable, transit-served, and built around apartment living rather than single-family homes. Housing costs in the zip code are above the statewide median and have risen in the past year, though rents remain more accessible than in Manhattan or much of Brooklyn. Montefiore Medical Center, a major regional employer, is nearby in the northern Bronx. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Zoo, and Van Cortlandt Park are all reachable without a car.

A graduation rate does not apply here because PS 279 does not serve high school grades. Program-level information, including details on extracurriculars, specialized offerings, or academic intervention programs, was not available in the data we reviewed. Families interested in what the school offers beyond core academics would need to check directly with the school or the district.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

New York Regents Exams

1 course reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Science	31	77.0%

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 46% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 45% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 41% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 34% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 42% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 38% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 43% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 44% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 47% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 39% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 4 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 31% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 33% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 556%

School 56% · district not reported

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · district not reported

▼ 59 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #10, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.