Ps 3 Raul Julia Micro Society, Bronx NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 3 Raul Julia Micro Society

PS 3 Raul Julia Micro Society is a small public school serving pre-K through eighth grade in the Bronx. Located in the western part of the borough near the Harlem River, it sits in a dense urban neighborhood with steady affordable housing growth and strong transit connections.

The school serves a predominantly low-income student population, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrolled students are primarily Hispanic and Black, reflecting the neighborhood's composition.

On state assessments, the school shows uneven but meaningful performance. In English language arts, seventh and eighth graders score strongest, with about six in ten students meeting state proficiency standards. Reading performance in earlier elementary grades is lower, with about four in ten meeting standards in grade three and one in ten in grade four, then improving to about half in grade five. By sixth grade, the proficiency rate dips to roughly three in ten students. Math results follow a similar pattern: strong performance in grade seven (about seven in ten students proficient) contrasts sharply with very low proficiency in grades four and six (roughly one in five and one in seven, respectively), while grades three and five land around forty to forty-seven percent. Science assessments are limited to grades five and eight; fifth grade shows lower proficiency (around three in ten), while eighth grade is stronger at about six in ten. The school's overall proficiency index, averaging across tested grades and subjects, falls above the midpoint compared with other districts in Bronx County.

This unevenness across grade levels may reflect both real variation in classroom effectiveness and the composition and transitions of cohorts moving through the school. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to continuity and how it supports students as they advance to the upper grades, where performance tends to improve.

The school's name reflects its Micro Society model, a pedagogical approach that embeds economic and civic learning into the curriculum through student-run businesses and governance structures. The school is a regular public school, neither a charter nor magnet, so enrollment is zoned to this location. It feeds into District 10's middle and high school landscape, where the district's recent shift back to academic screening for selective admissions means that seventh-grade grades now matter in the pipeline to screened schools.

The Bronx as a whole is experiencing significant affordable housing development and is highly walkable, with substantial parkland and strong transit including subway and pending new Metro-North stations. The neighborhood immediately surrounding the school is working-class and residential, with a mix of apartment buildings and smaller commercial corridors. Housing values in the broader area are below the state benchmark, and rents are moderate, making this a neighborhood where many working families live.

The school is among a cohort of public schools in District 10, which recently undertook a district-wide shift to phonics-based reading curricula as part of the city's literacy mandate. This represents a change in how reading is taught at PS 3 and across all elementary schools in the district beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

With a mid-sized enrollment and a neighborhood setting in a borough undergoing active development, the school serves families seeking an accessible, neighborhood-based education with an integrated learning model. The pattern of stronger performance in the upper grades is worth understanding in depth before enrolling younger students.

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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
Math	24	88.0%

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 46% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 45% · ▼ 28 pts below district

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 41% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 34% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 771%

School 71% · District 42% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 38% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 43% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 44% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 47% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 39% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 43% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 45% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 33% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 577%

School 77% · district not reported

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · district not reported

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▲ 26 pts above 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.