Paideia School 24, Yonkers NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Paideia School 24

Paideia School 24 is a public elementary and middle school in Yonkers serving prekindergarten through sixth grade. The school enrolls a modest population of students, with a student body that is primarily Hispanic and Black, and a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. About half the school lives above the federal poverty line by that measure; the other half does not.

In math, the school's results are mixed across grades. Fourth and sixth graders show solid proficiency, while third graders fall noticeably lower. Fifth grade lands in the middle. English language arts follows a similar shape: fourth and fifth graders reach just above half proficient, third grade sits near that mark, and sixth grade dips below. Science data, measured in fifth grade only, shows the school's weakest performance on record. A light snapshot from social studies in an earlier year showed high proficiency, though that test was discontinued in New York years ago.

What stands out in the state testing picture is the volatility by grade level. The school is not consistently strong or consistently weak; rather, certain cohorts of students test substantially higher than others. Some of this reflects normal year-to-year fluctuation in a small-to-moderate-sized school, and some may point to differences in instructional strength across grade levels or in how students enter the school with prior preparation. A parent may want to look into this further with the school: what accounts for the gap between, say, fourth-grade math and third-grade math? What is the school doing to support students in their lower-scoring grades, and what changes are being made?

The school's proficiency levels, when averaged across subjects and grades, place it below the midpoint among districts across Westchester County. This is not uncommon for schools serving high-poverty neighborhoods in the county, and it reflects real resource and support challenges. At the same time, the school is not an outlier within its own district or among comparable Yonkers schools.

The school sits in downtown Yonkers, a city in sustained waterfront revitalization. Yonkers is home to St. John's Riverside Hospital, Kawasaki Rail Car manufacturing, a new Lionsgate Studios complex, and the regional Metro-North/Amtrak hub. A new Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School, the district's first new building in over a generation, opened nearby in September 2024 as a dual-language Pre-K-8 facility, and a second new community school is planned for the former Mulford Gardens site. These investments signal the district's commitment to modernizing aging buildings and expanding capacity. Housing in the Yonkers ZIP code where the school sits has appreciated and rental costs have risen steadily; families may find the immediate neighborhood walkable and well-served by transit but increasingly expensive.

Paideia serves an economically stretched population in a district governed by mayoral control rather than an elected school board, a governance structure that has drawn state scrutiny. The district also closed Museum School 25, a small K-5 building, at the end of this school year due to low enrollment and costly repairs, displacing families into the choice process. For families considering Paideia, the school offers urban convenience and is part of a district making visible infrastructure investments, but the academic performance data suggests real work ahead in reading, math, and science instruction, particularly in the lower grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 53% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 43% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 45% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 49% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 46% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 50% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 45% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 35% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 590%

School 90% · district not reported

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

This schoolYONKERS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income67%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income75%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income75%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income45%Higher-income36%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income46%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income83%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income67%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income64%Higher-income60%4 pp gap