Paideia School 15, Yonkers NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Paideia School 15

Paideia School 15 is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Yonkers, located in an urban setting with mixed residential and commercial neighborhoods. The enrollment is a few hundred students drawn from a city that has been experiencing substantial recent growth and development, particularly downtown around its waterfront.

The student body reflects Yonkers' demographic makeup. About a third identify as White, and just under half as Hispanic. About one in six students are Black, a smaller proportion are Asian, and the rest identify with other groups. More than two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a substantial share come from households at or below poverty thresholds. Exact figures for students receiving special education services or learning English as a new language are not available in the school's reported data.

Academic performance shows a clear pattern. In grades 3 through 5, where the school has tested multiple subjects, proficiency in mathematics starts strong. By the middle grades, proficiency drops notably. In sixth-grade math, only about a quarter of students score at proficient levels. By eighth grade, fewer than three in ten students meet proficiency in math, and proficiency in English Language Arts sits at about four in ten. In science, the eighth-grade results are particularly low, with proficiency around one in eight. These declines across the tested grade band are steep. When measured against other districts in Westchester County, Paideia's overall proficiency index falls below the county midpoint.

The school participates fully in state testing, with participation rates ranging from the low to mid nineties across subjects and grades, suggesting students are being assessed rather than frequently absent or exempted.

Yonkers City School District is undergoing deliberate modernization. The Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School, a new dual-language facility, opened in the district in September of last year, the first new school building the district completed in over two decades. A second new Pre-K through 8 school is planned. These investments signal confidence in the district's future, though they also reflect the reality of aging infrastructure the system inherited. A parent might want to look into the district's specific supports for struggling readers and mathematicians in the middle grades, where proficiency gaps appear most acute, and what interventions or remediation the school offers.

The district operates under mayoral control rather than an elected school board, a governance structure that concentrates decision-making authority with the city's mayor rather than distributing it to voters through board elections. In early 2025, one school in the district, Museum School 25, was closed due to low enrollment and high repair costs, and families were required to select new placements. This illustrates how enrollment and capital constraints can affect school stability.

Yonkers itself is a dense city of several hundred thousand people in Westchester County, the third-largest city in New York State. It has experienced a sustained revitalization, centered on its downtown waterfront, with significant private investment, new residential construction, and infrastructure projects including a daylighted Saw Mill River riverwalk. A regional rail hub via Metro-North and Amtrak, vibrant neighborhoods, and major employers in health care, education, and entertainment all anchor the city. Housing costs have risen noticeably, reflecting development demand and regional appreciation, though the area remains substantially more affordable than many Westchester neighborhoods.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

2 courses 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	30	23.0%
Science	29	52.0%

Math

Grade 382%

School 82% · District 50% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 53% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 43% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 45% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 45% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 38% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 49% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 46% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 45% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 47% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 45% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 35% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 17% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 588%

School 88% · district not reported

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

Grade 853%

School 53% · district not reported

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 35 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-income53%Higher-income60%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income70%39 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income76%41 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income56%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income68%33 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income50%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income63%Higher-income92%29 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income85%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income78%44 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income16%Higher-income35%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income57%35 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income47%36 pp gap