Patricia a Dichiaro School, Yonkers NY

Original Research by School Decision on Patricia a Dichiaro School

Patricia A. DiChiaro School sits at the northern edge of Yonkers on Bronxville Road, a pre-K through eighth grade public school within the Yonkers City School District. It draws from a city that is simultaneously one of New York State's largest and most actively redeveloping, a place of waterfront towers and repurposed industrial buildings, Metro-North access, and neighborhoods that range from dense and urban to quieter residential pockets. DiChiaro sits closer to that quieter, northwestern character of the city, near the Bronxville border.

The school's academic results on the New York State Testing Program are a genuine strength. Across math, reading and language arts, and into the middle grades, proficiency rates are consistently well above where most families would set a threshold of concern. Math results are particularly strong, with the highest grades approaching or exceeding nine in ten students reaching proficiency. ELA proficiency holds up solidly across all grades tested, from third through eighth. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among districts in Westchester County, a county that includes some of the highest-performing schools in the state. That positioning is meaningful context. Fifth-grade science results are more modest, sitting in the upper half of a middling range, and eighth-grade science data was not reported. A parent wanting a fuller picture of the science program through the upper grades may want to ask the school directly.

The student body is mid-sized for its grade span, running from pre-K through eighth grade in fairly consistent cohorts at each grade level. The school's racial and ethnic composition is a mix of Hispanic, white, Black, and Asian students, with two-or-more-races students also represented. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a notably lower economic-need rate than Yonkers schools generally carry. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

On the housing side, the zip code around the school reflects some of the most expensive real estate in the Yonkers area. Home values are substantially above both the state and national medians, and rents have risen meaningfully year over year. For a family considering a move to be in DiChiaro's attendance zone, the housing market around this corner of Yonkers is genuinely competitive and expensive by regional standards.

At the district level, Yonkers is in an extended period of school infrastructure change. A new pre-K through eighth grade dual-language community school opened in September 2024, the first new school the district had built in decades, and a second new school was announced for a former housing site near Grant Park. These additions matter for enrollment stability and family choice going forward. At the same time, one low-enrollment elementary school was voted closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year, freeing those families to choose reassignment. The district also operates under mayoral control rather than an elected school board, which shapes how families engage with district-level decisions.

No information was provided about specific program offerings, extracurriculars, staffing ratios, attendance patterns, or discipline data at DiChiaro. A graduation rate does not apply here, as the school ends at eighth grade. For families whose children would complete middle school at DiChiaro and then enter Yonkers high schools, understanding those high school pathways is a separate and worthwhile inquiry. What the data shows for DiChiaro itself is a school with consistently strong proficiency results, a mixed but economically somewhat more advantaged student population relative to the broader district, and a location in a city that is spending meaningfully on its school infrastructure.

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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
Science	33	64.0%
Math	32	100.0%

Math

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 50% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 53% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 43% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Grade 684%

School 84% · District 45% · ▲ 40 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 45% · ▲ 24 pts above district

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

Grade 887%

School 87% · District 38% · ▲ 49 pts above district

▲ 50 pts above state median · ▲ 48 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 49% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 478%

School 78% · District 46% · ▲ 32 pts above district

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

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 50% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 45% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 47% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 45% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Science

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 35% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 17% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 596%

School 96% · district not reported

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with 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-income44%Higher-income78%34 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income78%Higher-income78%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income78%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income65%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income76%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income78%Higher-income80%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income81%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income78%Higher-income73%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income72%Higher-income71%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income92%Higher-income82%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income75%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income91%Higher-income84%7 pp gap