Cesar E Chavez School, Yonkers NY

Original Research by School Decision on Cesar E Chavez School

Cesar E Chavez School serves students from Pre-K through grade 8 in Yonkers, a dense, mixed-income city along the Hudson River. The school's enrollment is roughly mid-range for its grade band, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic and Black, and a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is situated in a city undergoing active waterfront revitalization, with growing downtown investment and renewed infrastructure spending, including three new public schools under construction by the district in recent years.

On state assessments in math and English language arts, Cesar E Chavez's proficiency rates reflect a school facing academic headwinds. In the lower elementary grades, proficiency is very low: in third grade math and ELA, a small share of students met or exceeded proficiency standards. Performance improves notably in fifth grade, where proficiency rates reach into the upper-mid range in both subjects, especially ELA. However, proficiency then declines again across grades 6 through 8, settling in the low-to-mid range. Science proficiency is weak overall; fifth grade science showed low results, and the eighth grade science test result was drawn from very few students, limiting what that figure conveys. No recent data were available for social studies. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to the other districts in Westchester County, a signal that students here are not reaching grade-level standards at rates typical of the broader region.

The uneven grade-by-grade trajectory, with notable strength in fifth grade and notable gaps elsewhere, may reflect curriculum transitions, staff turnover, or the school's position within the district's broader landscape. A parent considering this school may want to look into what the school reports about its instructional focus in the grades of greatest concern and what support structures exist for students not yet proficient. It would also be useful to ask the school directly about what has driven the mid-year peak and what actions are underway to raise performance in the lower and upper grades.

The school serves a community with limited wealth; most families live in census tracts with moderate-to-low incomes, and housing costs in the zip code have risen in recent years, reflecting the city's overall development momentum. The Yonkers school district itself is navigating significant structural change. In the 2024-2025 school year, the district opened the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School, its first new public school building in more than two decades, a dual-language Pre-K-8 facility with community health and recreation amenities. A second new Pre-K-8 school was announced for a former housing site, signaling sustained district investment. Concurrently, the district closed Museum School 25 due to very low enrollment and high building-repair costs, displacing families who must now select a new school. These changes reflect a district in transition, modernizing its physical plant while managing demographic and financial pressures. The broader "Rebuild Yonkers Schools" plan signals a multi-year commitment to address aging facilities across all schools.

Cesar E Chavez is a regular public school within this context. It is not a magnet or specialized program, meaning it draws its student population from the surrounding neighborhood. Parents evaluating this school should consider both its current academic performance, which is well below county benchmarks, and its place in a district actively investing in new capacity and infrastructure—changes that could affect staffing, program continuity, or enrollment patterns over the next few years. The school's strength in grade 5 suggests that some instructional approaches are working for students at that level; understanding why performance is uneven across the rest of the school would help families make an informed choice about whether this is the right fit for their child.

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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	21	90.0%
Math	20	65.0%

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 50% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 49 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 53% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 43% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 639%

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

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 45% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 38% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 49% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 46% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 26 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 639%

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

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

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 45%

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

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 35% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 17% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above 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-income17%Higher-income17%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income35%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income54%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income43%4 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income15%Higher-income0%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income27%Higher-income38%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income53%Higher-income33%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income13%31 pp gap