Most of the data is from either the city Department of Education or the State Education Department. Insideschools generates its own information for the following categories: neighborhood, class size, admissions, what's special, downside, and college admissions. Look at our Elementary and Middle School Key or High School Key on this page for details.

Elementary and middle school key

Grade levels indicate which grades of children are served at the school. or which will be served when the school reaches capacity. Generally, elementary schools run from pre-kindergarten or kindergarten through 5th grade, and middle schools serve grades 6-8. Some schools serve pre-k or kindergarten through 8th grade; others 6th through 12th grade.

Class size is a rough estimate of how many children are in each class in a specified grade based on our observations or reports from each school's principal.

Enrollment lists the number of children registered in the school in the fall of 2009.

Free lunch eligible represents the percentage of children qualifying for the federal program for children from low-income families in the 2007-08 school year. The citywide average is 70% for elementary schools and 72% for middle schools.

Ethnicity indicates the percentage of white, black, Hispanic and Asian students in each school, according to the Department of Education's classifications in 2007-08.

Attendance shows the average attendance rate at a school recorded in fall of 2009. In general, schools with high attendance rates are safer, better run and more successful than those with low attendance. The citywide average for elementary schools is 95% and for middle schools is 94%.

Reading scores show what proportion of the school's students in grades 3 and above met the city and state standards for reading and writing on the 2009 state reading test and state English Language Arts test, which includes reading and writing. One star means 0-19 percent of children met the state standard; two stars means 20-39 percent met the standard; three stars 40-59 percent; four stars, 60-79 percent; and five stars to those with more than 80 percent meeting the state standard. Scores for students receiving special education services and students learning to speak English (English Language Learners) are included in the totals. A warning about test scores!

Math scores show what proportion of the school's students in grades 3 and above met the state standards on the 2009 state math tests. Just as with the reading scores, one star means 0-19 percent of children met the state standard; two stars means 20-39 percent met the standard; three stars 40-59 percent; four stars, 60-79 percent; and five stars to those with more than 80 percent meeting the state standard. Scores for students receiving special education services are included in the totals. A warning about test scores!

Neighborhood is the community where the school is located.

What's special indicates a strength of the school, according to our judgment, based on visits and interviews with school staff and parents.

Downside indicates a weakness in the school, according to our judgment, based on visits and interviews with school staff and parents.

Admissions describes the admissions process for a school. A neighborhood school accepts all the children who live in its zone or "catchment" area. A gifted or selective program has a test or interview, or uses standardized test scores, and sometimes teacher's recommendations, for admission. An unzoned school accepts children from a whole district or even from across the city. Some schools, including charter schools, accept children according to a lottery. See How to enroll in The Basics section.

Overcrowding: Schools at 100 percent capacity have the same number of children enrolled as the building was designed to accommodate. Those over 100 percent are overcrowded; those under 100 percent may have unused space. However, these numbers are approximate and should only be taken as a rough guide as to building conditions. For example, the data may not take into account the fact that some schools have special education classes that only hold a few students (and therefore seem to have room according to the data, while in fact they are at capacity), while other schools may have increased their capacity by converting offices to classrooms (and therefore are not as crowded as the numbers suggest). These statistics reflect conditions in the 2006-2007 school year.

Suspensions show the percentage of students suspended during the 2006-2007 school year. Schools that display "0" percent are either new schools, schools where the data was not available, or schools where the number of students suspended was less than 1 percent. In general, a low number means a school has a good overall climate, while a high number suggests a school is unruly. However, a new principal who is struggling to bring a school under control will sometimes suspend lots of students; a high number may reflect a get-tough policy.

High school key

Grade levels indicate which grades of children are served at the school. Most high schools serve students in grade levels 9-12, but a few serve children in grades 6-12 or 7-12.

Class size is the number, on average, of how many children are in each class based on our observations or reports from each school's principal. The standard class size for high school is 34. However, some schools manage to bring those numbers down with clever programming.

Enrollment lists the number of students registered at a school in the fall of 2009.

Free lunch eligible indicates the proportion of students who are poor enough to qualify for free lunch in the 2007-08 school year. These figures are only an approximation of a school's poverty rate, because many eligible high school students don't sign up. The citywide average for high schools is 59%.

Ethnicity indicates the percentage of white, black, Hispanic and Asian students in each school, according to the Department of Ed's classifications, in the 2007-08 school year.

Attendance shows the average attendance rate at a school recorded in fall of 2009. In general, schools with high attendance rates are safer, better run and more successful than those with low attendance. The citywide average for high schools is 86%.

Four-year graduation rate tracks the number of students who graduate within four years, according to New York State statistics. These rates reflect the number of students in the class of 2007 who graduated in June. The statistics don't include students who transfer to other schools, but they do reflect the number of kids who drop out or who take more than four years to graduate. The citywide average four-year graduation rate is 52%. New schools which had their first graduating class after 2007 don't have data available.

Seven-year graduation graduation rate tracks the number of students who graduate or who receive a general equivalency degree (GED) within seven years. The citywide average is 68.6%. Some successful alternative schools, schools that serve large numbers of new immigrants, and schools that work with students who enter high school with poor academic skills may have low four-year graduation rates but encourage students to stay in school for a 5th, 6th, or even 7th year rather than drop out. These rates reflect their success. These rates reflect the number of students from the class of 2002 who graduated on time, plus those who graduated in subsequent years. Schools that graduated their first class after 2002 do not have 7-year graduation rates listed here.

College admissions is a top concern for many parents and students. We generate our own information because we feel the annual survey conducted by the Department of Education (and posted on each school's report card) is unreliable. For this website, we asked each school's college counselor to provide specifics on the number of graduates who were admitted to four-year colleges. (Four-year colleges are more selective than two-year community colleges.) Schools rated "excellent" reported that more than 95 percent of their graduates were consistently admitted to four-year colleges; those rated "very good" reported that 76-95 percent were admitted to four-year colleges; those rated "good" reported 50 to 75 percent and those rated "fair" reported fewer than 50 percent. We haven't assessed every school yet.

Ninth graders reading at grade level represents the percentage of entering students during the 2006-2007 school year who met the state standards on the English Language Arts test administered in 8th grade. The citywide average is 31%.

What's special indicates a strength of the school, according to our judgment, based on visits and interviews with school staff and parents.

Downside indicates a weakness of the school, according to our judgment, based on visits and interviews with school staff and parents.

Overcrowding: Schools at 100 percent capacity have the same number of children enrolled as the building was designed to accommodate. Those over 100 percent are overcrowded; those under 100 percent may have unused space. However, these numbers are approximate and should only be taken as a rough guide as to building conditions. For example, the data may not take into account the fact that some schools have special education classes that only hold a few students (and therefore seem to have room according to the data, while in fact they are at capacity), while other schools may have increased their capacity by converting offices to classrooms (and therefore are not as crowded as the numbers suggest). These statistics reflect conditions in the 2006-2007 school year.

Suspensions show the percentage of students suspended during the 2006-2007 school year. Schools that display "0" percent are either new schools, schools where the data was not available, or schools where the number of students suspended was less than 1 percent. In general, a low number means a school has a good overall climate, while a high number suggests a school is unruly. However, a new principal who is struggling to bring a school under control will sometimes suspend lots of students; a high number may reflect a get-tough policy.

Regents English and Regents math show the percentage of students who passed these statewide exams with a score of 65 or above after four years of high school during the 2007-2008 school year. This is a general indicator of how well students did on the exams, not a firm measure of the quality of instruction at a particular school. The citywide average is 68% for English and 67% for math. Many progressive schools have had exemptions from these exams in the past and judge their students by oral and written projects called "portfolio assessments." Many thoughtful educators object to Regents exams, saying they dilute rather than strengthen the curriculum. However, now that all students are required to pass the exams, we believe it is a useful guide to parents to show how successful schools are in this respect. See our Basics on graduation requirements for high school for more information about the Regents exams.