10 UES K-8 Public Schools Ranked Among Best In State: U.S. News

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Nearly a dozen elementary and middle schools on the Upper East Side were named among the best in New York, according to a first-of-its-kind ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News and World Report.

For the inaugural list, U.S. News published rankings and data on more than 80,000 public elementary and middle schools across the United States — over 1,220 of which are a part of the New York City Public School system.

Ten elementary and middle schools on the Upper East Side appeared in the top 50 ranking of the city's best public K-8 schools, and all were ranked among the state's 100 best schools.

Most notably, P.S. 77 Lower Lab School on East 77th was ranked second in the state among elementary schools. Meanwhile, among middle schools, East Side Middle School on East 91st Street was named the fourth-best in New York.

Here are the Upper East Side schools that cracked the top 100 statewide.

Upper East Side elementary schools:

• P.S. 77 Lower Lab School (1700 Third Ave.): No. 2 in NYC and No. 2 in New York State
• PS 267 East Side Elementary School (213 East 63rd St.): No. 9 in NYC and No. 4 in New York State
• P.S. 183 Robert Louis Stevenson (419 East 66th St.): No. 14 in NYC and No. 25 in New York State
• P.S. 290 Manhattan New School (311 East 82nd St.): No. 16 in NYC and No. 28 in New York State
• P.S. 6 Lillie D. Blake (45 East 81st St.): No. 19 in NYC and No. 32 in New York State
• P.S. 527 East Side School for Social Action (323 East 91st St.): No. 34 in NYC and No. 56 in New York State
• P.S. 158 Bayard Taylor (1458 York Ave.): No. 37 in NYC and No. 65 in New York State

Upper East Side middle schools:

• East Side Middle School (331 East 91st St.): No. 4 in NYC and No. 4 in New York State
• JHS 167 Robert F. Wagner (220 East 76th St.): No. 31 in NYC and No. 49 in New York State
• Yorkville East Middle School (1458 York Ave.): No. 48 in NYC and No. 81 in New York State

This is not the only honor to be bestowed on Upper East Side school of late. Last month, P.S. 290 Manhattan New School was also named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, one of just a few hundred across the nation to win the prestigious recognition.

Also in September, four Upper East Side private schools — Brearley, Regis, Dalton and Spence — were named among the 10 best in New York City in a ranking by Niche.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News used data from the U.S. Department of Education to analyze two areas at each school:

• Math and reading proficiency — or how well students perform on state assessments.
• Math and reading performance — or how well they perform compared with expectations.

The state assessment data used in the rankings is from the 2018-19 school year and, therefore, predates any effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on test-taking.

New York had the third-most elementary schools in the new ranking, trailing only Texas and California. Among middle schools, it came in fourth place, behind Illinois, Texas and California.

Find the complete list of 2021's Best K-8 Schools here.

Related coverage: NYC's Top K-8 Schools Are Best In State, US News Finds