GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is an elementary campus of reasonably sized scale in ALBANY, New York, run under ALBANY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, caters to 387 students in grades pre-K through 5.

ALBANY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT runs 16 schools in total, collectively educating 8,509 students. GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL records that 54% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school shows 25% Hispanic, 8% Asian, 6% White, 6% multiracial. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 12%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.4:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 82% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Albany County runs at roughly 45%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 44.8%; this one comes in at 14.5%, -30.3 points off the demographic line.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Albany County indicate the typical household earns roughly $85,333 per year, 46% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Across Albany County's 75 public schools (combined enrollment of about 39,946 students), GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is KIPP ALBANY COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL, roughly 0.6 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 8th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 30.4%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at GIFFEN MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has contracted 25%, going from 514 students in 2018 to 387 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 10% to 6% across the same window.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.