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What's one community event at PS 81 more people should show up to?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
739
Elementary
DISTRICT 491 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 360585000369
PS 81
140 TACOMA AVE, BUFFALO, NY 14216 · (716) 816-4060 · Erie County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL739 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.0:1
57 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.4:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
630 students
DISTRICT 88% · STATE 58%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 69 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 57 | 8% |
| Grade 1 | 80 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 81 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 70 | 9% |
| Grade 4 | 60 | 8% |
| Grade 5 | 88 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 79 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 78 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 77 | 10% |
This year's kindergarten class (57) is 26% smaller than its 8th grade class (77).
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · STATE 72% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NYS Assessments 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4)English Language Arts
32.0%
NY avg 58.3% . +4.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the NYS Assessments, New York's statewide test, about 32 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level. The New York average is about 58 of 100. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023.
NYS Assessments results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 32.0% | N/A |
| 2023-24 | 28.0% | 30.0% |
% Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: NYS Assessments. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
29.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.6%
based on NY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% typical for New York schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among New York's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like PS 81
PS 81's state test result (29.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 81 this school | 739 | 85.3% | 29.8% |
| WEBSTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SYRACUSE | 650 | 78.9% | 24.6% |
| FRAZER K-8 SCHOOL SYRACUSE | 774 | 86.3% | 16.6% |
| PS 123 SOUTH OZONE PARK | 596 | 81.9% | 61.3% |
| HARRY F ABATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NIAGARA FALLS | 650 | 83.2% | 24.8% |
| WEST HERTEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUFFALO | 771 | 95.1% | 23.0% |
Matched among New York elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where PS 81 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New York | In Erie County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.8% | #2,014 of 2,335 | #79 of 115 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 30.0% | #2,097 of 2,342 | #83 of 115 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 32.0% | #2,069 of 2,343 ▼ 206 | #81 of 115 ▼ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 739 | #223 of 2,585 | #9 of 123 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.0:1 | #1,630 of 2,338 | #105 of 119 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.4% | #59 of 2,388 | #5 of 119 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 85.3% | #603 of 2,534 | #38 of 122 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -30.9% | #270 of 1,757 | #4 of 68 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
739
-29 (-4%) vs 2020
+14% since 1990-91, when it was 651
Student : Teacher
13.0:1
was 15.7:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 739 | 56.9 | 13.0:1 | 85% (630) |
| 2023-24 | 756 | 55.9 | 13.5:1 | 81% (612) |
| 2022-23 | 737 | 57.2 | 12.9:1 | 77% (571) |
| 2020-21 | 768 | 49 | 15.7:1 | 68% (519) |
| 2017-18 | 1,070 | 72 | 14.9:1 | 61% (650) |
| 2015-16 | 836 | 51 | 16.4:1 | 59% (497) |
| 2010-11 | 709 | 46 | 15.4:1 | 74% (522) |
| 2000-01 | 656 | 41 | 16.0:1 | 66% (433) |
| 1990-91 | 651 | 40 | 16.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PS 81.
About PS 81
Located in BUFFALO, New York, PS 81 is a large elementary school. The school enrolls 739 students, from pre-K through 8. An average school in this group (elementary schools in New York) has about 443 students.
Across its 61 schools, BUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT enrolls 29,425 students. PS 81 is one of those schools.
PS 81 has no majority group; Black students are the largest, at 41%. Beyond that, enrollment is 17% Hispanic, 17% White, 14% Asian, and 11% multiracial. In Erie County overall, about 13% of residents are Black. PS 81's diversity index is 74%, against a US figure of 70%.
PS 81 counts 56.9 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 13.0 students for each one. That matches the 12.8:1 average for elementary schools in New York fairly closely. About 85% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Erie County is 51%.
PS 81 scores 29.8% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 43.6%.
Federal survey data for Erie County show that the median household income is $72,839, about 38% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. Erie County is home to 226 public schools and about 122,519 public school students.
The closest public school to PS 81 is TAPESTRY CHARTER SCHOOL, about 0.7 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Its average proficiency rate of 29.8% is below the 39.1% average for nearby schools.
Its NCES locale code is City: Large: the school is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 739, a 4% decrease from 768 in 2020-21. The number of students per teacher fell from 15.7 to 13.0 over 4 years.
To ask about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes, start a discussion on this page. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Erie County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
950,622
Census ACS
Median income
$72,839
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
226
122,519 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in BUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
- HUTCHINSON CENTRAL TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,140 students
- CITY HONORS SCHOOLHigh · 1,088 students
- INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLElementary · 933 students
- FREDERICK OLMSTED #156High · 928 students
- MCKINLEY VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 862 students
- SOUTH PARK HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 801 students
Other schools in BUFFALO
- CHARTER SCHOOL FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGIESCombined · 2,260 students
- KENMORE WEST SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,235 students
- HUTCHINSON CENTRAL TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,140 students
- TAPESTRY CHARTER SCHOOLCombined · 1,120 students
- CITY HONORS SCHOOLHigh · 1,088 students
- INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLElementary · 933 students
Nearby schools
- TAPESTRY CHARTER SCHOOL0.7 mi · 1,120
- PS 64 FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED0.8 mi · 583
- ELMWOOD VILLAGE CHARTER SCHOOL HERTEL1.0 mi · 416
- NORTH PARK COMMUNITY SCHOOL #501.0 mi · 437
- KENMORE JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL1.0 mi · 180
- PFC WILLIAM J GRABIARZ #791.1 mi · 518
Frequently asked questions
About PS 81How many students attend PS 81?
PS 81 enrolls approximately 739 students in grades PK-08.
Is PS 81 an elementary, middle, or high school?
PS 81 is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at PS 81?
The student-to-teacher ratio at PS 81 is approximately 13.0:1 (57 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at PS 81?
Student demographics at PS 81 are roughly 17% White, 17% Hispanic, 41% Black, 14% Asian, 11% Two or more.
What district is PS 81 in?
PS 81 is part of BUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.