NYC's Best Middle Schools Ranked In New Analysis

NEW YORK CITY — The Special Music School on the Upper West Side is the best public middle school in New York City, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News researchers based the 2027 ranking of the nation’s best public middle schools on the latest publicly available data from state education agencies by RTI International, alongside data from the U.S. Department of Education. In the past, the state reports weren’t part of the methodology.

State agency data offers a more thorough evaluation of student achievement in math and reading across every proficiency level, all while taking student background and overall performance on state assessments into consideration.

This year’s ranking includes 24,000 public middle schools.

The top 25 public middle schools in New York City are:

1. Special Music School (Upper West Side)
2. The Anderson School (Upper West Side)
3. Icahn Charter School 4 (Pelham Gardens)
4. Success Academy Charter School (Crown Heights)
5. New Explorations Into Science, Tech and Math High School (Lower East Side)
6. Tag Young Scholars (East Harlem)
7. The 30Th Avenue School (G & T Citywide) (Astoria)
8. Baccalaureate School for Global Education (Long Island City)
9. South Bronx Classical Charter School Iv (South Bronx)
10. South Bronx Classical Charter School Ii (Mott Haven)
11. Success Academy Charter School (Union Square)
12. Success Academy Charter School (Far Rockaway)
13. Success Academy Charter School (Upper West Side)
14. Ps 122 Mamie Fay (Astoria)
15. The Christa Mcauliffe School /Is 187 (Borough Park)
16. Success Academy Charter School (Harlem, 3)
17. South Bronx Classical Charter School (South Bronx)
18. Success Academy Charter School (Springfield Gardens)
19. South Bronx Classical Charter School Iii (Morrisania)
20. Ps/Ms 4 Crotona Park West (Claremont)
21. Bronx Charter School for Excellence 2 (Van Nest)
22. Ballet Tech/NYC Public School for Dance (Flatiron)
23. Success Academy Charter School (Harlem, 1)
24. Icahn Charter School 2 (Morris Park)
25. Brooklyn School of Inquiry (Bensonhurst)