PS 15 ROBERTO CLEMENTE vs PS 153 ADAM CLAYTON POWELL

PS 15 Roberto Clemente and PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell sit just 7.4 miles apart in New York City yet land at nearly identical overall ratings — 9.2 out of 10 for PS 15 Roberto Clemente and 9.3 out of 10 for PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell. That narrow 0.1-point gap obscures a more meaningful difference in state standing: PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell ranks #13 of 4,739 schools in New York, while PS 15 Roberto Clemente ranks #20 of 4,739 — both elite positions, but PS 153 sits seven spots higher in a field of nearly five thousand.

The two schools diverge more clearly when academics and growth are examined separately. PS 15 Roberto Clemente holds the academic edge at 9.1 out of 10 versus PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell's 8.8 — a 0.3-point difference that reflects stronger current proficiency levels. PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell counters with a superior growth score of 9.9 out of 10 against PS 15 Roberto Clemente's 9.5, meaning students at PS 153 are accelerating at a faster rate relative to their starting points. Families weighing where a child is now against where they are headed will find the tradeoff concrete: PS 15 leads on snapshot performance, PS 153 leads on momentum.

The demographic picture is similar but not identical. PS 15 Roberto Clemente enrolls 190 students against PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell's 389 — more than double the population. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility is close: 86% at PS 15 Roberto Clemente and 89% at PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell, confirming both schools serve predominantly low-income communities. The student-teacher ratio tells the sharpest structural story: PS 15 Roberto Clemente operates at 7.9 students per teacher, while PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell runs at 11.4:1 — a 3.5-student gap that translates directly to individual attention in the classroom.

Both schools serve grades PK through 5, so grade-span is not a differentiating factor. The meaningful levers are class density, school scale, and the academic-versus-growth tradeoff described above.