Elementary school
P.S. 124 Yung Wing (M124)
40 DIVISION STREET, Manhattan, NY 10002
P.S. 124, the Yung Wing School, is named after the first Chinese immigrant to attend and graduate from Yale University in 1853. In the 2003-2004 school year, more than three-fourth of the population of public school children were eligible for free lunch and about twelve percent of students were eligible for reduced-price lunch. Seven years later, the free lunch eligibility of public school children dropped by fifteen percent and the amount of children who have to pay full-priced lunch rose six percent. As well, the amount of children receiving reduced-priced lunches also rose seven percent within the seven years. The cost of living in Chinatown has risen in the past seven years, attributing to this decrease in free-lunch eligibility and rise in reduced and full price lunch. Poor families fail to keep up with the pace at which rent and living is rising in Chinatown and are therefore forced to move into cheaper areas throughout the city, such as Queens and Brooklyn. As a result, more middle-class and wealthier families are able to move into these areas and the children of these families are less likely to receive free-lunch eligibility.
Gentrification of the Lower East Side/Chinatown has pushed many of those who were living in Chinatown to move to Queens and Brooklyn. For those who remained in Chinatown, they are cornered into overpopulated areas of Chinatown. As result, the children of those who remained are are overcrowding the few schools that are in the area. Take P.S. 124 for example, the total population of the 2010-2011 school year is comparability greater than the total population of the 2008-2009 school year (Graph Below). Overall, the student population of all ethic groups increased.
Overcrowding of schools has substantially lead to the decrease in performance of students. Looking at the performance of third grade ELA Exam of P.S. 124, we see that there is a decrease in the number of student who scores 4 on the exam and there an increase in the number of student who scores 3-4 on the exam from the 2009-2010 school year of to the 2010-2011 school year. Essentially, more students of these overcrowding schools are getting a lower score on the statewide exams.
The following schools are some of the popular schools that residents of Chinatown attend.
Junior High School
M.S. 131 (M131)
100 HESTER STREET, Manhattan, NY 10002
High School
Pace High School (M298)
100 HESTER STREET, Manhattan, NY 10002
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