Brooklyn Gardens Elementary School

Brooklyn Gardens just posted 68% ELA proficiency and 62.1% math proficiency, both well above the district 19 averages of 48.9% and 48.2% — and a stunning improvement from 26.7% and 28.4% the year before. The leap is striking when you look at the longer arc: scores hovered in the 11-19% range for years before the pandemic, dipped in 2022, then climbed sharply. Third-graders are leading the way at 85.4% ELA and 80.5% math, while fifth-graders trail noticeably at 51.3% and 45%, suggesting the gains are real but uneven across grade levels.

Day to day, Brooklyn Gardens runs on trust: 95% of parents say they have strong relationships with teachers, 92% trust the principal, and 99% of teachers say the school is safe. There's been a zero-suspension policy in effect since at least 2021-22 — no expulsions, no removals, no school police involvement. The catch is attendance: 54% of students are chronically absent, meaning they've missed 18 or more days, even though the school's overall attendance rate sits just below the district average at 88.2%. Families are clearly engaged (the survey response rate of 73% is unusually high), but getting kids in the building every day remains the open challenge.

The student body of 278 reflects its East New York surroundings almost exactly: 60% Black, 35% Hispanic, with a smattering of other groups, and an economic need index of 92.6% — meaning the vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. One in five students has an Individualized Education Program, and special education services are integrated into every grade from Pre-K through fifth, plus a dedicated SE designation. PTA fundraising last year came to a single dollar per student, a sign of the economic pressure families here carry.

East New York-New Lots is a working-class, family-rooted pocket of Brooklyn where the median household income sits around $58,000 and just under a quarter of residents live below the poverty line. Homeownership is low at 29%, with most families renting, and only about 16% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Still, 10.6% of households include children, and the blocks around the school are mostly small homes and walk-up apartments — the kind of place where neighbors know each other.

Two train lines are an easy reach: Pennsylvania Avenue on the 3 and Livonia Avenue on the L are both about a four-minute walk, with Junius Street on the 3 just six minutes away.