I. S. 381

ELA proficiency has settled in the low-to-mid 50s in recent years — a real climb from the high 30s in 2016–17, but still about 8 points below the District 22 average of roughly 61%. Math is the bigger gap: at 33.3%, it sits more than 25 points below the district's 60.5% average, and the year-to-year swings (41% in 2019, 24% in 2022, 44% in 2023, 33% in 2025) suggest math instruction has not yet found a steady footing. Sixth graders are notably the weakest cohort (44% ELA, 30% math), with results strengthening by seventh grade before slipping again in eighth-grade math (27.7%).

The day-to-day feel at I.S. 381 reads as warm and connected: 92% of parents say they're satisfied (above the district's 91%), and parent-teacher trust sits at 97%. Teachers are unusually positive about both their colleagues (85% collegial trust) and the quality of instruction in their own classrooms (98%, vs. a district average near 90%). The flip side is attendance — the chronic absenteeism rate is 65.7%, meaning nearly two of every three students miss 10% or more of the school year, and that figure climbs to 82% among Black students. Discipline is also worth flagging: at 5%, the suspension rate runs roughly ten times the district average, with suspensions trending up over the past three years.

I.S. 381's student body is 58% Black, 18% Hispanic, 10% White, 9% Asian, with smaller multiracial and Native American shares — broadly reflecting Midwood's mixed demographics while skewing a bit more heavily Black than the surrounding census tract. About one in five students has an IEP, and the school's economic need index of 67 places it in the moderately high range for the city. Despite that need, the diversity index of 70 means families here encounter a genuinely mixed peer group across race and income.

Midwood is a middle-class, family-leaning Brooklyn neighborhood where roughly a quarter of households include children and nearly half of adults hold a bachelor's degree. The census shows a median household income just over $70,000 against a 17% poverty rate — a place of real economic mix rather than uniform affluence, with most residents renting in a housing stock that averages close to $920,000 in value. Families here tend to be rooted: long-tenured, school-oriented, and connected to local institutions.

The school is roughly a 13-minute walk from the Flatbush Av–Brooklyn College station on the 2 and 5 lines, with the Avenue J and Avenue M Q-train stops about 15 and 16 minutes on foot — close enough for older students to manage independently, but a real haul for younger siblings in winter.