Kingsborough Early College School

Kingsborough's 53% ELA proficiency and 49% math proficiency both sit below the district averages of roughly 60% and 63%, respectively. The honest read: students arrive a step behind and the school is closing the gap, not leading the pack. The trend lines, though, are genuinely encouraging — math proficiency has nearly doubled since 2016, and seventh- and eighth-graders are scoring notably higher than sixth-graders, suggesting the school does a good job building skills over time. The standout academic offering appears to be the early college and humanities focus, though the test data alone doesn't yet reflect that mission.

What's striking is the disconnect between test scores and how people inside the school feel. Teachers give instruction quality a 99% rating (well above the district average of 93%), trust between parents and the principal hits 99%, and the collegial trust among teachers is 97%. Zero suspensions is genuinely unusual — most schools suspend a few students, and the district average suspension rate is 0.5%, but this school suspended nobody. The day-to-day feel is clearly one of a tight, trusting community. The big asterisk is chronic absenteeism at 60% — that means nearly two-thirds of students miss 10% or more of school days. That's an attendance problem parents should take seriously even though the climate surveys are glowing.

Kingsborough's student body is fairly representative of southern Gravesend's diversity — about 38% Hispanic, 28% White, 23% Black, and 8% Asian, with a diversity index of 75%. Just under three-quarters of students qualify for economic need, and 19% have IEPs, suggesting the school serves a working-class and middle-class mix. The school's screened admissions process attracts applicants from across the borough, but the demographics skew toward the surrounding neighborhood, which has a median household income around $58,000 and a 20% poverty rate.

Gravesend (South) is a working- and middle-class Brooklyn neighborhood where about 18% of households include children, just over a third of residents own their homes, and roughly 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. The median home value sits around $630,000 and the median household income is around $58,000 — solidly middle-income by city standards. Families in this part of Brooklyn tend to be a mix of long-time residents and newer immigrant households, and the school reflects that blend.

Families can reach the school from the D line via either 25 Av or Bay 50 St, each about a seven-minute walk, or from the N line at 86 St, about nine minutes away.