M.S. 582

The trajectory is the headline. In 2016, fewer than one in five students were proficient in ELA and barely one in ten in math; by 2025, those numbers stand at 57.3% and 48.3% — gains that are genuinely rare for a NYC middle school. Both figures still sit below the District 14 averages of 62.4% (ELA) and 59.5% (math), so M.S. 582 is closing ground rather than leading the pack. Grades 6 and 7 are doing the heavy lifting (55–64% across both subjects), but Grade 8 math drops sharply to 28.6% — a real weakness in the final year that's worth asking the school about directly.

The parent-engagement numbers here are unusually strong: 96% parent satisfaction, 95–96% trust in teachers and the principal, and an 84% family survey response rate — families aren't just happy, they're actively weighing in. Teachers report 100% trust in the principal and 91% on instruction quality, both well above the district averages. The big asterisk is chronic absenteeism at 54.2%, meaning more than half of students are missing significant school — a serious headwind against those academic gains. Discipline is moderate and trending flat-to-down (suspensions fell from 26 to 13), though the 4% suspension rate is well above the District 14 average of 0.56% and worth understanding in context.

The student body is 73% Hispanic, 23% Black, and overwhelmingly working-class, with an economic need index of 87.2 and a third of students classified as IEP. The neighborhood around the school tells a more complicated story: East Williamsburg has a median household income near $81,800 and 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, yet only 9.2% of households include children — meaning many of the families sending kids to M.S. 582 live in a community that, on paper, is increasingly populated by young adults without children.

East Williamsburg is a neighborhood in transition — the median home value sits above $1 million while the poverty rate is 24.3% and just 9.2% of households have children under 18, suggesting many longtime families have been priced out or pushed deeper into the borough. The 44% bachelor's-degree rate reflects a wave of new arrivals, and the very low homeownership rate (12.5%) tells you most residents are renting. Getting to school is genuinely easy: the L train stops at Montrose Avenue about a two-minute walk away, with Grand Street and Morgan Avenue also within walking distance.

The L train makes this school easy to reach from anywhere on the line — Montrose Avenue is about a two-minute walk, with Grand Street (about five minutes) and Morgan Avenue (about eight minutes) also close by.