M.S. K394

For nearly a decade, proficiency rates here barely cracked the teens or low 20s — 18.8% ELA and 6.7% math in 2022 is about as low as it gets in NYC. Then 2025 happened: ELA jumped to 47.2% and math to 41.5%, the biggest single-year swing in the school's recent history. To put that in context, the district averages 60.5% ELA and 57.3% math, so there's still meaningful ground to cover. But where this school sat in 2022 versus where it sits now is a different conversation entirely — the trajectory is genuinely improving, and the Grade 7 cohort in particular posted a 65.5% math proficiency rate that hints at where things could head.

The day-to-day feel families describe is strikingly positive: 98% parent satisfaction, 99% parent-teacher trust, 100% strong-relationship scores. Teachers rate instructional quality at 98% and feel safe at 98% as well, both well above district averages. But the attendance picture complicates the story — only 88.8% of students attend regularly (district average 91%), and over half (51.2%) are chronically absent, with Hispanic and female students flagged slightly higher. Discipline is light (a 2% suspension rate), and the survey reflects a school where adults trust one another, even though getting students physically through the door every morning is the unfinished work.

The student body is 70% Black and 22% Hispanic, with a small Asian population and an economic need index of 87.8 — most students arrive from households under significant financial pressure. Fourteen percent of students have IEPs, and the school runs ELL support. The surrounding Crown Heights (North) neighborhood is a more economically mixed picture than the school's demographics suggest, but the families who choose screened middle-school programs in this corridor tend to be looking for something specific. Worth noting: only 21 teachers responded to the climate survey, so the staff-side numbers come from a small voice — read them as warm but sample-limited.

Crown Heights (North) is a renter-majority neighborhood where the median home value sits just over $1 million despite a median household income around $74,000 — a gap that says a lot about who's buying and who's staying. About 42% of adult neighbors hold a bachelor's degree, and roughly one in five households lives below the poverty line. Just over 11% of households include children, so families with school-age kids are a meaningful but not dominant slice of the area. The block is residential, with mixed-income blocks and classic Brooklyn brownstone rhythm.

Families have three subway options within walking distance: the 3 or 4 trains at Crown Heights–Utica Ave (about 7 minutes), the A or C at Utica Ave (about 10 minutes), and the C at Ralph Ave (about 13 minutes).