P.S. 024

At 43% ELA proficiency and 32% math proficiency, P.S. 024 runs roughly 20-30 percentage points behind the District 15 average on both subjects — students here are catching up, not leading. The longer view, though, tells a more encouraging story: ELA proficiency has more than tripled since 2016 (13.4% to 43%), and math has climbed from 24.8% to 32% over the same period, with a notable jump in 2023-24. The biggest academic gap is in third grade, where only about a quarter of students hit ELA proficiency and just 21% meet the math bar — by fourth and fifth grade, proficiency roughly doubles, suggesting kids who stay through the upper grades make meaningful gains.

The day-to-day feel at P.S. 024 is unusually warm for a school with this academic profile: 94% of parents say they're satisfied (above the district average), 97% trust their child's teacher, and a striking 100% report strong relationships with the school. Teachers rate their principal highly (95% trust) and feel good about instruction quality (91%, beating the district average). Discipline is essentially a non-issue — zero suspensions in each of the last three reported years. The one real climate flag is chronic absenteeism at 70.6%, far above what most parents would expect, with Asian students particularly affected at 88.5%; overall attendance at 92.2% is just below the district norm.

The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (86%), with smaller White (8%), Asian (4%), and Black (1%) populations, and a diversity index of 32% — one of the more homogeneous schools in a famously mixed borough. That mix mirrors the surrounding Sunset Park census tract fairly closely, where the median household income is $81,377 and just under a fifth of households include children. With an economic need index of 84.7 and a quarter of students classified as IEP, this is a school serving a high-need population; PTA fundraising of $55 per student is a fraction of the district average of $491, reflecting both the community's resources and the limits of what families can chip in.

Sunset Park (West) is a predominantly renter neighborhood — only a quarter of households own their homes — with a working- and middle-class mix of families, many with roots in Latin America and East Asia. The median home value north of $1 million reflects the borough-wide housing crunch more than local affluence, and about 17% of residents live below the poverty line. Roughly one in five households includes children, which keeps the local elementary schools full and gives the area a young, family-oriented feel. About 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, somewhat lower than Brooklyn's overall rate.

Getting here is easy by subway — the 36 St station on the D, N, and R lines is about a 4-minute walk, the 45 St (R) is roughly 8 minutes, and the 25 St (R) is around 13 minutes on foot.