At a Glance
A neighborhood zoned school quietly hitting its stride in one of Brooklyn's most family-dense brownstone pockets
Best suited for
Families zoned for the Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook area who want a steadily improving neighborhood school with strong parent involvement and serious inclusion services, and who can live with a slightly larger PTA budget gap to fill.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- 2025 marked the school's strongest academic year on file, with ELA jumping from 63.5% to 78% in a single year.
- Zero suspensions across three straight reporting years — a genuinely rare achievement.
- 30% of students have IEPs, signaling a real commitment to inclusion rather than a token special education program.
- 100% of teachers report the school is safe, the strongest such rating possible.
- Strong parent-school relationships across the board: 93% parent satisfaction and 95% report strong relationships with staff.
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust sits at 71% — meaningfully below the parent-side numbers and worth asking the school directly about.
- Chronic absenteeism is at 75.4%, a pattern that's widespread in NYC right now but still worth flagging.
- PTA fundraising comes in at $310 per student, below the district average of $491 — parents who want a well-resourced extras budget may want to ask why and whether that's changing.
- The school is zoned, so eligibility depends on address — this isn't a school you can apply into from across the borough.
- Class sizes average 25, which is in line with the district but on the larger end for families hoping for smaller cohorts.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 15
District 15 is home to some of Brooklyn's most sought-after elementary schools — including P.S. 39, P.S. 29, P.S. 321, and P.S. 107 — and P.S. 032 sits comfortably above the middle of the district on academics (3.01/4 vs. a 2.58 district average), though it doesn't yet crack the top tier.
Academics
Both subjects sit well above the district's 65.5% ELA and 63.3% math averages. Math has been the stronger suit for years, climbing from a low of 55.6% in 2022 to 72.5% in 2025. ELA was more of a roller coaster historically — bouncing in the low-to-mid 60s for most of the past decade — but jumped sharply to 78% in 2025, the school's best result on record. By grade, 3rd and 4th graders posted 80%+ in ELA, while 5th graders led the way in math at 77.1%.
Culture
The day-to-day feel is warm and orderly — 100% of teachers say the school is safe, and there have been zero suspensions for three straight years. Parents give the school strong marks across the board: 93% satisfaction, 93% trust in teachers, 92% trust in the principal, and 95% say there are strong relationships. The one real wrinkle is that teachers feel less aligned with school leadership — only 71% report trust in the principal, well below the parent numbers and a notable gap to flag. Attendance at 92.6% is close to the district average of 93.5%, though chronic absenteeism is high at 75.4%, a pattern showing up across many NYC schools post-pandemic.
Community
P.S. 032 draws a student body that's whiter than the typical NYC public school: 46% White, 21% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, and 5% multiracial, with a diversity index of 78%. That mix tracks with the surrounding neighborhood, where two-thirds of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher and the median household income sits near $140,000. The economic need index of 40 reflects a relatively comfortable family base, though 30% of students have IEPs — a meaningfully higher inclusion rate than many schools, which suggests real investment in special education services.
Neighborhood
The Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook area around P.S. 032 is one of Brooklyn's wealthier family enclaves — brownstones, a 67.6% college-educated adult population, and a median home value north of $1.7 million. About a fifth of households have kids under 18, which means competition for zoned seats here can be real. The poverty rate of 13.5% is well below the citywide norm.
The closest subway is Carroll St on the F and G lines, about a 5-minute walk; Bergen St (F G) is around 9 minutes, and Smith-9 Sts (F G) is roughly 11 minutes on foot.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 216 families responded (45% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
Make this school part of your plan
Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.
No credit card required
Compare head-to-head
Explore nearby
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole earns an overall rating of 75/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run above the District 15 average.
- What grades does P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole serve?
- P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole?
- P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole is a public school in NYC Community School District 15.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole in?
- P.S. 032 Samuel Mills Sprole is in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook, Brooklyn.