P.S. 059 The Dawn Best School

Test scores here sit well below district averages — roughly 25 points behind in both ELA and math — and the year-to-year picture is bumpy rather than clearly improving. ELA swung from a low of 18.5% in 2024 up to 37.7% in 2025, while math has bounced between the high-20s and 40s since 2019. Grade 3 students post the strongest numbers (40.5% ELA, 47.7% math), with grade 4 dipping and grade 5 ELA rebounding to 45.9%. The overall quality score of 1.46 out of 4 puts this among the lower-performing district 14 schools, though the recent ELA jump suggests something may be starting to click.

This is a school where families feel genuinely heard: parent satisfaction at 97%, parent-teacher trust at 96%, and an 81% family survey response rate (very high) show a parent body that's engaged and connected to the school. Teachers trust their principal (93%) and each other (94%), and teacher-reported safety is 94% — solid, though slightly below the district average of 97%. The discipline picture is notably clean: zero suspensions in 2023-24, continuing a downward trend. The downside is attendance — 84.6% trails the district's 88.9%, and nearly 40% of students are chronically absent, which is the kind of pattern that quietly undercuts academic growth.

P.S. 059's 285 students are almost entirely Black (47%) and Hispanic (47%), with a small slice of Asian (3%), White (1%), and Native American (2%) students — a diversity index of just 52%, meaning most students share a racial background with most of their classmates. The economic need index of 93% tells you nearly every family qualifies for free/reduced lunch, and 24% of students have IEPs, well above typical. The neighborhood around it is heavily working-class: median household income sits around $70,755 with a 23% poverty rate, in a part of Bed-Stuy where homeownership is relatively low (27%) and the adult education level runs strong at 40.8% holding a bachelor's or higher.

Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) is a predominantly renter neighborhood where about 12% of households include children — a relatively low share, so families with young kids are a distinct and visible part of the community. Median home values above $1.1 million reflect the broader Brooklyn market trend even in largely working-class blocks, and a 23% poverty rate coexists with the 41% of adults holding a bachelor's degree. The neighborhood draws families who value its cultural depth and relative affordability compared to brownstone-heavy parts of Brooklyn to the west.

The M and J at Flushing Av is about a 5-minute walk, and the G at Myrtle-Willoughby Avs is roughly 8 minutes on foot — solid transit access for an East Bed-Stuy elementary.