P.S. 081 Thaddeus Stevens

Proficiency sits at 24.6% in ELA and 22.6% in math — roughly 33 percentage points below the District 16 averages of 57.6% and 57.0%. Year-to-year results have been unusually volatile: 2023 was the high-water mark at 31.4% ELA and 31.1% math, 2024 collapsed to 11.1% ELA, and 2025 partially recovered. The swings suggest cohort and attendance effects may be driving results as much as instruction does. One bright spot is Grade 3 math at 50% proficiency — meaningfully stronger than the school's overall picture and worth asking the school about.

Half the students are chronically absent — that's the single biggest factor dragging this school down, and it makes everything else harder to read. The 87.5% attendance rate is just below the district average of 88.7%, but the chronic absenteeism figure tells a starker story. Parents who respond to the survey feel reasonably heard (82% satisfied, 78% trust the principal), but teachers' trust in their own principal is only 46% — a meaningful red flag about internal leadership dynamics. Discipline is light (3 suspensions, 2% rate), and teachers report strong trust in each other at 85%.

The student body is 58% Black, 34% Hispanic, with smaller shares of White, Asian, and Native American students — closely mirroring the surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant community. The economic need index of 92.1% means almost every student qualifies as low-income, and 26% have IEPs, which is higher than typical and suggests a significant population of students with disabilities. With only 241 students and an average class size of 17.7, the school offers the kind of small-school environment where kids can be known by name.

Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) is a working- and middle-income neighborhood with a median household income of $70,755 and a 23% poverty rate. About 40% of adults have a bachelor's degree, homeownership sits at 27%, and just 12% of households have children under 18 — a relatively low share that hints at an adult-heavy area with lots of renters. The school's demographics largely reflect the neighborhood's, though the high economic need index suggests the school also draws families in tougher circumstances.

Families have reasonable subway access: the Myrtle Av station (M, J, Z lines) and Kosciuszko St station (J) are both about a 7-minute walk, and Central Av (M) is roughly 11 minutes on foot.