P.S. 084 Jose De Diego

P.S. 84's scores tell two stories at once. The snapshot: ELA at 59.6% and math at 46% both run below the District 14 averages of 62.4% and 59.5%, and the overall 2.11/4 score trails the district's 2.44. But the trajectory is striking — ELA has climbed from 24.7% in 2016 to nearly 60%, and math has gone from 17.9% to 46%. That kind of momentum signals a school that's figured something out, even if it hasn't fully closed the gap. Grade-level data shows uneven performance: Grade 4 hits 70% in math while Grade 6 dips to 22% and Grade 8 lands at 25%, so the middle school years are where consistency still needs work.

The day-to-day feel is warm and orderly. Just one suspension last year — essentially zero — and teachers report 100% on safety. Parent trust is exceptional: 97% trust their child's teacher, 96% trust the principal, and 100% report strong relationships with school staff. Daily attendance at 90.8% runs above the district average of 88.9%, but chronic absenteeism is high at 63.9%, which suggests a split between families who show up consistently and a smaller group still struggling with regular attendance. Worth noting: white students show the highest chronic absenteeism at 82%, an unusual pattern worth asking the school about.

The student body is 62% Hispanic and 26% white, with smaller Black, Asian, and multiracial populations — a diversity index of 59%. That composition looks quite different from the surrounding Williamsburg neighborhood, which skews wealthier and whiter. The economic need index of 58.7 (meaning more than half the students are considered economically disadvantaged) reinforces the picture of a school serving working-class families in a rapidly gentrified area. Twenty-three percent of students have IEPs, and there's ELL support for newcomer English learners.

Williamsburg has changed dramatically over the past decade. Median household income sits at $128,876, with a poverty rate of 15.6% and 63% of adults holding a bachelor's degree. Only 17% of households own their homes — this is a renter-heavy neighborhood — and just 12.5% of households have children, meaning families with kids are a minority. Median home values top $1.3 million, putting P.S. 84 in the middle of one of Brooklyn's most expensive real estate markets even though its students come from more modest backgrounds.

The school is about an 8-minute walk from Bedford Avenue on the L train, a 12-minute walk from Marcy Avenue (served by the M, J, and Z lines), and a 14-minute walk from Metropolitan Avenue on the G. It's accessible by subway but not right on top of a station — most families will walk or combine the trip with a bus.