P.S. 133 William A. Butler

P.S. 133's 71.2% ELA proficiency and 67.4% math proficiency are well above the district averages of 53% and 46% — roughly 18 and 21 points ahead, respectively. The trajectory is one of the more striking improvement stories in the district: ELA climbed from 43.6% in 2016 to 71.2% in 2025, and math nearly doubled from 39% to 67.4%. There's some grade-level unevenness — Grade 4 students post a strong 78% ELA and 83% math, while Grade 5 math dips to 53% — but the overall pattern is upward and durable. The 2022-2024 dip and rebound suggests the school recovered well from pandemic-era disruption.

The day-to-day feel here is unusually calm: zero suspensions in each of the last three years is genuinely rare, and the school doesn't appear to rely on removal to manage behavior. Parent-facing trust numbers are the standout — 94% parent-teacher trust, 91% parent-principal trust, and 96% report strong relationships — suggesting families feel heard and connected, even with a 48% survey response rate. Teacher-reported safety at 95% and instruction quality at 90% both sit above district norms. Attendance at 90.9% edges out the district average, though chronic absenteeism at 69.4% is high; notably, that rate is concentrated among white students (88.2%) rather than Black (56%) or Asian (56%) students, which may reflect local family travel patterns more than school climate.

P.S. 133's enrollment is genuinely diverse for a Park Slope school: 37% Hispanic, 26% Black, 26% White, 7% multiracial, and 5% Asian, with a 78% diversity index. That mix doesn't always show up in Park Slope schools, where neighborhood demographics skew heavily white and affluent — and the school's 45.6 economic need index (lower than many Brooklyn peers) reflects that wealthier families do attend, but so do families from a broader economic range. With 601 students across PK through 5 and a separate special education cohort, plus an average class size of 21, the school has enough scale to offer programs but stays small enough that families tend to know each other.

Park Slope is one of Brooklyn's wealthiest and most family-oriented neighborhoods, with a median household income above $190,000, a poverty rate under 5%, and more than 82% of adults holding a bachelor's degree. About a quarter of households include children, which is exactly the demographic that fills seats at neighborhood elementary schools like this one. The high homeownership rate (43%) and strong educational attainment signal stable, long-term family residency rather than transient turnover.

The school is a 5-minute walk from the Union St (R) station and about a 6–7 minute walk from Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, which is served by the D, N, R, 2, 3, 4, and 5 lines — a genuinely useful commute for families from neighboring areas.