P.S. 161 The Crown

ELA proficiency at 55.6% and math at 55.1% both land a few points below the District 17 averages of 60.5% and 57.3% respectively, but the trajectory is the real story here. From 2018 lows around 30% in ELA and 27% in math, the school more than doubled its ELA score by 2023 and now sits in the mid-50s in both subjects. The 2024 dip (ELA back to 35.7%) shows the climb has not been linear, but the 2025 rebound suggests real momentum rather than a fluke. Grade 3 leads the building with 69.7% in both ELA and math, while grade 5 — the school's oldest cohort — lags behind, particularly in math at 35.8%. The overall quality review score of 2.21 out of 4 is slightly under the district's 2.36 average, framing this as a school on the rise rather than one already at the top.

The day-to-day feel of P.S. 161 is shaped by unusually high survey trust scores across the board: 100% of teachers report strong relationships, 97% of parents trust the principal, and 92% rate instruction quality as strong — all at or above district averages. Only one suspension was recorded across the 2023-24 school year, so discipline is essentially a non-issue. The softer signal underneath those strong trust numbers is attendance: the 89.7% attendance rate sits just below the district average, and 58.1% of students are flagged as chronically absent — meaning more than half of kids missed enough school to raise concerns. Among Black students that chronic absenteeism figure climbs to 61.5%. This is the trade-off parents should know about: the adults here are aligned and the building feels safe, but getting kids to school consistently is a real challenge the school is working against.

P.S. 161's student body is 78% Black, 12% Hispanic, and 6% Asian, with a diversity index of 44% — lower than many Brooklyn elementary schools, reflecting that this is a deeply rooted neighborhood school rather than a magnet drawing from across the borough. The economic need index of 84.9% means a large share of students come from households facing financial pressure, and 22% of students have IEPs, indicating a meaningful special education presence in the building. Surveys show 35% of families responded (a solid response rate for a school of this size), and the 91 family responses feed into those strong parent trust numbers.

Crown Heights South is a Brooklyn neighborhood in transition, with a median household income around $70,300 and a 20.3% poverty rate — a mix of long-time Caribbean American families and newer residents priced into one of the borough's increasingly competitive housing markets. Homeownership is low at 14.5% and median home values exceed $1.1 million, reflecting how gentrification has reshaped real estate even as many working-class households remain. About 13.9% of households have children, and 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a neighborhood where families with school-age kids are a meaningful but not dominant share.

The 2 and 5 trains stop at President St–Medgar Evers College about a four-minute walk away and at Sterling St about five minutes; the 3 train at Nostrand Av is roughly six minutes on foot.