P.S. 163 Bath Beach

The school's academic picture is genuinely strong: ELA proficiency at 78.6% and math at 84% both sit comfortably above the District 20 averages of roughly 66% and 71%. The trend line is one of the best in the district, with ELA rising from 39.1% in 2016 to 78.6% in 2025, and math climbing from 55.4% to a peak of 87.7% in 2024 before settling at 84%. Grade-by-grade performance is mostly solid, with Grade 3 ELA at 94.9% and Grade 7 math at 91.5%, though Grade 4 ELA (69.5%) and Grade 8 ELA (64.9%) are softer spots. The 48.6% science proficiency is the relative weak spot — meaningfully below the strong literacy and math numbers and worth asking about if you have a science-curious child.

On the survey side, the climate reads as healthy and unusually trusting: 98% of parents trust the principal, 97% trust teachers, and 98% rate instruction quality highly. Teachers report 100% on safety — the highest possible — and 98% on instruction quality, both above the district average. Discipline is light overall, with a 1% suspension rate, though the trend has crept up from zero suspensions in 2021-22 to four in 2023-24. The attendance picture is the more complicated story: the 93.1% attendance rate is just below the district average, but the 76.4% chronic absenteeism figure is striking — and the gap between Asian students (85.7% chronic absenteeism) and White students (69%) suggests this is a community-wide pattern, not a subgroup issue. It's the kind of number that deserves a direct conversation with the school about what's driving it.

The school body mirrors its neighborhood well: roughly 36% Hispanic, 34% Asian, and 29% White, with very small Black enrollment. That three-way mix is more balanced than many zoned Brooklyn schools and reflects Bath Beach's character as a working- and middle-class area with strong Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Latino roots. The 70 economic need index and 18% IEP share tell you this is not a high-resource enclave — about a third of families qualify for additional support, and the PTA raises only $37 per student (well under the district's $61 average), which has implications for what enrichment looks like.

Bath Beach is a family-dense southwest Brooklyn neighborhood where 23.9% of households include children, a bit above the city norm. Median household income sits at $78,233 with a 14.6% poverty rate, and the 36.3% bachelor's-degree rate tells you it's a working- and middle-class area, not a wealthy one — though the median home value above $1 million reflects the broader Brooklyn housing market more than neighborhood affluence. Homeownership at 40.1% is modest but meaningful in a city where most residents rent. The school sits in a part of the neighborhood shaped by multigenerational immigrant families, small businesses, and a quieter, residential rhythm than the parts of Brooklyn closer to Manhattan.

The school is a manageable walk from three stops on the D line — 18 Avenue (about 7 minutes), 20 Avenue (about 11 minutes), and 79 Street (about 12 minutes) — so most of the zoned area is reachable without a bus transfer.