P.S. 184 Newport

P.S. 184's proficiency rates sit far below District 23 averages: 25.5% in ELA vs. roughly 52% district-wide, and 26.9% in math vs. about 50.5%. Science is even lower at 15.9%. The good news is the 2025 trajectory — math jumped from 15.2% in 2024 to 26.9% in 2025, and ELA rebounded from 15.3% to 25.5% — its strongest showing since 2022. But the trend has been volatile, swinging between 12% and 28% over the last decade, so this is a bounce worth watching more than a settled strength. There's also a stark grade-by-grade split: Grade 3 performs well (45% ELA, 61% math), Grade 4 is decent (21% ELA, 40% math), but Grade 5 sags (13% / 13%) and Grade 8 math craters to 7.5% — suggesting the older grades are where the school most needs to build capacity.

Inside the building, the picture from staff and families is warmer than the test scores suggest: 100% of teachers report strong relationships and quality instruction, parent-teacher trust sits at 91%, and teacher-reported safety is 91% — matching the district average. Parents give the school 90% satisfaction (district avg 93%) and family survey responses came in at a modest 70. But two numbers tell a tougher story. Chronic absenteeism runs at 46.4%, meaning nearly half of students miss enough school to be flagged — and the suspension rate has climbed from 5 incidents in 2021-22 to 22 in 2023-24, with a 6% suspension rate four times the district average. The day-to-day feel is a building where adults clearly trust each other, but getting kids consistently in the door (and keeping them there without disciplinary removal) is the real front-line challenge.

P.S. 184's enrollment is 70% Black and 27% Hispanic, with 26% of students having IEPs and an Economic Need Index of 94.2 — meaning nearly every student comes from a low-income household. The diversity index of 41% is relatively low, reflecting a community that is demographically concentrated rather than mixed. The school mirrors the surrounding Brownsville neighborhood closely: a majority-renter, working-class area where the median income is around $33,500 and most adults do not hold a bachelor's degree. ELL Support is offered for the small but real share of English-language learners in the student body.

Brownsville is a largely renter neighborhood (about 14% homeownership) with a median home value around $482,000 and a 37.6% poverty rate. Only about 8% of households include children under 18, and just 13% of adults hold a bachelor's degree — meaning families with school-age kids are a meaningful but not dominant presence in the census profile. The schools and blocks around P.S. 184 are predominantly residential, shaped by working-class roots and long-standing community ties.

Getting here by subway is solid — the 3 train at Junius Street or Rockaway Avenue is about a 6-minute walk, and the L train at Livonia Avenue is around 7 minutes on foot, giving families two real lines to choose from.