P.S. 241 Emma L. Johnston

Both ELA (71.9%) and math (72.3%) proficiency run roughly 11 to 15 points above District 17 averages (60.5% ELA, 57.3% math), and the school's overall 2.88 out of 4 score clears the district average of 2.36 by a meaningful margin. The trajectory is the more remarkable story: after bottoming out around 2017 (40.7% ELA, 36.9% math), scores climbed steadily and have held in the 63–73% range across both subjects for the last three years. Grade-by-grade, third graders lead the way (81.3% ELA, 85.7% math), with proficiency sliding as students move up — fifth graders land at 65.5% ELA and 59.3% math, a common pattern in elementary schools but worth flagging for families thinking about a longer arc.

The survey numbers here are striking. Parent-teacher trust and parent-principal trust both register at 98%, parent satisfaction sits at 94% (vs. district 91%), and teachers rate instruction quality at 98% (vs. district 89.1%) — these are unusually high numbers, with 194 family respondents suggesting the picture is real and not just a small sample. The discipline picture is clean: zero suspensions in 2023-24 and only one in the prior year. The honest concern is chronic absenteeism at 72.5%, meaning roughly three out of four students are missing too many school days despite an overall attendance rate (91.5%) that lands right at the district average. The day-to-day feel, based on what teachers and families report, is warm and well-led, but attendance is the one area where the school is clearly struggling.

P.S. 241 enrolls 384 students, fairly typical in size for a District 17 elementary, with an average class size of 22 that matches the district. The student body is 76% Black, 10% Hispanic, 8% White, 4% multiracial, and 1% Asian — a diversity index of 47% reflects the Black majority rather than broad demographic mix. Nine percent of students have IEPs, and the economic need index of 76 signals a high-poverty population that broadly mirrors the surrounding neighborhood. The 194 families who returned surveys is a meaningful response rate, and the warmth in the trust scores suggests these are families who are paying attention.

Southern Crown Heights is a densely residential, transit-rich slice of Brooklyn. Median household income sits around $70,304 with a 20.3% poverty rate, and 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a mixed economic profile rather than uniformly affluent or uniformly struggling. Only about 13.9% of households in the area have children, which is on the lower end for Brooklyn and means the school draws from a wider radius than some elementary zones. Homeownership is low at 14.5%, and median home values top $1.18 million, reflecting how much the housing market has shifted even as the resident population remains working- and middle-class.

Three subway options within a short walk: the Botanic Garden stop on the S line is about three minutes away, Franklin Av–Medgar Evers College (2, 3, 4, 5 trains) is roughly four minutes, and Eastern Pkwy–Brooklyn Museum (2, 3) is about six minutes — families commuting from elsewhere in Brooklyn or Manhattan will find it easy to reach.