P.S. 262 El Hajj Malik El Shabazz Elementary School

P.S. 262's proficiency rates sit more than 20 percentage points above District 16's averages in both subjects — 80.4% in ELA and 80.9% in math versus district marks near 57-58%. The trajectory is the real headline: from the high teens and low 20s in 2016 and 2017, scores jumped into the 50s by 2018-19, dipped during the pandemic years, and have climbed sharply since, with both subjects crossing 80% for the first time in 2025. Fourth grade is the engine (77.8% ELA, 83.3% math), while fifth grade holds in ELA (73.3%) but softens in math (60%) — a worth-watching gap for parents eyeing the middle-school transition.

On every climate measure the school surveys, P.S. 262 lands in the 97-100% range: parent satisfaction (97%), parent-teacher trust (99%), teacher-reported safety (100%), and perceived quality of instruction (98%) — all meaningfully higher than district averages, which sit in the high 80s and low 90s. The discipline picture is even cleaner: zero suspensions in 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24. The one number parents should look at honestly is chronic absenteeism at 58.1% — high, though notably lower for Hispanic students (31.6%) than for Black students (61.3%). Overall attendance is healthy at 90.7%, above the district's 88.7%, so most kids show up most days; the issue is concentrated missed days for a subset of families, which is a known dynamic in high-poverty neighborhoods and worth asking the school about directly.

The student body is 72% Black and 17% Hispanic, with smaller shares of white, multiracial, Asian, and Native American students — roughly mirroring the surrounding Bed-Stuy community the school draws from. The economic need index of 82 means roughly four out of five students qualify for free or reduced lunch, so this is a working-class, mostly Black enrollment rather than a gentrified one. With only 162 students total, everyone tends to know everyone, and the 14% IEP share means special education services are part of the everyday fabric. The 50% diversity index reflects some mixing in of Hispanic, white, and multiracial families, but the school's identity is unmistakably a Black neighborhood school.

Eastern Bedford-Stuyvesant is one of Brooklyn's iconic Black neighborhoods, with deep roots and a strong community identity even as rising home values signal ongoing change. The median household income around the school is about $70,755, the poverty rate is 23%, and only about 12% of households have children under 18 — a fairly low share, meaning this is a neighborhood of adult households as much as it is a place for families. The homeownership rate of roughly 27% and a median home value near $1.18 million tell a familiar Bed-Stuy story: long-time owner-occupants alongside newer, higher-income buyers, with renters making up most of the rest. Forty percent of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

The Utica Avenue A and C trains are about a 6-minute walk, with the Ralph Avenue C train around 12 minutes and the Gates Avenue J and Z about 13 minutes on foot — solid subway access for getting kids to school from elsewhere in Brooklyn or Manhattan.