P.S. 309 The George E. Wibecan Preparatory Academy

The headline number is a 65% ELA proficiency rate, which is well above the District 16 average of about 58% and a remarkable jump from 27.8% the year before. Math tells a more complicated story: 46.2% is below the district average of 57%, though it's also a big improvement over last year's 26.8%. Looking back further, the school hovered in the teens and twenties for both subjects from 2016 through 2024, so the 2025 results represent a genuinely sharp shift rather than a slow climb. The school only serves students through fifth grade, and the Grade 5 cohort posted 58.8% in ELA and 31.3% in math, with math clearly the weaker subject at the tested grade level.

The day-to-day climate at P.S. 309 reads unusually well on the survey side. Parent satisfaction is a perfect 100% (district average is around 91%), and both parent-teacher and parent-principal trust land at 100% and 99%. Teachers report 96% trust in their principal and 92% agreement that instruction is high quality, with 96% feeling safe — all above district norms. Discipline is essentially a non-issue: zero suspensions in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and the school reports a 0% suspension rate against a district average of 1%. The one real red flag is attendance: 86.5% overall (below the district's 88.7%) and chronic absenteeism at 43.8%, meaning nearly half the students miss enough school to be flagged. Black students show the highest chronic absence rate at 53%. This is the tradeoff — families feel deeply connected, but a lot of kids are missing school.

The student body is 60% Black and 29% Hispanic, with small numbers of white, multiracial, and Asian students, and a diversity index of 57%. The economic need index of 78.4 is well above the citywide average, meaning most students come from households with financial strain. About 23% of students have IEPs, a meaningful share that reflects the school's self-contained special education classes (SE is listed in the grades served). The neighborhood around the school shows a median household income of about $70,750 and a 23% poverty rate, with 40.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher — a mix of working- and middle-class Bed-Stuy households. The school is small enough that teachers, families, and kids likely know each other by name.

Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) is a residential stretch of central Brooklyn where brownstones and row houses share blocks with newer development. The census shows a median household income around $70,750, a 23% poverty rate, and a homeownership rate of just under 27%, which is typical for this part of Brooklyn where rentals dominate. About 11.9% of households have children, and 40.8% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher — a neighborhood that's working-class and middle-class at the same time, with a strong base of educated residents. The area is dense, walkable, and rooted in long-standing Black Brooklyn community life.

Families have three nearby subway options: Gates Av on the J and Z lines is the closest at about a four-minute walk, with Kosciuszko St (J) and Halsey St (J) each about nine minutes away on foot.