P.S. 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School

The school's 2025 scores tell a dramatic upward story. ELA proficiency surged from 36.1% to 54.2% year-over-year, and math rebounded from a low of 18.3% in 2023 to 39.8% in 2025. That said, both numbers still sit below the District 22 averages (about 61% ELA and 60% math), and the overall quality score of 1.88 out of 4 is well behind the district's 2.43. Within the building, third-graders lead in ELA (68.2%), while fourth- and fifth-graders land in the mid-40s to mid-50s — a pattern suggesting early-grade literacy has been a recent focus area.

The inside-the-building climate reads warmly. Teachers rate instructional quality at 100% and trust in the principal at 97%, both well above district norms. Parent satisfaction (90%) and parent-principal trust (98%) are also high. The discipline picture is essentially conflict-free — zero suspensions over three consecutive years. The two notable flags are attendance and teacher-perceived safety: chronic absenteeism is at 58.9% (far above typical), and only 71% of teachers describe the school as safe, compared with 96% across the district. That gap deserves a parent's questions.

The student body is 70% Black, 17% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 4% White, with a moderate diversity index of 51%. Twenty-five percent of students have IEPs and the economic need index is 82 — meaning most families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The neighborhood's median household income ($75,649) and 12.3% poverty rate suggest a mixed-income community, though the relatively low share of families with children (14.6%) hints that many residents are working-age adults without school-age kids.

East Flatbush-Farragut is a stable, predominantly renter neighborhood in central Brooklyn where about half of households own their homes and the typical home is valued around $669,000. About 28% of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree, and the area sits within a short walk of multiple 2 and 5 train stations, which is the main way families get around here. The 2/5 runs along Nostrand Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, making this part of Brooklyn reasonably well-connected to Manhattan and southern Brooklyn.

Families primarily arrive by subway. Newkirk Av–Little Haiti (2,5) is about a 4-minute walk, Flatbush Av–Brooklyn College (2,5) is about 7 minutes, and Beverly Rd (2,5) is about an 11-minute walk — three nearby stops on the same line make car-free commuting realistic.