Red Hook Neighborhood School

ELA proficiency at 55.8% sits about 10 points below the district average of 65.5%, and math at 57.4% is roughly 6 points behind — students here are catching up, not leading. But the trend line is the real story: in 2016, just 3.8% of students met ELA standards, and by 2025 it was 55.8%, a near-vertical climb that's rare in the citywide middle school landscape. Science is a bright spot at 78.8%, well above where most city middle schools land. The gains have slowed some in the past year — ELA jumped roughly 21 points from 2022 to 2024 but only 9 points from 2024 to 2025 — suggesting the easier improvements may already be in the rearview.

Parent satisfaction at 91% and parent-teacher trust at 96% are genuinely high — families feel heard here, even though only 57% bothered to fill out the survey. Teachers report solid instruction quality at 91% and decent trust in leadership at 85%, though only 19 teachers responded, a small enough sample that one or two dissenters can move the numbers meaningfully. The school's biggest climate problem is chronic absenteeism at 74.6%, meaning roughly three out of four students missed enough school to be flagged — well above city norms even in a tough post-pandemic era. On the upside, the school has logged zero suspensions for three straight years, a clean record that speaks to how conflict gets handled inside the building.

Of 96 students, 57% are Black, 33% Hispanic, 6% White, with the remaining small shares Native American and multiracial — a diversity index of 55% that's lower than most Brooklyn middle schools and points to a primarily Black and Latino student body. Forty-four percent of students have IEPs, a far higher share than the citywide average and a sign that this school takes in a lot of kids with significant learning needs. The contrast with the surrounding blocks is striking: the neighborhood's median household income sits around $140,000 and median home value tops $1.7 million, so most of the families sending kids here are not the families buying the brownstones. PTA fundraising is $46 per student, less than a tenth of the district average of $491, reflecting both the school's economic mix and its very small parent pool.

The Carroll Gardens–Cobble Hill–Gowanus–Red Hook area around the school is one of brownstone Brooklyn's more quietly wealthy pockets — median household income around $140,000, roughly two-thirds of adults holding a bachelor's degree, and a typical home above $1.7 million. About 13.5% of residents live in poverty, and roughly one in five households has children under 18. The trade-off for the leafy blocks and quiet streets is a real distance from the subway, which shapes how families get their kids to school each morning.

No subway sits right at the door — Smith-9 Sts and Carroll St on the F and G lines are each about a 12-minute walk, and Bergen St (F, G) is roughly 19 minutes away, so most families plan on a bus, bike, or car for the daily commute.