The Christa McAuliffe School\I.S. 187

The numbers here are the story. ELA proficiency at 92.4% and math at 94.6% sit roughly 26 and 23 percentage points above the District 20 averages of 66% and 71% — a gap you almost never see at a single school. Scores dipped a bit during the pandemic years (ELA bottomed at 87% in 2023) but have rebounded steadily, with 2025 showing the strongest combined ELA/math performance since 2019. The 7th-grade cohort posts the highest scores (95.8% ELA, 96.8% math), while 8th-grade scores are slightly softer (87.5% ELA, 90.9% math) — a familiar pattern as students move toward high-school applications and the curriculum gets denser. With a 3.74/4 overall quality rating versus a district average of 2.75, I.S. 187 is firmly in the top tier of New York City middle schools.

Day to day, this school feels settled. Attendance runs at 97.6% — well above the district average of 94.2% — and chronic absenteeism is very low (roughly 95% of students attend regularly). Parent trust is the standout: 97% of families trust their child's teacher and 99% trust the principal, suggesting real two-way communication rather than just a warm welcome. Teachers rate the principal highly (94%) and report strong collegial trust (92%). The one thing parents should keep an eye on is discipline: suspensions went from 0 in 2021-22 to 1 in 2022-23 to 9 in 2023-24. That's still a low rate (1%, compared to a district average near 0.3%), but the trajectory is worth asking about at a tour.

The student body is 76% Asian, 12% White, 9% Hispanic, and 1% Black, which closely mirrors the demographics of Dyker Heights itself — a neighborhood that's been a hub for Chinese and other Asian immigrant families for decades. Twenty-six percent of neighborhood households have children, and homeownership is just over half, which helps explain the unusually strong PTA involvement: families raise about $142 per student, more than twice the district average of $61. The school's diversity index sits at 45%, lower than the citywide figure but consistent with its neighborhood. Fourteen percent of students have IEPs, and there's ELL support on offer for newcomers.

Dyker Heights is a residential, family-oriented pocket of southwest Brooklyn where the median home value tops $1 million and just over half of households own their homes. Median household income is about $76,700 and 19% of residents live below the poverty line — solidly middle-class, with a real range. A quarter of households include children, which is why the middle school feels so alive. About a third of adults here hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Three subway options within a roughly 10-minute walk: the N at Fort Hamilton Parkway (about 6 minutes), the D at 62nd Street (about 8 minutes), and the N at New Utrecht Avenue (about 10 minutes). Most families in the immediate area can walk or take a short bus ride.