At a Glance
A small East New York middle school with a dramatic academic comeback and unusually strong family trust
Best suited for
Families rooted in East New York who want a small, program-rich middle school where leadership is approachable and the academic trajectory is genuinely trending up — especially families willing to partner with the school on attendance and behavior
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Dramatic multi-year academic turnaround from a 2016 baseline where fewer than 1 in 20 students passed state tests
- Near-perfect parent trust in school leadership — 100% of surveyed parents trust the principal
- Program catalog is maxed out at 100/100, with African Dance, Fencing, Lego Robotics, Coding, Film, and Specialized High School Test Prep all on offer
- Strong restorative justice orientation with Peer Mediation, Restorative Circles, and a Saturday Academy
- Intentionally small enrollment of 235 that allows for tight staff-student relationships
Things to consider
- Suspension rate of 14% is roughly nine times the district average, even after improvement from a higher peak
- Nearly half of students are chronically absent — the biggest barrier to academic progress
- Test proficiency still trails district averages by 12+ percentage points in both ELA and math
- Family survey response rate is just 33%, so the glowing satisfaction numbers reflect a self-selected group of engaged parents
- The dramatic 2025 score jump is encouraging but unproven as a sustained trend
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 19
Within District 19, peer schools like P.S. 190 Sheffield and P.S. 149 Danny Kaye post higher quality scores, and the district's average overall score of 1.94 sits well above Van Siclen's 1.45. On most quantitative measures the school trails the district — but the trajectory tells a more hopeful story than the snapshot suggests, and the parent trust numbers are among the strongest in the area.
Academics
The story here is one of dramatic improvement. ELA proficiency has climbed from 5.4% in 2016 to 36.6% in 2025, and math from 3.2% to 35.7%. That's a remarkable trajectory. Still, both subjects sit roughly 12 percentage points below the district averages of about 49% ELA and 48% math, and the overall quality score of 1.45 out of 4 trails the district's 1.94. The 2025 jump was the school's strongest year by a wide margin, which is encouraging but worth watching — single-year leaps don't always hold.
Culture
Trust numbers are striking — 100% of surveyed parents trust the principal and 98% trust teachers, both well above district norms. Teacher collegial trust (93%) and trust in the principal (94%) suggest a staff that works well together, and 82% rate instruction quality favorably (a bit below the district's 88%). But the day-to-day picture includes real friction: chronic absenteeism runs at 47.9%, and the suspension rate of 14% is roughly nine times the district average. The discipline trend is improving — suspensions dropped from 35 two years ago to 24 last year — and the school invests heavily in restorative practices like Restorative Circles and Peer Mediation, signaling an effort to handle behavior through relationships rather than purely punitive measures.
Community
Van Siclen serves a student body that's 66% Black and 31% Hispanic, a composition that closely mirrors the surrounding East New York-New Lots neighborhood. The economic need index of 89.7% places it among the city's highest-need schools, and 27% of students have IEPs. With just 235 enrolled, the school is intentionally small — average class size around 22 sits right at the district average, but each grade cohort is tight enough that students and staff tend to know each other well.
Neighborhood
The school sits in East New York-New Lots, a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood where median household income is about $58,000 and roughly 23% of residents live below the poverty line. Homeownership is low at 29%, and only about 11% of households include children — a neighborhood shaped more by adult renters than young families. College attainment runs around 16%, well below the citywide rate.
Three 3-train stops serve the area — New Lots Av and Van Siclen Av are each about a 9-minute walk, and Pennsylvania Av is about 12 minutes on foot
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 49 families responded (33% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. Van Siclen Community Middle School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Van Siclen Community Middle SchoolUnscreened83 seats
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Van Siclen Community Middle School a good school?
- On Motley, Van Siclen Community Middle School earns an overall rating of 36/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 19 average.
- What grades does Van Siclen Community Middle School serve?
- Van Siclen Community Middle School serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into Van Siclen Community Middle School?
- Van Siclen Community Middle School admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is Van Siclen Community Middle School public, charter, or private?
- Van Siclen Community Middle School is a public school in NYC Community School District 19.
- What neighborhood is Van Siclen Community Middle School in?
- Van Siclen Community Middle School is in East New York-New Lots, Brooklyn.