Ps 270 Johann Dekalb, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 270 Johann Dekalb

PS 270 Johann DeKalb sits on Emerson Place in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, part of New York City Geographic District 13. It serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, so graduation rates do not apply here, and the school's academic story is told through state testing in the upper elementary grades.

The enrollment is small for a K-5 school, with a notably large pre-kindergarten cohort relative to the grades above it. The student body is majority Black, with substantial Hispanic and white populations and smaller Asian and Pacific Islander groups. A large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learner and special education rates were not available in the provided information.

State testing results on the New York State Testing Program, reported for grades three through five, are low across subjects. Math proficiency is particularly weak across all three tested grades, with only a handful of students reaching the proficient threshold in each grade. English language arts results vary more by grade, with third grade performing similarly to math, fourth grade somewhat higher, and fifth grade the strongest among the three, though still well below what most families would consider comfortable. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also low. These figures are drawn from small tested groups in each grade, which means a single student's result can shift the picture noticeably, so parents should hold these percentages loosely while still treating the pattern as real. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible from this data to say whether performance is improving, flat, or declining.

Placed against other districts in Kings County, the school's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile of the comparison set. That is the picture the data presents. A parent who wants to understand what the school is doing in response, and what supports are in place for students who are behind grade level, would be well served asking those questions directly of school leadership.

The neighborhood itself is deeply walkable, embedded in one of the most transit-connected parts of Brooklyn. Fort Greene and the surrounding blocks offer easy access to subway lines, the Brooklyn Public Library system, and the civic life concentrated around Downtown Brooklyn and Atlantic Terminal. Housing values in the zip code are well above the New York State median and substantially above the national median, and rents have risen meaningfully in the past year, reflecting a borough-wide pattern of strong demand and new construction, particularly in Downtown Brooklyn.

At the district level, families should know that District 13 middle schools now use a lottery-based, screen-free admissions process, with a majority of seats reserved for students from low-income families and those in temporary housing. This is the permanent admissions structure that PS 270 fifth graders will encounter when they transition. The Dr. Susan McKinney Secondary School of the Arts in Fort Greene was also recently restructured to serve only high school grades, removing its middle-school option. A separate K-8 school, Arts and Letters United, was formed from a merger and now admits District 13 families by lottery with income-based preferences.

PS 270 is a very small neighborhood elementary school in a high-cost, high-walkability urban setting. The academic results as reported are a meaningful concern, and the enrollment pattern, with many more pre-K students than upper-elementary students, raises questions about retention and growth that a visiting family would want to explore in person.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 71% · ▼ 58 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 58 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 64% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 53% · ▼ 44 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 48 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 72% · ▼ 58 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 68% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 63% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 47% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 595%

School 95% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #13, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.