Ps 26 Jesse Owens, Brooklyn NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 26 Jesse Owens

PS 26 Jesse Owens serves grades pre-K through fifth grade in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, near the Nassau Avenue waterfront. The school draws enrollment of about two hundred students, of which a substantial share qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with smaller populations of white and Asian students and a very small share identifying as multiracial or American Indian/Alaska Native.

The school's most recent state assessment results show a pattern of decline in proficiency as students advance through the upper elementary grades. Third grade students in English language arts performed at a proficient level at a solid rate. By fourth grade, that share dropped significantly in both ELA and math, and fifth grade showed further softening in math and science. English language arts at the fifth-grade level held somewhat better than math, though still below where third grade began. Science proficiency in fifth grade was the lowest-performing subject area. Across the school, participation in state testing was strong, with nearly all students assessed.

When compared to other elementary schools in Kings County, PS 26's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint. That positioning reflects the school's relative strength in the lower grades, which anchors a schoolwide performance profile that, while uneven grade-to-grade, sits within the stronger half of the county's elementary peer group.

The school benefits from the New York City Reads literacy mandate, which in District 16 took effect in the 2023-24 school year and requires all elementary classrooms to use Into Reading, a science-of-reading-based curriculum from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This represents a significant, system-level change in reading instruction that all families enrolling here will experience. The school also stands to benefit from New York State's class size cap law, which targets high-poverty schools like this one for earlier phase-in of reduced class sizes in the earliest grades.

PS 26 is a regular public school serving its neighborhood, situated in a dense, highly walkable part of Brooklyn where families have access to extensive transit and street-level retail and services. The broader Williamsburg area has experienced substantial residential construction in recent years, with new apartment buildings and converted spaces reshaping the neighborhood's character. Housing values in the area are rising, as are rents, reflecting strong market demand that extends across the Brooklyn waterfront and into central Brooklyn neighborhoods.

A parent considering this school would want to discuss directly with the building what approaches are in place to address the proficiency gaps visible at grades four and five. The state data alone does not explain whether these gaps reflect a learning challenge that emerges in upper elementary years, transitions in curriculum or instruction at that level, differences in student composition across grade bands, or other factors. That conversation with the principal and instructional leadership would ground a clearer picture of the academic pathway a child would follow here.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 68% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 60% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 44% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 386%

School 86% · District 67% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 63% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 54% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 34% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 579%

School 79% · district not reported

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #16, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income81%Higher-income100%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income100%33 pp gap