Ps 91 Albany Avenue School (the), Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 91 Albany Avenue School (the)

PS 91 Albany Avenue School is a small public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The school enrolled a small total population and draws from a neighborhood where the vast majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting deep economic need. The student body is predominantly Black, with a meaningful Hispanic enrollment and very small representation of other groups.

The school's recent state test results show a mixed academic picture. Third grade performed quite well in both math and English language arts, with a strong majority of students meeting proficiency standards. Performance falters markedly in fourth grade, where proficiency dropped substantially in both subjects, a pattern that warrants attention. Fifth grade results sit in the middle range, with solid performance in reading but weaker results in math and science. Taken across the grades that the school reports, overall proficiency trails the median for schools in Kings County, though it sits above the district's lowest performers.

The school is very small across its grade bands. Enrollment in the tested grades (three through five) numbers only a few dozen students per grade, meaning each class likely contains around fifteen to twenty children. For families seeking small-group learning environments and close teacher-student contact, this size is a defining feature. The trade-off is that small schools often have fewer course and program options and narrower peer diversity than larger buildings. The prekindergarten and kindergarten enrollments are similarly modest, creating a school where most children know most of their schoolmates across grades.

State testing data was not available for fourth-grade English language arts or fifth-grade math prior to this school year, so year-to-year trend comparison is not possible from the data provided. The school's English learner enrollment and special education enrollment figures were not reported, which limits visibility into how the school serves students with those needs. Parents may want to ask the school directly about its English language instruction and special education programming.

Crown Heights itself is a dense, walkable Brooklyn neighborhood with strong community life, good transit access, and a long history as a residential and commercial center. Housing values in the zip code reflect Brooklyn's broader growth and development momentum, with prices and rents both rising modestly year over year. The neighborhood sits near major transit hubs and Prospect Park, one of the city's defining green spaces. Like much of Brooklyn, Crown Heights is experiencing new residential construction as the borough leads New York City in housing production.

District 17, which serves this school, is implementing a mandated reading curriculum across all elementary schools beginning this year, moving all schools toward a science-of-reading approach with one of three approved programs. The district is also subject to a New York State class-size law that will gradually reduce class sizes over the next two years, which could affect the school's staffing and classroom structure. The broader district context is one of significant enrollment decline over recent years, driven by population loss, which has created excess seats and prompted school re-sitings and consolidations; families may want to monitor whether this affects the school's stability or future operations.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 382%

School 82% · District 64% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 58% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 50% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 382%

School 82% · District 61% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 58% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 60% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 35% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 587%

School 87% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17, 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.