Ps 138, Brooklyn NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 138

PS 138 sits on Prospect Place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, part of New York City Geographic District 17. It serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which is an unusual span for a New York City public school — children who enroll in pre-K can stay through the end of middle school without changing buildings. The school draws from a neighborhood that is dense, walkable, and well-served by transit, with Prospect Park and the Atlantic Terminal transit hub close by.

The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, making it a high-need school by that measure. IEP and English learner rates were not available in the data provided.

On the New York State assessments, PS 138 posts results that are genuinely strong, especially for a high-poverty school in District 17. Across the tested grades in math, proficiency runs from the upper fifties in third grade up through the nineties in fifth grade, with the middle school grades landing in the low-to-mid sixties through low seventies. ELA follows a similar arc: third grade is the low point, sitting below half proficient, while grades four through eight range from the low sixties to the low eighties. Fifth grade math, in particular, stands out as an exceptionally high result. Science proficiency at fifth grade lands around half of students, while eighth-grade science is closer to two-thirds. The third-grade ELA figure is worth a parent's attention and may warrant a conversation with the school about early literacy supports, especially given the citywide "NYC Reads" shift now underway, which requires District 17 elementary schools to use one of three city-approved, phonics-grounded reading curricula rather than the prior principal-by-principal selection. That structural change is recent and may affect how literacy instruction develops in the coming years.

Placed relative to other districts in Kings County, PS 138's overall proficiency index sits in the top quartile of the comparison set. For a school serving the grade band it does, in the neighborhood it serves, that is a real strength.

A graduation rate does not apply here because the school ends at eighth grade.

The housing market around the school reflects broader Crown Heights and central Brooklyn conditions. Home values and rents in the zip code run well above both state and national benchmarks and have been rising at a meaningful clip year over year, according to publicly reported Zillow data. This is not an entry-level market by any measure, and prospective families renting or buying nearby should factor that in.

At the district level, two developments matter to families weighing PS 138 long-term. District 17 has experienced a sustained multi-year enrollment decline driven by falling residential population, which has produced excess seats and prompted re-sitings and co-locations at other schools in the district. That context means future consolidation decisions are possible, and parents would be reasonable to ask the school how it is positioned within district planning. Separately, a 2022 state law requires New York City to phase in smaller class-size caps through the 2027-28 school year, prioritizing high-poverty schools first, which could benefit PS 138's students over time.

Program details, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism data were not available in the data provided, so a fuller picture of day-to-day school culture would require a visit or direct conversation with school leadership.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

3 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Ela	20	80.0%
Math	15	100.0%
Science	12	92.0%

Math

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 64% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 58% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 593%

School 93% · District 50% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 48% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 762%

School 62% · District 51% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 45% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 347%

School 47% · District 61% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 58% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 60% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 53% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 54% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 873%

School 73% · District 52% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 35% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 38% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 591%

School 91% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 51 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income100%53 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income76%Higher-income57%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income70%Higher-income80%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income56%Higher-income100%44 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income67%Higher-income43%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income90%26 pp gap