Ps 221 Toussaint L'ouverture, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 221 Toussaint L'ouverture

PS 221 Toussaint L'Ouverture is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in central Brooklyn. The school enrolls a small student body, with families spread across the early grade span. The enrollment is heavily concentrated in the youngest grades, with substantially larger kindergarten and pre-K cohorts than in the upper elementary levels.

The school serves a deeply economically stressed student population. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating high family economic need. The enrollment is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of Hispanic students and very few students from other racial and ethnic groups. Data on English learner enrollment and students receiving special education services were not available.

On state assessments, PS 221 shows mixed performance with a clear pattern of declining proficiency as students move into upper grades. In third grade, proficiency in English language arts is substantially above the midpoint, and math proficiency is solid. By fourth and fifth grades, the picture narrows. In fourth-grade ELA, proficiency holds at roughly the midpoint, but fourth-grade math proficiency drops to half of students meeting the standard. Fifth grade is notably weaker: proficiency in ELA falls to below the midpoint, math proficiency is quite low, and science proficiency is low as well. Across the board, the school sits in the top quartile for overall proficiency relative to other schools in Kings County, but this reflects the early-grade strength and masks the steeper challenge in the upper elementary grades. A parent may want to look into how the school addresses this performance gap and what specific supports exist for students in grades four and five.

The school is located on Empire Boulevard in Brooklyn, in a neighborhood where housing values are substantial and rents are rising. The surrounding area is walkable and well-served by transit, though that housing market context may not be immediately relevant to school families depending on their housing stability.

Systemwide, District 17 is implementing New York City's mandated reading curriculum, a shift toward structured literacy instruction that applies to all elementary schools in the district. The state is also phasing in smaller class-size caps over coming years. The district has faced sustained enrollment decline driven by residential population shifts, which has prompted school relocations and co-locations. These are longer-term structural changes that shape enrollment stability and resource allocation across the district.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 378%

School 78% · District 64% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 58% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 50% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 388%

School 88% · District 61% · ▲ 26 pts above district

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

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 58% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 60% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 35% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 579%

School 79% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 3 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.