The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in Social studies. The lowest is 19% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ps 59 the Dawn Best School
PS 59 The Dawn Best School sits on Throop Avenue in Bushwick, part of New York City Geographic District 14, which also covers Williamsburg and Greenpoint. It is a pre-K through fifth grade public elementary school, meaning no graduation rate applies here and no high school metrics are relevant to it.
The school is small for a K-5 building, with enrollment concentrated across early grades including pre-K and kindergarten. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school firmly among the high-need elementary schools common to this part of Brooklyn. Racially, the student body is split almost evenly between Black and Hispanic students, with very small numbers of other groups. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.
State test results from the New York State Testing Program are reported for grades three through five in ELA, math, and science. The picture is mixed across grades and uneven between subjects. Third grade shows the strongest results, with roughly two-fifths of students reaching proficiency in math and close to half in ELA. Fourth grade drops noticeably in both subjects, with roughly a quarter or so of students scoring proficient. Fifth grade rebounds some in ELA, reaching nearly half proficient, while math holds in the upper twenties. Science in fifth grade is the weakest reported result, with fewer than a quarter of students reaching proficiency. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Kings County. That is a real gap from the county median, and parents who want to understand whether a particular child's needs are being met may want to ask the school directly about academic supports, intervention programs, and how instructional strategies are evolving. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether the school is moving in any direction.
Participation in testing was strong across nearly all tested grades and subjects, which is worth noting because high opt-out rates in some NYC schools can obscure a school's true picture. That does not appear to be the case here.
The district context matters to a family making a longer-range plan. Publicly reported information indicates that District 14 has seen steep enrollment declines at both the elementary and middle school levels since before the pandemic, declines that outpace Brooklyn's overall trend. NYC has been accelerating school mergers and consolidations citywide, with Brooklyn disproportionately affected. A family should factor in the real possibility of school-level changes over the coming years. On a different note, a 2022 state law is phasing in smaller class-size caps through the end of the decade, a change that could meaningfully affect classroom conditions as implementation progresses.
Middle school access has also shifted. Selective admissions screens were eliminated citywide for a cycle, then returned at a much smaller number of schools, and District 14 families now navigate a different middle school matching process than existed a few years ago. This is worth understanding early for families whose children are in the lower grades now.
Brooklyn itself is one of the most walkable, transit-dense places in the United States. The neighborhood around Throop Avenue is served by subway lines and buses, making the school accessible without a car. The broader borough continues to see major housing growth, publicly reported as the highest new-unit production among the five boroughs in recent years, with particularly active development in Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg. Home values in the ZIP code are well above the state median and have been rising faster than the state average, and rents follow a similar trajectory, which is a practical consideration for any family evaluating whether to put down roots in this part of the city.
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