Ps/is 157 Benjamin Franklin Heath and Science Academy (the), Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps/is 157 Benjamin Franklin Heath and Science Academy (the)

PS/IS 157 Benjamin Franklin Health and Science Academy sits at 850 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade within NYC Geographic District 14, which covers the Williamsburg and Greenpoint sections of the borough. The school's name signals a health and science orientation, though no program-level detail on what that means in practice was available in the data provided.

The student body is relatively small for a school spanning this full a grade range. The demographic profile is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up a secondary share and smaller numbers of white, Asian, and other students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high-need economic context. Data on English learner rates and individualized education program participation were not available.

On the New York State assessments, the results are uneven and, in several grades, low. In math, third-grade proficiency sits at roughly half of students tested, which is the school's strongest math result, and performance drops as grades advance, landing well below that mark in grades five through seven. Eighth-grade math data showed no tested students. In ELA, the picture is similarly inconsistent. Third-grade ELA was zero out of a small group tested, though extremely low participation in that grade means the result should be read cautiously. Fourth-grade ELA was substantially above half, eighth-grade ELA was the strongest result across the whole school, and the middle grades cluster in the lower third range. Science proficiency in fifth grade was quite low; eighth-grade science was more moderate. Across subjects and grades combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Kings County. Parents who want to understand the trajectory for any particular child would benefit from asking the school directly about grade-level supports and how students are tracked into high school readiness.

One consistent issue worth noting independently of the proficiency results is participation rates. Across many tested grades, a meaningful share of enrolled students did not sit for the state exam. Where tested groups are very small, individual results can swing dramatically, so the grade-level numbers should be treated as directional rather than precise. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving, declining, or flat.

The neighborhood context is very much urban Brooklyn. The Kent Avenue address places the school near the Williamsburg waterfront, an area that has seen substantial residential development and rapid housing cost growth. Publicly reported data shows home values in the surrounding zip code well above the state benchmark and rising at a pace outpacing the state, with rents following a similar upward trajectory. Families evaluating the area for housing should expect a premium relative to much of New York State.

Brooklyn itself offers the density and transit access that defines daily life here. Publicly reported walk scores for the borough are among the highest in the country, and the neighborhood's street life, transit options, and proximity to services are genuine practical assets for families without cars. District 14 as a whole has seen steep enrollment declines since before the pandemic, which has made the district one of those most affected by NYC's wave of school mergers and consolidations. Families should factor in some possibility of structural school changes over the coming years, though nothing specific to PS/IS 157 was available in the data. The citywide shift away from middle school admissions screens, and the state-mandated phase-in of smaller class-size caps through the end of the decade, are both policy changes that apply to this school and shape what District 14 families can expect from the admissions process and classroom conditions going forward.

A graduation rate is not applicable here, as the school does not serve high school grades. Chronic absenteeism data was not available.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

1 course 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
Math	32	16.0%

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 67% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 63% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 61% · ▼ 32 pts below district

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

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 48% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 61% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 33% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 62% · ▼ 62 pts below district

▼ 52 pts below state median · ▼ 64 pts below county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 63% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 72% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 60% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 61% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 63% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 48% · ▼ 30 pts below district

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

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 40% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 570%

School 70% · district not reported

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #14, 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

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income0%17 pp gap