Ps 149 Danny Kaye, Brooklyn NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 149 Danny Kaye

PS 149 Danny Kaye is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in East New York, Brooklyn. The school enrolls a small-to-mid-sized cohort and is located in a densely populated neighborhood with a substantial share of residents living at or near the poverty line.

The student body is predominantly students of color, with Black and Hispanic students making up the vast majority of enrollment. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the neighborhood. Data on the school's English learner population and students with disabilities was not available.

In recent state testing, PS 149 shows strength in the lower elementary grades and a decline as students progress. In third grade, students achieved proficiency in math at a very high rate and in English language arts at a similarly high rate. Fourth grade results dip modestly in both subjects. By fifth grade, the decline sharpens: math proficiency falls to around the midpoint, and English language arts proficiency, while remaining above average, drops to a lower range than earlier grades. The school administered a science assessment to fifth-graders in which proficiency fell below the halfway mark. A social studies assessment from an earlier period suggested solid performance, though more recent data in that subject was not available.

Across tested subjects and grades, PS 149's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among elementary schools in Kings County, a meaningful position. High participation rates in state testing suggest the school is successfully getting students to take the assessments. The pattern of results invites a parent to look more closely with the school about what changes between grades and what support is available as students encounter more complex material in the upper elementary years.

Brooklyn itself is experiencing significant residential growth, with new housing construction and a growing tech sector alongside established healthcare and education employers. The neighborhood where PS 149 sits is highly walkable, with dense transit access and retail corridors characteristic of the borough's mixed-use urban fabric. Housing costs in the area have risen in recent years. The broader context of the school district includes adoption of the Wit & Wisdom literacy curriculum beginning in 2023, a standardized, science-of-reading approach that replaced the prior model of principal-selected materials, and the recent opening of Bard High School Early College-Brooklyn, which offers an accelerated pathway to an associate degree within the district's footprint.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 394%

School 94% · District 59% · ▲ 35 pts above district

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

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 53% · ▲ 35 pts above district

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

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 50% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 394%

School 94% · District 52% · ▲ 42 pts above district

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

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 47% · ▲ 24 pts above district

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

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 54% · ▲ 29 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 33% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 588%

School 88% · district not reported

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #19, 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.