The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in Social studies. The lowest is 32% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Ps 213 New Lots
PS 213 New Lots sits on Hegeman Avenue in the East New York section of Brooklyn, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a small neighborhood elementary school within New York City Geographic District 19, and its enrollment is compact even relative to other primary schools in the city.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller numbers of Asian and white students. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school among the highest-need settings in Kings County. Data on English learner and special education rates were not available in what was provided.
On the New York State Testing Program, math results are the relative strength here. Third and fourth graders reached proficiency at rates that are solid for a high-poverty urban school, and participation across all tested grades was high, which speaks to the school getting kids into seats for assessments. Fifth grade math fell back noticeably from those earlier grades, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school how it supports students across that transition. Reading is a more pressing concern. ELA proficiency across all three tested grades sits well below the math results, with fourth grade the weakest point. Fifth grade science tracked similarly to ELA. Placed against other schools with available proficiency data within Kings County, the school's overall academic index lands below the midpoint of that comparison set. Social studies results were reported only for a school year well in the past and are not a reliable window on current performance.
Families should know that District 19 is in the middle of a concrete curriculum change. Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, the district moved all elementary schools to the Wit & Wisdom reading program, a structured, science-of-reading-aligned curriculum publicly reported to replace the prior approach that let each principal choose materials independently. For a school where ELA proficiency is a real gap, this is a development worth asking about directly: what has changed in reading instruction, and what trend data, even internal data, does the school have from the past two years.
The district context carries one other item worth knowing. Publicly reported information indicates that the share of District 19 families choosing charter schools over district schools has risen over recent years, and the share of middle-school-aged children enrolling in district middle schools has fallen. This affects how families in East New York navigate options, and PS 213 sits within that broader landscape of choice and competition for enrollment. Bard High School Early College-Brooklyn, an accelerated program offering an associate degree alongside a high school diploma, opened in East New York for the 2024-2025 school year, adding a pathway that serves the neighborhood's older students, though PS 213 itself ends at fifth grade.
The housing market around the school reflects Brooklyn broadly rather than East New York specifically, since the data is zip-level. Home values in the zip code are above the New York state median, and rents have been climbing year over year, consistent with borough-wide pressures. Brooklyn as a whole is highly walkable and transit-rich, and East New York has subway access, though the neighborhood sits at a remove from the denser commercial corridors in northern and western Brooklyn.
A graduation rate is not applicable here; the school ends at fifth grade and does not serve a graduating cohort. Program-level information, such as arts, enrichment, or after-school offerings, was not available in the data provided, so a parent interested in what happens beyond core academics should ask the school directly.
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