Ps 89 Cypress Hills, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 89 Cypress Hills

PS 89 Cypress Hills is a small, pre-K through grade 8 public school in Brooklyn that serves the Cypress Hills neighborhood with enrollment concentrated in the elementary years. The school draws from a community where the vast majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and where the student body is predominantly Hispanic, reflecting the demographics of this section of eastern Brooklyn.

The school's academic performance shows a clear profile: math proficiency is stronger in the upper grades, where eighth graders reach proficiency at a rate above half, while fourth grade math proficiency falls to a much lower level. English language arts performance is consistently low across all tested grades, ranging from very low in grades 4 and 5 to moderate in grade 8. Science results in grade 8 show proficiency near that of eighth-grade math. When compared to other district schools across Kings County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. Test participation rates are generally high, indicating that results reflect actual student performance rather than opt-out patterns.

The pattern suggests a school where students show measurable gains as they move through middle school, particularly in math and science, yet early elementary grades and intermediate grades 4 and 5 remain challenging. A parent may want to look further into what curricular supports or instructional approaches are being used in grade 8 that show stronger results, and what specific interventions target the significant drop in grade 4 across both subjects. The school adopted the Wit & Wisdom literacy curriculum as part of the citywide mandate that began in the 2023-2024 school year, replacing a prior model where principals selected their own reading materials.

The school is located in Cypress Hills, a residential neighborhood in East New York that reflects Brooklyn's broader character of dense residential blocks and neighborhood-based retail and services rather than separated campuses. Brooklyn's growth and development activity, particularly in housing, continues across many neighborhoods, though this section of eastern Brooklyn has historically been served by fewer new resources compared to waterfront or downtown areas. The borough offers extensive transit, walkable streets, major parks like Prospect Park, and a library system with neighborhood branches serving daily life across all its communities.

The school sits within Geographic District 19, which has experienced significant shifts in how families choose schools. The share of district families enrolling students in charter schools has grown noticeably, and the share of middle-school-aged residents who enroll in district middle schools has declined over the past several years. This reflects citywide trends in how families navigate school choice. A new accelerated high school, Bard High School Early College-Brooklyn, opened in the district for the 2024-2025 school year and offers a pathway for students to earn an associate degree and college credits before high school graduation, though students from PS 89 who continue to high school elsewhere will need to seek out such programs through the broader choice system.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 59% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 53% · ▼ 41 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 55 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 50% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 39% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 44% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 52% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 48%

School 8% · District 47% · ▼ 39 pts below district

▼ 45 pts below state median · ▼ 54 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 54% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 37% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 39% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 38% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 33% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 33% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 554%

School 54% · district not reported

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

Grade 842%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income20%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income13%Higher-income0%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income40%15 pp gap