Fresh Creek School (the), Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Fresh Creek School (the)

Fresh Creek School serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in East New York, Brooklyn, a neighborhood undergoing significant housing growth and development activity. The school is small, with total enrollment drawn from the immediately surrounding area. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the neighborhood.

The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with a smaller mixed-race population and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The data did not capture counts of students receiving special education services or identified as English learners, so a parent may want to reach out to the school directly about the size and support systems for those populations.

On state assessments administered in the most recent year, Fresh Creek's results show mixed performance across grades and subjects. In English language arts, the school achieved stronger proficiency in grades four and five, with most students meeting or exceeding standards. Grade three ELA proficiency was solid. In mathematics, grade four showed particularly strong results, while grade three and especially grade five showed lower proficiency. Science results, assessed only in grade five, were notably weaker, with about one-third of fifth-graders meeting the standard. The science proficiency gap may reflect where the school's instructional focus or curriculum resources have concentrated, or it may signal an area where students need additional support; a parent may want to ask the school about its science instruction and any plans to strengthen this area.

Overall, the school's proficiency index across tested grades and subjects places it in the top tier among schools in Kings County, suggesting that despite the variation across grades and subjects, aggregate performance is solid.

The school operates within New York City Geographic District 19, which adopted the Wit & Wisdom literacy curriculum as part of the citywide reading mandate beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. This science-of-reading-based program standardizes reading instruction across the district's elementary schools, moving away from a prior approach that gave principals more choice in materials. District 19 has also seen a notable shift in enrollment patterns, with more families choosing charter schools and fewer middle-school-aged residents enrolling in district middle schools, a trend that reflects broader patterns of school choice in the area.

The neighborhood itself is residential and walkable, typical of Brooklyn's dense urban fabric. Housing values in the zipcode are moderate for Brooklyn, though climbing steadily. The area is served by public transit and sits within one of the city's growing residential corridors. A new early-college high school, Bard High School Early College-Brooklyn, opened in East New York in 2024, offering families a pathway to earn college credits and an associate degree while still in high school, though this does not directly serve Fresh Creek's pre-K through fifth-grade population.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 59% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 485%

School 85% · District 53% · ▲ 32 pts above district

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

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 50% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 52% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Grade 492%

School 92% · District 47% · ▲ 45 pts above district

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

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 54% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 33% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 10 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.