Ps 229 Dyker, Brooklyn NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 229 Dyker

PS 229 Dyker sits on Benson Avenue in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade within New York City Geographic District 20. It is a large school for its grade band, with enrollment spread across all grades from pre-K through eighth. The school is predominantly Asian in its student composition, with Hispanic and white students making up the next largest groups, and a relatively small Black enrollment. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding neighborhood. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in the provided records.

The academic picture here is genuinely strong, and parents looking at state test results will find consistent, high proficiency across the elementary grades. On the New York State Testing Program, math proficiency in grades three through five runs well above the majority of schools in Kings County, with most students in those grades scoring at the proficient or advanced level. ELA in those same grades is similarly elevated, generally in the mid-to-upper range. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Kings County, a meaningful position in a borough with over a hundred district units.

The middle school grades tell a somewhat different story, and it is worth a parent's attention. Math proficiency dips in sixth and seventh grades before recovering somewhat in eighth. ELA in sixth grade follows a similar pattern before rising again in seventh and eighth. Science results in fifth and eighth grades are solid but not at the level of the strongest math and ELA grades. None of this is alarming in context, and the eighth-grade ELA proficiency rate is actually among the higher figures across all grades, but the sixth-grade dip in both subjects is real. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how students are supported through the transition into the middle school years.

One caveat on the eighth-grade test data: participation rates in both math and science for eighth grade are notably low, meaning only a portion of the eighth-grade cohort sat for those exams. The reported proficiency figures reflect only those who were tested. Parents should ask the school why participation falls off at that grade, as it affects how much weight to put on those particular results.

District 20 itself has become a contested place for middle school admissions. Publicly reported coverage in Chalkbeat noted that the district dramatically expanded academically screened middle school programs, becoming by a wide margin the leading user of selective screening in New York City. That expansion has created a more competitive admissions environment for sixth-grade seats and has prompted debate among families across the district. PS 229 Dyker is a K-8 school and offers a path through eighth grade within one building, which may matter to families who prefer continuity over navigating the screened program landscape separately. Three new schools also opened in District 20 in fall 2024 to address long-standing overcrowding, adding elementary and middle school capacity to the area.

The Dyker Heights neighborhood itself is a low-rise, residential corner of southwest Brooklyn, generally quieter in character than the borough's more commercially dense areas like Downtown Brooklyn or Williamsburg. Home values in the surrounding zip code are well above both state and national medians, and rents have been rising at a pace faster than the borough-wide average, reflecting continued demand. Brooklyn broadly is in an active development period, with new housing leading the city, though the growth is concentrated in neighborhoods like Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg rather than in the more stable residential fabric of Dyker Heights.

Program and course access data beyond state testing was not available for PS 229 Dyker, so additional offerings, enrichment programs, or extracurriculars would need to be explored directly with the school.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

2 courses 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	33	100.0%
Science	33	97.0%

Math

Grade 382%

School 82% · District 75% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 482%

School 82% · District 74% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 71% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 69%

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

Grade 757%

School 57% · District 74% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 70% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 67% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 67% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 69% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 65% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 775%

School 75% · District 69% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 884%

School 84% · District 67% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 58% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 61% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 594%

School 94% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #20, 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 3Lower-income78%Higher-income83%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income89%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income73%Higher-income96%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income66%Higher-income75%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income74%Higher-income80%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income79%Higher-income100%21 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income79%Higher-income91%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income76%Higher-income97%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income78%Higher-income100%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income79%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income75%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income63%Higher-income89%26 pp gap