Ps 226 Alfred De B Mason, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 226 Alfred De B Mason

PS 226 Alfred de B. Mason is a regular public school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, serving prekindergarten through eighth grade. The school sits in a dense, walkable neighborhood with active street life and strong transit access, in a borough that has been experiencing rapid residential growth and housing development. The building enrolls a diverse student body, with a majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and student composition reflecting Brooklyn's mix of Asian, Hispanic, and white families.

Academic performance across the school shows mixed results. In the elementary grades (third through fifth), math and English language arts proficiency rates cluster around fifty to sixty percent, with third grade math reaching just above that range and fifth grade English language arts performing at the higher end. Performance softens noticeably in the upper middle grades. Sixth grade math proficiency drops to around a third of students, and while seventh grade math recovers somewhat, the trend suggests students encounter real difficulty as concepts advance. English language arts holds more steady across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, staying in the mid-to-high forties.

Science results reveal a steep decline from upper elementary to middle school. Fifth grade science proficiency sits near the midpoint, but by eighth grade it falls to below one in six students. This sharp drop is notable and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand whether it reflects curriculum changes, instructional shifts, or the composition of students taking the test at that grade level. Older test data for social studies shows stronger performance historically, though state testing in that subject is no longer administered at the current grade levels.

When compared against the other districts in Kings County, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the county median. This positioning reflects the moderate to below-average results visible across subjects and grades, particularly the struggles in sixth grade math and eighth grade science.

The school operates within New York City's mandated literacy and math curricula. As of recently, all elementary grades use one of three city-approved reading programs aligned with the science of reading, replacing prior school-choice approaches. By 2027-28, all middle grades will shift to approved math programs as well. This shift means instruction is now more standardized across schools and tied to research on how students learn to decode and manipulate numbers, though the centralized approach also narrows flexibility in how individual schools tailor their methods.

The neighborhood context matters for families considering the school. Sunset Park has active commercial corridors and a strong sense of community, mixed residential and retail spaces, and reliable transit connections. Housing in the area has appreciated and continues to be in demand as Brooklyn grows. The broader borough offers dense walkability, major parks like Prospect Park, an extensive library system, and dense transit, though the school itself sits embedded in the neighborhood rather than isolated from it.

The data available does not include information on chronic absenteeism, graduation rates (not applicable to a school that ends at eighth grade), special education enrollment, English learner enrollment, staffing, discipline, or school-specific programs and course offerings. State assessment participation rates, while generally strong in the lower grades, drop noticeably by eighth grade, suggesting some students may not be taking the test, a pattern a parent might ask the school about directly.

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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	78	55.0%
Science	28	86.0%

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 67% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 63% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 61% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 64% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 74% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 70% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 59% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 57% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 61%

▲ 7 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 64% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 66% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 64% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 46% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 54% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 584%

School 84% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #21, 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-income48%Higher-income77%29 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income40%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income59%Higher-income88%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income50%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income78%37 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income56%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income58%Higher-income67%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income33%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income78%21 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income35%Higher-income33%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income58%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income54%Higher-income67%13 pp gap