Mark Twain Is 239 for the Gifted and Talented, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Mark Twain Is 239 for the Gifted and Talented

Mark Twain I.S. 239 for the Gifted and Talented sits on Neptune Avenue in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, serving grades six through eight. It is a public middle school, not a charter, and it draws students not from a single neighborhood zone but through a competitive admissions process that spans a wide geographic reach. Getting in requires passing a talent exam or audition in one of the school's specialized programs. That selectivity is the defining fact about this school's peer environment before anything else is considered.

The academic results are exceptional. Across both math and ELA on the New York State assessments, proficiency rates for sixth and seventh graders are extraordinarily high, well above what you would expect from virtually any middle school in the state, and eighth grade rates remain very strong as well. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts across Kings County, and that comparison covers more than a hundred district entities, so the position is meaningful. For the eighth grade math assessment, the data shows a notably lower participation rate than in earlier grades, which is worth asking the school about directly. It is not clear from the data whether this reflects students testing out of the standard state exam due to accelerated coursework, administrative reporting, or something else entirely.

Science assessment data for eighth grade shows no tested students in the most recent year, which is the kind of gap that most commonly reflects accelerated placement, where students may take a high school course and a different exam rather than the standard eighth-grade state science test. That is the most plausible explanation given the school's mission, but the data does not confirm it, and a parent should ask the school how science is sequenced. Social studies data in the file comes from a much earlier school year and does not reflect current performance.

On demographics, the student body is racially diverse, drawing roughly equal shares of white and Asian students as the two largest groups, with meaningful Black and Hispanic enrollment as well. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a notable characteristic given that gifted and selective programs citywide have historically skewed toward lower free-lunch rates. Publicly reported data from the pandemic lottery period showed that offers to lower-income students rose substantially when screened admissions were suspended, then returned toward prior patterns when competitive admissions were reinstated. The current enrollment reflects that reinstated selective process. IEP and English learner data were not available in what was provided.

Admission is through a talent exam and audition system run through the NYC public schools MySchools platform. This is a city-administered competitive process, not a neighborhood enrollment. Families seeking Mark Twain need to register interest in testing through that system. Publicly reported information notes that the reinstatement of screened admissions after the pandemic lottery reduced some of the diversity gains made during the lottery years.

Two citywide curriculum mandates are working their way through the system. NYC Reads, a science-of-reading-aligned literacy curriculum, is being phased into middle schools and is expected to reach all of them by the 2027-28 school year. NYC Solves is doing the same for math. These replace school-by-school curriculum choices with city-approved programs. How Mark Twain will integrate these mandates with its advanced, talent-focused programming is a practical question a parent visiting the school should raise.

The school sits in Brooklyn, which is a borough characterized by dense, highly walkable neighborhoods, extensive subway access, and real estate that runs considerably above state and national benchmarks. The broader borough is in active residential growth, particularly in Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg, which affects the housing market across many of the neighborhoods Mark Twain students commute from. Monthly rents in the surrounding zip code area are well above typical national levels.

No program listing, graduation rate data (not applicable given the middle school grade band), or chronic absenteeism data were available for this school. Multi-year trend data was not present in what was provided, so whether recent performance reflects an upward or stable trajectory cannot be assessed here.

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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
Science	284	87.0%
Math	53	100.0%

Math

Grade 694%

School 94% · District 64% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 49 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 798%

School 98% · District 74% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 890%

School 90% · District 70% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 53 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 693%

School 93% · District 64% · ▲ 29 pts above district

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

Grade 796%

School 96% · District 66% · ▲ 30 pts above district

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

Grade 891%

School 91% · District 64% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 54% · ▼ 54 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 897%

School 97% · district not reported

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 54 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 6Lower-income89%Higher-income96%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income91%Higher-income100%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income86%Higher-income95%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income90%Higher-income98%8 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income97%Higher-income99%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income81%Higher-income98%17 pp gap