PS 253

PS 253 is an elementary school of high-enrollment scale in BROOKLYN, New York, overseen by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #21, educateing 955 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 116% bigger than the typical public school in New York, which averages around 443 students.

NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #21 comprises 40 schools with combined enrollment of 33,610 students; PS 253 is among them.

Looking at the student body, PS 253 reports that the most-represented group is White (38%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 33% Asian, 26% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, PS 253 has 65 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.8:1, putting PS 253 higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 91% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Kings County's rate of about 79%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), PS 253 is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 41.6%; this one delivers 69.2%, a residual of +27.6 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Kings County put median household income runs about $80,263, roughly 42% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 15%. Across Kings County's 583 public schools (combined enrollment of about 291,697 students), PS 253 is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: WILLIAM E GRADY CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION HIGH SCHOOL, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 253. On composite proficiency, PS 253 comes 2nd of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 59.2%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 5%: 912 students in 2018 compared to 955 in 2025. The White share of enrollment increased from 23% to 38% over that span.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.