Enrollment
178
Elementary
DISTRICT 370 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #13·NCES 360009102772
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER
114 KOSCIUSKO ST, BROOKLYN, NY 11216 · (718) 857-9820 · Kings County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL178 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 14% of New York public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded New York public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
6.3:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.5:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
95%
169 students
DISTRICT 72% · STATE 58%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 21 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 22 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 20 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 21 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 30 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 30 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 34 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (22) is 35% smaller than its 5th grade class (34).
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 72% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NYS Assessments 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4)English Language Arts
27.0%
NY avg 58.3% . -3.0pp since 2023
Math
27.0%
NY avg 57.4% . -1.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the NYS Assessments, New York's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 27 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New York schools, those numbers are about 58 and 57. Reading and writing scores are down about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 1 points.
NYS Assessments results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 27.0% | 27.0% |
| 2023-24 | 30.0% | 28.0% |
% Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: NYS Assessments. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
25.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.1%
based on NY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 40% typical for New York schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among New York's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER's state test result (25.2% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER this school | 178 | 94.9% | 25.2% |
| FRESH CREEK SCHOOL (THE) BROOKLYN | 190 | 96.8% | 68.5% |
| PS 154 HARRIET TUBMAN NEW YORK | 182 | 96.2% | 37.2% |
| LIGHTHOUSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FAR ROCKAWAY | 157 | 96.2% | 22.3% |
| PS 243 WEEKSVILLE SCHOOL (THE) BROOKLYN | 199 | 94.5% | 23.3% |
| GREGORY JOCKO JACKSON-SPORTS-ARTS BROOKLYN | 203 | 98.5% | 44.4% |
Matched among New York elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New York | In Kings County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.2% | #2,149 of 2,335 | #274 of 290 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 27.0% | #2,147 of 2,342 ▼ 76 | #274 of 290 ▼ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.0% | #2,172 of 2,343 ▼ 404 | #285 of 290 ▼ 53 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 178 | #2,444 of 2,585 | #277 of 306 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.9% | #198 of 2,534 | #42 of 300 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.2% | #609 of 1,757 | #132 of 225 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
178
-20 (-10%) vs 2020
-55% since 2010-11, when it was 398
Student : Teacher
6.3:1
was 11.0:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 178 | 28.1 | 6.3:1 | 95% (169) |
| 2023-24 | 199 | 21.6 | 9.2:1 | 95% (189) |
| 2022-23 | 202 | 16.2 | 12.4:1 | 90% (182) |
| 2020-21 | 198 | 18 | 11.0:1 | 85% (168) |
| 2017-18 | 223 | 18 | 12.4:1 | 97% (217) |
| 2015-16 | 300 | 22 | 13.6:1 | 95% (285) |
| 2010-11 | 398 | 29 | 13.7:1 | 92% (367) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER.
About PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER is a small elementary school. Its address is in BROOKLYN, New York. It offers pre-K through 5 and has 178 students enrolled. Elementary schools in New York have about 443 students on average; enrollment here is 60% lower.
NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #13 has a total of 42 schools and 19,151 students, PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER among them.
More than half of the students at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER are Black (57%). Beyond that, enrollment is 33% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 3% White. In Kings County overall, about 28% of residents are Black. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 56%.
Its ratio of 6.3:1 is based on 28.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for elementary schools in New York is 12.8:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. In all, 95% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Kings County is 79%.
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 14% of New York public elementary schools.
Test results at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER are 14.9 points below what its free or reduced-price lunch share predicts (25.2% actual, 40.1% predicted).
In Kings County, home to about 2,631,580 people, median household income comes to about $80,263, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 42%, and about 15% of people live in poverty. Kings County's 583 public schools enroll about 291,697 students and include PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER.
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER's closest public school neighbor is PS 54 DETECTIVE RAFAEL RAMOS, about 0.2 miles away. The five-mile area around PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER holds at least 8 other public schools. PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER's average proficiency of 25.2% compares with 59.2% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The school is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more, according to its NCES locale (City: Large).
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased from 198 to 178, a 10% decline. Federal data show the ratio falling from 11.0:1 to 6.3:1.
Anyone can start a thread about open houses, carpools, and field trips at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Kings County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,631,580
Census ACS
Median income
$80,263
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
42%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
583
291,697 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #13
- BROOKLYN TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 5,848 students
- PS 11 PURVIS J BEHANElementary · 923 students
- BENJAMIN BANNEKER ACADEMYHigh · 854 students
- PS 9 SARAH SMITH GARNET SCHOOL (THE)Elementary · 782 students
- ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERSElementary · 757 students
- PS 20 CLINTON HILLElementary · 689 students
Other schools in BROOKLYN
- BROOKLYN TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 5,848 students
- FORT HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 4,044 students
- JAMES MADISON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,983 students
- MIDWOOD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,657 students
- EDWARD R MURROW HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,503 students
- FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,403 students
Nearby schools
- PS 54 DETECTIVE RAFAEL RAMOS0.2 mi · 180
- PS 23 CARTER G WOODSON0.3 mi · 230
- BROOKLYN CHARTER SCHOOL (THE)0.3 mi · 203
- ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS0.4 mi · 757
- BROOKLYN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL0.4 mi · 108
- BEDFORD ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL0.4 mi · 338
Frequently asked questions
About PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKERHow large is PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER?
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER enrolls approximately 178 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER serve?
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER?
Approximately 6.3:1 students per teacher at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER.
What is the racial breakdown of students at PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER?
At PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER, the student body is approximately 3% White, 33% Hispanic, 57% Black, 4% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER public or private?
PS 256 BENJAMIN BANNEKER is a public K-12 school, overseen by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #13.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.