Enrollment
180
Elementary
DISTRICT 342 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17·NCES 360009502832
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE
490 FENIMORE ST, BROOKLYN, NY 11203 · (718) 774-5200 · Kings County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL180 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% of New York public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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
11.0:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.3:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
84%
151 students
DISTRICT 87% · 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 | 12 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 29 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 27 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 33 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 35 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 25 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 18 | 10% |
| Ungraded | 1 | 1% |
This year's kindergarten class (29) is 61% larger than its 5th grade class (18).
Student demographics
48%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 48% · 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
76.0%
NY avg 58.3% . +14.0pp since 2023
Math
71.0%
NY avg 57.4% . -6.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the NYS Assessments, New York's statewide test, about 76 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 71 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New York schools, those numbers are about 58 and 57. Reading and writing scores are up about 14 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 6 points.
NYS Assessments results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 76.0% | 71.0% |
| 2023-24 | 62.0% | 77.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NY schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
64.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.1%
based on NY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+20.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 65% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 44% typical for New York schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 21 points, placing it in New York's top 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 397 FOSTER-LAURIE
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE's state test result (64.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE this school | 180 | 83.9% | 64.9% |
| PS 156 LAURELTON SPRINGFIELD GARDENS | 172 | 84.3% | 47.3% |
| PS 3 BEDFORD VILLAGE (THE) BROOKLYN | 174 | 86.2% | 40.3% |
| PS 262 EL HAJJ MALIK EL SHABAZZ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BROOKLYN | 155 | 85.8% | 59.0% |
| SISULU-WALKER CHARTER SCHOOL OF HARLEM NEW YORK | 152 | 84.9% | 60.8% |
| BROOKLYN CHARTER SCHOOL (THE) BROOKLYN | 203 | 89.7% | 56.0% |
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 397 FOSTER-LAURIE ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New York | In Kings County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 64.9% | #564 of 2,335 | #89 of 290 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.0% | #647 of 2,342 ▼ 285 | #116 of 290 ▼ 71 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 76.0% | #344 of 2,343 ▲ 108 | #64 of 290 ▲ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 180 | #2,436 of 2,585 | #275 of 306 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 83.9% | #650 of 2,534 | #181 of 300 |
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
180
+14 (+8%) vs 2020
-52% since 2010-11, when it was 373
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
was 11.1:1
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 | 180 | 16.4 | 11.0:1 | 84% (151) |
| 2023-24 | 167 | 14.1 | 11.8:1 | 81% (135) |
| 2022-23 | 165 | 13.7 | 12.0:1 | 81% (134) |
| 2020-21 | 166 | 15 | 11.1:1 | 86% (143) |
| 2017-18 | 195 | 17 | 11.5:1 | 88% (171) |
| 2015-16 | 258 | 19 | 13.6:1 | 85% (219) |
| 2010-11 | 373 | 30 | 12.4:1 | 97% (363) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE.
About PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is a small elementary school located in BROOKLYN, New York. Its enrollment is 180 students, spread over pre-K through 5. Elementary schools in New York average about 443 students, which makes this school 59% below average.
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is run by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17, whose 49 schools enroll 16,990 students.
The largest group at PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is Black students, at 69%. The remaining students are 18% Hispanic, 6% White, and 4% Asian. Among people living in Kings County, the Black share is about 28%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE scores 48%.
Its ratio of 11.0:1 is based on 16.4 full-time-equivalent teachers. Statewide, elementary schools in New York average 12.8:1. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 84%.
On the allk12 Grade, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE lands at A-, ahead of 82% of New York public elementary schools.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE ranks in the top 10% of New York schools. It scores 64.9%; the prediction is 44.1%.
American Community Survey estimates for Kings County show that median household income comes to about $80,263, roughly 42% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 15% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Kings County counts 583 public schools with about 291,697 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, HIGH SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SERVICE-HEROES OF TOMORROW, is about 0.2 miles. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE places 2nd of 8 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Large: inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 180, compared with 166 in 2020-21.
This page is set up for the PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 #17
- CLARA BARTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,325 students
- MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOLHigh · 1,267 students
- PS 189 BILINGUAL CENTER (THE)Elementary · 887 students
- PS 249 CATON (THE)Elementary · 663 students
- PS 316 ELIJAH STROUDElementary · 644 students
- NORMA ADAMS CLEMONS ACADEMYElementary · 588 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
- HIGH SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SERVICE-HEROES OF TOMORROW0.2 mi · 365
- SCHOOL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (THE)0.2 mi · 139
- BROOKLYN INSTITUTE FOR LIBERAL ARTS0.2 mi · 479
- PS 1410.3 mi · 366
- EXPLORE CHARTER SCHOOL0.3 mi · 574
- PARKSIDE PREPARATORY ACADEMY0.3 mi · 248
Frequently asked questions
About PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIEHow large is PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE?
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE enrolls approximately 180 students in grades PK-05.
Is PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE an elementary, middle, or high school?
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE have?
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE employs 16 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.0:1.
What is the student diversity at PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE?
Student demographics at PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE are roughly 6% White, 18% Hispanic, 69% Black, 4% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE in?
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is part of NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.