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
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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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.
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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
180
-15 (-8%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
was 11.5:1
% White
6%
was 7%
% Hispanic
18%
was 7%
% Black
69%
was 69%
% Asian
4%
was 3%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is one of the intimate primary schools in BROOKLYN, New York, overseen by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17, with 180 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, New York's public schools average about 443 students each, so PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE sits 59% leaner than that benchmark.
NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #17 comprises 49 schools with combined enrollment of 16,990 students; PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is among them.
Looking at the student body, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE reports that the largest single group is Black, at 69% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 18% Hispanic, 6% White, 4% Asian. By comparison, Kings County as a whole is about 28% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.
On the income-and-resources front, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE reports 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 11.0:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. Roughly 84% of students at PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.
With demographic context factored in, PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE ranks in the top 10% of New York public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 44.1%; PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE posts 64.9%, +20.7 points above that line.
In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Kings County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $80,263 per year, about 42% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 15%. PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE is one of 583 public schools in Kings County (combined enrollment of about 291,697 students).
Nearest neighbor: HIGH SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SERVICE-HEROES OF TOMORROW, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE at 2nd of 8; the average score across the group is 45.1%.
PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE operates from a city-core location.
Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 8%: 195 students in 2018 compared to 180 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share climbed from 7% to 18%.
In the discussion threads here, members of the PS 397 FOSTER-LAURIE community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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
- PARKSIDE PREPARATORY ACADEMY0.3 mi · 248
- PS 1410.3 mi · 366
- EXPLORE CHARTER SCHOOL0.3 mi · 574
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.