Park Slope's PS 321 No Longer Best, According To Top Schools List

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Don't live on the "right" side of Union or Fifth Street? According to a new ranking released of schools across the country, you might be better off.

The school-search website Niche released on Tuesday its annual lists of the best public and private schools in America, with ratings based on metrics like test scores and academic performance, data from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as evaluations from students, parents, and alumni.

P.S. 321 - William Penn, a school known as one of the top elementary schools in Brooklyn, received top scores in nearly every category, earning itself an A- overall.

But in today's Brooklyn, that's not enough.

Several nearby schools, including P.S. 133 - William A. Butler and P.S. 39 - Henry Bristow in Park Slope, as well as P.S. 9 - Teunis G. Bergen in Prospect Heights, all received straight As.

The reason for P.S. 321's lower rating? According to Niche: diversity, where the school was given a B+.

While 72 percent of the students are white at P.S. 321, Gowanus's P.S. 133 had a much more diverse student body with only 36 percent identifying as white, according to the ranking.

P.S. 321 sill earned high marks in academics, with a commendable 83 percent reading proficiency and 87 percent in math, but still the competition bested the desirable school.

At P.S. 39, Niche reported the same score for math proficiency, but 92 percent of students scored at or above proficiency tests in reading, a whole 9 percent higher than P.S. 321.

The other schools that scored higher overall ratings had lower academic ratings than P.S. 321 and 39.

P.S. 9 in Prospect Heights had the single worst academic score with math proficiency at 59 percent.

As always, take all school rating with a grain of salt, but explore the ratings and their methodology here.