MAURICE SENDAK COMMUNITY SCHOOL (THE) vs PS 245

Maurice Sendak Community School and PS 245 sit 2.2 miles apart in Brooklyn, but their overall ratings diverge by a full point — Maurice Sendak Community School earns a 9.3/10 against PS 245's 8.3/10. That gap reflects a significant difference in state standing: Maurice Sendak Community School ranks #10 of 4,742 schools in New York, while PS 245 ranks #424 of the same pool. Both are strong performers in absolute terms, but Maurice Sendak Community School operates in a different tier entirely, placing in the top 0.2% statewide.

The academic score delta drives most of that separation. Maurice Sendak Community School scores 9.2/10 on academics compared to PS 245's 7.4/10 — a 1.8-point gap that signals a meaningful difference in tested proficiency outcomes. Growth tells a different story: both schools score an identical 9.5/10, meaning students at PS 245 are advancing at the same pace as their peers at Maurice Sendak Community School regardless of where they start. PS 245 earns its high overall rating largely on the strength of that growth performance.

The demographic profiles of the two schools differ sharply. Maurice Sendak Community School serves 199 students with 19% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, while PS 245 enrolls 224 students with a 90% FRL rate — indicating PS 245 serves a much higher concentration of economically disadvantaged families. Student-teacher ratios are close: Maurice Sendak Community School at 11.7:1 versus PS 245 at 10.2:1, giving PS 245 a slight edge in classroom staffing density. PS 245's exceptional growth score in the context of its high-need population is a notable equity achievement.

One structural difference separates the schools at the earliest grades. PS 245 offers Pre-K through 5th grade, giving families an entry point one year earlier than Maurice Sendak Community School, which begins at Kindergarten and runs through 5th grade. For families with a rising Pre-K child, PS 245 is the only option of the two. Both schools are comparable in total enrollment size, keeping each within the range typical of smaller community elementary schools.