MAURICE SENDAK COMMUNITY SCHOOL (THE) vs PS 361 EAST FLATBUSH EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL

PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School edges out Maurice Sendak Community School (The) by 0.1 points overall — 9.3 vs. 9.2 out of 10 — but the statewide rankings tell a sharper story: PS 361 East Flatbush ranks #16 of 4,739 New York schools while Maurice Sendak ranks #25. Both land in the top 1% of the state, so parents choosing between two Brooklyn schools 3.1 miles apart are working with an exceptionally small margin of difference.

On academics, Maurice Sendak Community School pulls ahead, scoring 9.2 vs. PS 361 East Flatbush's 8.8 — a 0.4-point gap that reflects stronger measured proficiency in core subjects. Growth runs the other direction: PS 361 East Flatbush scores 9.9 on growth against Maurice Sendak's 9.5, meaning students at PS 361 are making slightly faster year-over-year gains relative to similar peers. Families who care most about whether their child will be stretched beyond baseline will find PS 361 East Flatbush's 9.9 growth score compelling; families who prioritize demonstrated proficiency levels lean toward Maurice Sendak.

The demographic and resource picture differs substantially. Maurice Sendak Community School enrolls 199 students, PS 361 East Flatbush nearly twice as many at 364. Despite being larger, PS 361 East Flatbush actually offers a lower student-teacher ratio — 9.6:1 versus Maurice Sendak's 11.7:1, meaning more adults per child in classrooms. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility diverges sharply: 19% at Maurice Sendak versus 90% at PS 361 East Flatbush, reflecting very different socioeconomic catchment areas across the two Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Both schools serve kindergarten through fifth grade, keeping families on identical grade-span timelines through elementary. The equity dimension implied by the 90% free/reduced lunch figure at PS 361 East Flatbush — combined with its near-perfect growth score — suggests a school that is performing exceptionally well with a high-need population, which is a meaningful signal of instructional quality that raw proficiency scores alone can obscure.