PS 147 ISSAC REMSEN vs PS 361 EAST FLATBUSH EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL

PS 147 Issac Remsen and PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School land at nearly identical overall ratings — both score 8.2/10 — and sit just five spots apart in New York state rankings, with PS 147 Issac Remsen at #510 of 4,742 schools and PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School at #515 of 4,742. For a state as large as New York, that separation is negligible, and parents should not use the overall rating or rank as a tiebreaker between these two schools.

The academic and growth scores are equally close, but both metrics still matter. PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School edges ahead academically at 8.8/10 versus PS 147 Issac Remsen's 8.7/10 — a one-tenth gap that is essentially a draw. On growth, however, PS 147 Issac Remsen scores a perfect 10.0/10 compared to PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School's 9.9/10. Both figures are exceptional and indicate that students at each school are advancing well beyond expected trajectories given their starting points.

The clearest structural difference between the two schools is size and staffing density. PS 147 Issac Remsen enrolls 185 students with a student-teacher ratio of 13.2:1, while PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School serves 364 students — nearly double — at a ratio of 9.6:1. That means PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School has significantly more adults per child despite being the larger school, a meaningful advantage for families who prioritize individual attention. Free and reduced lunch eligibility is high at both campuses: 85% at PS 147 Issac Remsen and 90% at PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School, reflecting comparable socioeconomic demographics in the communities each school serves.

One concrete distinction involves grade offerings. PS 147 Issac Remsen begins at Pre-K, giving families the option to enroll children as young as four and keep them in the same building through fifth grade. PS 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School starts at Kindergarten, so families with Pre-K-aged children cannot use it as a single-school solution through those earliest years. The two schools sit 4.9 miles apart in Brooklyn, making a deliberate cross-district choice a real commute for most families.