P.S. 209 Margaret Mead: SHSAT testers and specialized high school offers, 2022-2026
District 21 · Brooklyn · DBN 21K209
- 8th graders, 2026
- 63
- Sat the SHSAT
- 20
- Took the test
- 32%
- Offers
- 5 or fewer (not published)
SHSAT 2026: registration October 6–30; the test is November 14–15 (School Day November 18, 9th grade November 21).
For families choosing a middle school
Getting in (Fall 2026 admissions)
In Fall 2026 middle school admissions, P.S. 209 Margaret Mead admitted sixth graders through one program (Zone Priority).
It had 85 general education applicants for 57 seats, 1 applicant per seat in the DOE's count.
| Program | Admissions method | General education seats | Students with disabilities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Applicants | Per seat | All filled | Seats | Applicants | Per seat | ||
| The Margaret Mead School (P.S. 209)Open to New York City residents | Zone Priority | 57 | 85 | 1 | Yes | 13 | 20 | 2 |
Where its students go next. The DOE lists Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies, Edward R. Murrow High School and John Dewey High School as the high schools its students most often attend.
Fall 2026 admissions: families applied in fall 2025 for sixth grade in September 2026. Seats, applicants and applicants per seat are the DOE’s, from its Fall 2026 Middle School Data file on InfoHub (saved by the DOE 2026-09-18), the same figures MySchools shows as last year’s demand. The DOE counts applicants this way: “MySchools shows the true number of applicants who were considered for a seat in a program, meaning this number excludes applicants who matched to a more preferred choice from their application.” (schools.nyc.gov, read October 4, 2026). Applicants per seat is the DOE’s own figure, rounded to a whole number, so 0 means fewer than one applicant for every two seats. “All filled” is the DOE’s flag for whether every seat in that group was filled; “n/a” means the file gives no figure. Seats and demand change every year; this page does not turn them into a chance of admission.
In 2026 admissions, 63 eighth graders at P.S. 209 Margaret Mead applied to high school and 20 of them sat the SHSAT, a participation rate of 32%. Across District 21 the rate was 48%, so this school sits 16 points below it. Citywide, among public middle schools that published both counts, 39% of eighth graders sat the test. It ranks 9th of 16 in District 21 on that measure. Its eighth grade is smaller than most in District 21: 14th of 16, against a median of 111.
The number of its students who received an offer to a specialized high school was 5 or fewer. The DOE does not publish counts that small, so it could be any number from zero to five; this page does not guess. That is the case at 11 of the 16 schools listed in District 21 for 2026.
The number of testers went from 24 in 2022 admissions to 20 in 2026, down 4. The sharpest move came between 2024 and 2025, when it fell by 13.
In District 21, the most offers in 2026 admissions went to students from Mark Twain I.S. 239 for the Gifted & Talented (173), out of 301 published for the district as a whole.
Year by year
| Admissions year | 8th graders | Sat the SHSAT | Took the test | Offers | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 67 | 24 | 36% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2023 | 96 | 36 | 38% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2024 | 92 | 36 | 39% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2025 | 67 | 23 | 34% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2026 | 63 | 20 | 32% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| District 21, 2026 | 3,206 | 1,524 | 48% | at least 301 | |
| New York City, 2026 | 26,123 | 4,023 |
“2026 admissions” means students who sat the SHSAT as eighth graders in the 2025-26 school year and received offers for fall 2026, as in the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary. “8th graders” counts the school’s eighth graders who applied to high school; “took the test” divides testers by that count when both are published. The district row adds the published counts of its schools, so its offers are a floor; the city row is the DOE’s own total. “Not listed” means the school is absent from that year’s file.
Schools in District 21 with a similar share of testers
The schools just above and below P.S. 209 Margaret Mead when District 21’s schools are ordered by the share of eighth graders who sat the SHSAT in 2026 admissions.
- I.S. 096 Seth Low37% of 335 sat the test · 8 offers
- P.S. 238 Anne Sullivan36% of 66 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- P.S. 226 Alfred de B. Mason32% of 99 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- P.S. 099 Isaac Asimov27% of 95 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- P.S. 121 Nelson A. Rockefeller27% of 52 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- I.S. 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg26% of 162 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
See how this school ranks
P.S. 209 Margaret Mead is not ranked for 2026 admissions: 20 students sat the SHSAT, under the 30 we require for a stable rate.
Best middle schools in Brooklyn for the SHSAT
Compare with…
What to do with these numbers
Your child is in 8th grade now
Registration closes October 30. Test day: November 18.
November 18 is the SHSAT School Day; the weekend sittings are November 14/15 and November 21. Whatever the count at P.S. 209 Margaret Mead, the decision to sit the test is yours, and a scored official practice test tells you more about your own child than any school figure.
- How to register for the SHSAT, step by step
- Score an official SHSAT practice test, free
- Book an SHSAT session
Dates read on schools.nyc.gov on October 19, 2026.
Your child is in 6th or 7th grade
A 7th grader sits the SHSAT in fall 2027; a 6th grader, in fall 2028.
The test comes in the fall of 8th grade, so there is no deadline yet, and that is the point: starting now leaves time to work on reading and math at a steady pace instead of in the last weeks. The counts above show what happened at P.S. 209 Margaret Mead, not where your child stands. We start with a scored official practice test, which does.
Your child is in 5th grade
Middle school applications are open until December 11.
Start with how many families applied for each seat last year: the DOE publishes it program by program. The middle school you choose is also where the SHSAT years happen, so ask the schools on your list how many of their students sit the test and how they prepare them.
Dates for fall 2027 entry read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
P.S. 209 Margaret Mead is a school figure. Your child needs a score.
Figures from Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results (school counts) and Specialized High Schools Admissions Overall Summary (city totals), New York City Department of Education, as listed for DBN 21K209; 2026 figures from the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary on InfoHub, not yet on NYC Open Data. Rebuilt 2026-10-04. Method and caveats are set out on the index page. Back to all 735 middle schools.