Explore Empower Charter School, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Explore Empower Charter School

Explore Empower Charter School is a kindergarten through eighth grade charter school in central Brooklyn serving a student body that is overwhelmingly low-income and predominantly Black. About four-fifths of the school's enrollment qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and roughly four out of five students are Black. The school draws from the neighborhoods around its Rochester Avenue location in Bed-Stuy, an area of Brooklyn marked by dense residential blocks, active street life, and transit access to the wider borough.

The school's academic profile shows proficiency in mathematics and English language arts that varies noticeably by grade. Fourth grade math proficiency is strong, with a majority of students meeting state standards. Third and fifth grade proficiency in both subjects sits in the low-to-mid range. By sixth and seventh grade, proficiency drops further, with sixth grade English language arts showing the lowest performance of all tested grades. Eighth grade rebounds slightly in English language arts but remains at a mid-range level for math. Science proficiency, tested in fifth grade, is markedly lower than the other subjects. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the charter and traditional public school districts across Kings County, though the pattern of declining performance in the upper grades and weak science results are areas a parent may want to look into directly with the school.

The school's enrollment of roughly four hundred students is balanced across kindergarten through eighth, with larger cohorts in the middle grades. Participation rates in state testing are generally strong, though a few grades show participation in the mid-range. The testing data is current, reflecting school year 2024-25.

The charter was renewed by the SUNY Trustees in February 2025 and is authorized through the 2028-29 school year, giving families multi-year assurance of the school's continuation. The Explore Schools network, which operates this campus, underwent a leadership transition during the recent charter term, moving to a single chief executive officer, and carried out a consolidation of schools across its Central Brooklyn footprint. The network also re-sequenced its math curriculum in the 2023-24 school year to introduce concepts earlier and better align progression to how students learn developmentally.

Brooklyn itself is experiencing strong residential growth and development, with dense transit access and extensive street-level commercial and cultural life. Housing values and rents in the school's zip code are substantially above the state average, and well above the national benchmark. The neighborhoods surrounding the school are highly walkable, with schools and community institutions embedded in dense residential blocks rather than isolated on separate campuses. Family housing choices in the area span older brownstones, smaller apartment buildings, and newer residential construction, reflecting ongoing investment in the borough's neighborhoods.

Explore Empower offers a straightforward K-8 pathway without specialty programs, magnet designation, or reported advanced pathways. It functions as a neighborhood charter school rather than a specialized or selective program, serving the students who enroll. A parent considering the school should weigh the charter model and renewal status against the observed patterns of proficiency by grade, the lower science performance, and the school's open enrollment philosophy as part of their own fit assessment.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

New York Regents Exams

2 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Science	65	29.0%
Math	18	94.0%

Math

Grade 365%

School 65% · district not reported

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 489%

School 89% · district not reported

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · district not reported

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 660%

School 60% · district not reported

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · district not reported

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 361%

School 61% · district not reported

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · district not reported

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · district not reported

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · district not reported

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 868%

School 68% · district not reported

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

This schoolDistrict average, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income100%36 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income42%Higher-income83%41 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income59%Higher-income33%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income65%Higher-income80%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income93%Higher-income60%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income86%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income55%Higher-income33%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income80%23 pp gap