Success Academy Charter School - Bed Stuy 1, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Success Academy Charter School - Bed Stuy 1

Success Academy Charter School - Bed-Stuy 1 sits on Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, serving students from kindergarten through tenth grade. It is part of the Success Academy charter network, which means families are choosing a specific organizational model with its own curriculum, culture, and expectations rather than a neighborhood-assigned public school.

The academic results reported on the New York State assessments are striking. Across the tested grades in math and ELA, proficiency rates are uniformly very high, reaching or approaching the ceiling in several grade levels. The fifth, sixth, and seventh grades all show math proficiency rates that are essentially universal, and ELA proficiency across those same grades runs well above nine in ten students. Fifth-grade science results are strong as well, with a clear majority of students testing proficient or above. The grade-eight results show no tested students, which reflects the school's enrollment data: the data shows no students recorded in second, third, or fourth grade, and the eighth-grade cohort appears to have had no students tested in the most recent year. This is likely a gap in cohort progression as the school builds out its upper grades, and a parent would want to ask the school directly about the current eighth-grade situation and the plan for filling out the middle grades. Within the comparison set of districts in Kings County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile.

The school's enrollment is substantial for a K-10 campus. A large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school's academic results are achieved with a predominantly economically disadvantaged population, which makes the proficiency numbers more meaningful as a measure of what the school actually produces. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in what was provided, so families with children in those categories should ask the school directly about its support services and inclusion practices.

For the 2024-25 school year, Success Academy network-wide launched what it publicly describes as an "Education Moonshot," a full redesign of its K-12 curriculum built around college preparedness. Because Bed-Stuy 1 follows the network curriculum, this means families enrolling now are seeing a materially different course of study than students who attended even a couple of years ago. The network also publicly announced a meaningful increase in teacher salaries around the same time, which affects recruiting and retention at the campus level. These are real changes worth weighing for a family deciding whether to apply.

A graduation rate is not applicable here because the school does not yet serve twelfth grade. Civil-rights data and course access details such as AP or dual-credit offerings were not available in the data provided.

Bedford-Stuyvesant itself is a dense, walkable Brooklyn neighborhood with active street life and strong transit access. The broader borough is in a growth phase, with significant new housing construction, and the zip code's housing market reflects that: home values are well above both the state and national median, and rents have been rising, with year-over-year appreciation outpacing the state average. For a family thinking about where to live in relation to this school, the Tompkins Avenue area sits within one of Brooklyn's most transit-connected neighborhoods, close to multiple subway lines and the full range of borough amenities.

Success Academy as a network operates with a structured, academically demanding culture. That is a characteristic, not a verdict. Families who want high academic pressure, consistent structure, and network-backed resources will find a lot here. Families who want a more flexible or individualized environment, or whose children have significant special-education needs, should ask detailed questions before enrolling.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

3 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
Math	99	98.0%
Ela	94	83.0%
Social Studies	29	97.0%

Math

Grade 5100%

School 100% · district not reported

▲ 49 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 699%

School 99% · district not reported

▲ 54 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 7100%

School 100% · district not reported

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 598%

School 98% · district not reported

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 696%

School 96% · district not reported

▲ 50 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 799%

School 99% · district not reported

▲ 52 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 56 pts below county median

Science

Grade 585%

School 85% · district not reported

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above 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 3Lower-income67%Higher-income63%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income49%Higher-income65%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income97%Higher-income100%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income95%Higher-income97%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income100%Higher-income97%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income88%Higher-income94%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income84%Higher-income73%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income76%Higher-income77%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income100%Higher-income100%0 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income98%Higher-income100%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income100%Higher-income100%0 pp gap