Beginning With Children Charter School Ii, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Beginning With Children Charter School Ii

Beginning with Children Charter School II is a kindergarten-through-tenth-grade charter school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, serving a school population that is primarily Hispanic and Black, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school operates across a dense, walkable neighborhood with active street life and strong transit access, situated in a borough experiencing significant residential growth and development.

The school's academic profile shows marked strength in elementary grades and a steady decline in proficiency through the middle years. In grades three through five, the school reports very high proficiency in math, with the vast majority of students meeting or exceeding state standards. English language arts proficiency in those same grades remains solid, though consistently lower than math. By grade six, proficiency drops measurably in both subjects, and the decline continues through grades seven and eight, where fewer than two-thirds of students meet standards in either subject. Science proficiency data appears only for grade five, where performance is moderately strong. The school does not report grade-eight science results, though that grade is served; a parent may want to look into this further with the school.

This pattern suggests a school where instruction is working well for younger students but where the transition to middle school marks a notable academic shift. The causes could range from changes in pedagogical approach at the middle level, to shifts in student motivation or academic identity as children move into adolescence, to differences in the instructors or curriculum emphasis. The data alone does not explain the change, and the school would be the right source for understanding what happens instructionally between fifth and sixth grade.

The school's curriculum uses Fishtank Learning for English language arts and Eureka Math, both standards-aligned, inquiry-based programs delivered through a workshop model across subjects. Instruction follows a defined, network-wide approach that families can evaluate in advance. A significant shift in the school's ecosystem is the opening of Community High School, a companion high school in the Beginning with Children network located in Williamsburg. This creates a continuous K-12 pathway; students who complete grade ten at the elementary school can move into grades nine through twelve at the companion school without leaving the network, with college and career advisory services embedded in the high school experience.

The broader context matters. Brooklyn is a dense, mixed neighborhood with high walkability, frequent transit, and major civic anchors like Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Public Library system. The school sits in a neighborhood experiencing substantial new residential construction, with many families moving into the area. Housing costs in the zip code are well above the state median, and rents are climbing. The school's enrollment composition reflects the local demographics: a high share of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with smaller populations of Asian, white, and other students.

The school serves students from kindergarten through tenth grade, with enrollment distributed across those grades. The elementary band shows the strongest test results, while middle school students face a steeper academic challenge. Beyond that, the data does not contain information about course offerings in high school, graduation outcomes, disciplinary practices, chronic absenteeism, special education supports, or English learner services, all of which would be relevant for a family considering the school. A parent weighing this option would benefit from asking the school directly about those gaps, about how instruction shifts between elementary and middle school, and about what support systems exist for students whose test proficiency declines in the middle years.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

4 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
Ela	188	45.0%
Math	187	34.0%
Social Studies	62	71.0%
Science	17	59.0%

Math

Grade 398%

School 98% · district not reported

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 498%

School 98% · district not reported

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

Grade 598%

School 98% · district not reported

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · district not reported

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

Grade 762%

School 62% · district not reported

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

Grade 854%

School 54% · district not reported

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 387%

School 87% · district not reported

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

Grade 481%

School 81% · district not reported

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · district not reported

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

Grade 650%

School 50% · district not reported

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

Grade 765%

School 65% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 577%

School 77% · district not reported

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 37 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-income88%Higher-income83%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income65%Higher-income67%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income100%53 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income98%Higher-income100%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income63%Higher-income57%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income91%43 pp gap