Achievement First Aspire Charter School, Brooklyn NY

Original Research by School Decision on Achievement First Aspire Charter School

Achievement First Aspire Charter School sits on Hegeman Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, serving students from kindergarten through tenth grade. The school is part of the Achievement First network and operates as a public charter. Publicly reported information indicates that the school has grown into a continuous K-12 pathway through the addition of Achievement First Ujima High School, which opened in 2021 and serves grades nine through twelve as part of the same charter. A family enrolling a kindergartner today has a single institutional home through high school graduation without needing to seek a separate secondary placement. The charter's authorization has been renewed through the 2029-30 school year, giving families near-term stability. Ujima also moved into a new, purpose-built permanent building in East New York in 2026 after years in shared and temporary spaces.

The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic share and small numbers of other groups. Free and reduced-price lunch data were not reported in the data we have, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized precisely here. Specific data on students with IEPs or English learner status was also absent. A parent with a child who has a disability or is an English learner may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

On state testing, the picture varies considerably by grade. Third and fourth grade results in both math and ELA are genuinely strong, with clear majorities of students reaching proficiency on the New York State assessments. That is a real strength for a school serving a community where statewide and city averages in the early grades tend to be modest. Fifth grade is a different story: proficiency drops sharply in both math and ELA, and science results for that cohort are also low. The pattern in the middle grades recovers somewhat, with sixth through eighth grade math and ELA rates sitting in the low-to-mid fifties range, and eighth grade science near the midpoint. Relative to the schools and districts compared within Kings County, the school's overall proficiency index sits just below the midpoint of that group. A parent should look at the grade-by-grade data carefully rather than reading the school as uniformly strong or weak, because the variation by grade is wide. The fifth-grade dip in particular is worth asking the school about.

No graduation rate is reported in the data available, which reflects the school's grade configuration: because the school currently runs only through tenth grade, a four-year graduation cohort does not yet exist within this entity as measured here. Parents thinking about the longer arc should ask the school what pathway looks like for students who continue through Ujima High School's graduation.

Program details, course offerings, and AP or advanced pathway information were not available in the data provided. Given that the high school component is relatively new and recently moved into its permanent building, families interested in what the upper grades offer academically should contact the school directly.

Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood, where the school is located, sits within a borough that is experiencing substantial new housing development. Publicly reported data shows Brooklyn leading the city in new residential construction, with Downtown Brooklyn completing a record number of new units recently. Home values and rents in the ZIP codes around the school are above the statewide median and have been rising, though they remain below Brooklyn's more expensive neighborhoods. Nationally, prices in this area are well above the national benchmark. The borough is highly walkable with dense transit access, and East New York is served by subway lines connecting residents to the broader city.

For a family seeking a structured, network-affiliated charter school with a clear K-12 pathway, strong early-grade results, and a recently expanded and rehoused high school, Achievement First Aspire is worth a close look. The middle-grade performance and the fifth-grade dip are honest gaps that deserve direct conversation with school leadership.

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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	122	52.0%
Math	92	26.0%
Science	90	83.0%
Social Studies	90	50.0%

Math

Grade 383%

School 83% · district not reported

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 480%

School 80% · district not reported

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · district not reported

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 643%

School 43% · district not reported

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · district not reported

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

Grade 855%

School 55% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 373%

School 73% · district not reported

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · district not reported

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · district not reported

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · district not reported

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

Grade 859%

School 59% · district not reported

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above 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-income73%Higher-income71%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income11%32 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income51%Higher-income63%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income80%Higher-income100%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income0%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income52%Higher-income75%23 pp gap