The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in Math. The lowest is 37% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Storefront Academy Charter School
Storefront Academy is a small, independently chartered elementary school in the South Bronx serving just under three-hundred students in kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits on Jackson Avenue in a neighborhood of dense apartment blocks, commercial corridors, and smaller commercial interstitial spaces typical of the South Bronx's built environment. The school's student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black minority and small numbers of Native American students; demographic data on free- or reduced-price lunch eligibility and English learners was not available, so understanding the economic and language-support context would benefit from a conversation with the school directly.
In math and ELA, Storefront's proficiency pattern shows strength in third and fourth grade and a marked decline in fifth grade. Third graders meet or exceed proficiency in math at a rate well above the midpoint, and fourth graders also perform notably well in both subjects, with ELA proficiency in the fourth grade reaching a level that places the school in the top quartile when measured against other Bronx County districts. Fifth grade tells a different story: both math and ELA proficiency rates drop substantially, with roughly four in ten fifth graders meeting the state standard in math and about half in ELA. Science proficiency in fifth grade is the softest result overall, with about one in three students meeting the standard. Parents may want to look into this further with the school: whether this represents a genuine instructional gap in the upper grades, transition effects as students age, or other factors the school has identified and is addressing.
The school's overall proficiency index across tested grades and subjects places it in the top quartile among Bronx County districts, a genuinely strong standing. That ranking is driven substantially by the third- and fourth-grade performance; the fifth-grade weakness pulls the overall index down but does not eliminate the school's competitive position in the county.
Storefront recently adopted a structured-literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading, replacing its prior approach. This included a parent engagement process where families participated in curriculum review through focus groups, surveys, and community input before the school finalized the new program. This kind of instructional shift, rolling out across all kindergarten-through-fifth-grade classrooms, shapes how every child in the school learns to read and do math, and is the kind of pedagogical decision a family would weigh when deciding whether the school's approach fits their child's needs.
The school has also publicly stated a goal to expand to eighth grade, moving from a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school toward a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade middle school. For a family considering enrollment, this opens the possibility that a child could remain in the school through middle school rather than facing a transition to a new building after fifth grade, though the timeline and full scope of that expansion remain to be seen.
Storefront operates as an independent charter school and is accountable to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute rather than to the New York City Department of Education, a governance distinction that shapes its autonomy and oversight. The location on Jackson Avenue places the school within walking distance of the Major Deegan Expressway and subway access, and the South Bronx neighborhood is dense and mixed-use, with White Plains Road and other commercial corridors nearby anchoring neighborhood street life. Affordable housing production in the Bronx has been accelerating in recent years, including projects in the immediate area and throughout the borough, creating a dynamic residential market.
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