Forte Preparatory Academy Charter School, Elmhurst NY

Original Research by School Decision on Forte Preparatory Academy Charter School

Forte Preparatory Academy Charter School sits on the second floor of a building in Elmhurst, a dense and extremely walkable Queens neighborhood where subway lines, international markets, and busy commercial corridors on Queens Boulevard, Broadway, and Roosevelt Avenue define daily life. The neighborhood is predominantly immigrant-led, shaped by Latin American and Asian communities, and is in the middle of a notable development surge: a major rezoning cleared the City Council in late 2025, and multiple large mixed-use projects are either under construction or proposed along Queens Boulevard. Housing values here track very close to the New York State median, and rents have been climbing at a pace considerably faster than year-over-year appreciation in home values, reflecting tight conditions citywide.

The school currently serves grades five through nine, making it a middle-to-early-high school. That grade band matters for how to read the data: New York State tests grades five through eight in math, ELA, and science, so those results are available here and provide a clear picture. The ninth grade falls outside the tested window, so no state assessment data exists for that cohort, and a graduation rate does not yet apply to the school's own completers given how recently it expanded into high school years.

What the test results show is genuinely strong, particularly in math. By seventh and eighth grade, the large majority of students are scoring proficient or above on the state assessment, placing math results among the better-performing schools in any comparison. ELA follows a similar arc: moderate proficiency in fifth grade, rising through sixth and seventh, and settling at a solid level in eighth. The grade-to-grade trajectory in both subjects is one of the more telling features here; the school appears to move students forward meaningfully across the middle years. Fifth grade is the entry point and shows the lowest proficiency in both subjects, which is worth noting. Whether that reflects incoming preparation levels or something else is a question a parent would want to explore directly with the school.

Science tells a different story. The fifth-grade science result is considerably weaker than the school's math and ELA results at that same grade, and while eighth-grade science comes in at a solid level, the gap between science and the other subjects in fifth grade is wide enough that a parent may want to ask how the school approaches science instruction in the early grades.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of Black and Asian students. The large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this a high-need population by standard measures. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the information provided. Among the districts and schools compared within Queens County, Forte Prep's overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile, which is a meaningful position given how competitive and varied the Queens school landscape is.

Publicly reported information from the school describes a significant structural change that families should understand. Forte Prep expanded from a grades five through eight middle school into a tuition-free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory school serving grades five through twelve, with the high school opening in 2023. A permanent high school building at a Queens Boulevard address in Elmhurst is set to open in fall 2026, providing a gymnasium and rooftop athletic field after the high school cohort spent time at two temporary locations. This means a family enrolling a fifth grader today is entering a pathway that, if the student stays, runs through twelfth grade in the same network without needing to navigate the New York City high school application process. That continuity is a real structural advantage for families who want it. The academic record on the high school side is not yet visible in state data, given that cohorts are still working through those grades.

What this is, practically, is a charter school serving a high-poverty, predominantly Latino community in central Queens, producing notably strong math results and solid ELA results in its middle grades, housed in a neighborhood that is changing fast and is extremely well-connected to transit. Families drawn to a clear grades five through twelve college-preparatory pathway in a single tuition-free network, in a dense urban neighborhood, will find a school with a documented record of academic growth through eighth grade and a building investment that signals longer-term institutional commitment.

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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
Science	101	12.0%
Social Studies	101	75.0%
Ela	99	64.0%
Math	80	50.0%

Math

Grade 553%

School 53% · district not reported

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

Grade 679%

School 79% · district not reported

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

Grade 789%

School 89% · district not reported

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 892%

School 92% · district not reported

▲ 55 pts above state median · ▲ 64 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 551%

School 51% · district not reported

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

Grade 668%

School 68% · district not reported

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

Grade 778%

School 78% · district not reported

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

Grade 875%

School 75% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · district not reported

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

Grade 873%

School 73% · district not reported

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 49 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 5Lower-income48%Higher-income83%35 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income66%Higher-income100%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income76%Higher-income100%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income74%Higher-income82%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income49%Higher-income100%51 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income80%Higher-income60%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income88%Higher-income100%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income93%Higher-income91%2 pp gap