Creo College Preparatory Charter School, Bronx NY

Original Research by School Decision on Creo College Preparatory Charter School

Creo College Preparatory Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school serving grades five through eight in the Bronx. The school is located on Courtlandt Avenue in the Mott Haven area and has a total enrollment of roughly four hundred students spread evenly across its four grade levels. More than nine in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial share identifying as Black; representation of other racial groups is minimal. Special-population counts for students with IEPs and English learners are not publicly available through the state data.

The school completed its grade-level build-out in the 2022-2023 school year, expanding from a two-grade founding program to the full five-through-eight span it offers today. This completion of the grade sequence means a family entering a child in fifth grade can now keep that child through eighth grade at the same school, creating stability for a multi-year enrollment. As a charter school that opened several years ago, Creo underwent its first charter renewal cycle, with a 2023-2024 renewal site visit conducted by its authorizer. Charter renewal determines whether the school continues to operate, so the outcome of this process is a material factor for families considering a sustained commitment.

Proficiency on New York State tests shows a pattern across the grade band. In English Language Arts, the school demonstrates clear growth trajectory: fifth and sixth grades show proficiency in the mid-range, seventh grade reaches solid proficiency, and eighth grade shows substantially higher results. Mathematics proficiency is more uneven. Fifth-grade results are notably low, sixth-grade results are modest, seventh-grade proficiency strengthens considerably, and eighth-grade results decline. Science testing shows proficiency data for fifth grade but no test results for eighth grade.

A technical note on the eighth-grade numbers: the participation rate in eighth-grade math is quite low, suggesting that not all eighth-grade students took the assessment. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand enrollment transitions and why the tested group size differs from the overall eighth-grade enrollment. This could reflect students exiting the school after seventh grade or other demographic shifts.

The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the school districts in Bronx County, a meaningful indicator when viewed against the peer comparison set of county districts. The school does not report four-year graduation rates or chronic absenteeism data; these are not available at the elementary and middle school level. High school pathways and graduation outcomes are outside the scope of this school's operation.

Housing costs in the immediate area around the school's zip code are moderate relative to state and national benchmarks, with home values modestly below the state median and rental rates similarly positioned. The broader Bronx is experiencing significant investment in new affordable housing, with major transit-oriented development projects underway, strong public transit access, and substantial growth in both residential and institutional capacity. Montefiore Medical Center serves as a major regional employer, anchoring the health-care sector, while the education system itself is a significant local employer.

The school's name and charter mission suggest a college-preparatory pathway as its core focus. A family considering Creo should weigh the school's growth trajectory, its strong performance context within its county peer group, and its recent completion of the full grade span as factors supporting continuity. The softer math results, particularly in fifth and eighth grades, and the participation questions at grade eight warrant clarification directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

2 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	82	38.0%
Math	48	100.0%

Math

Grade 531%

School 31% · district not reported

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

Grade 644%

School 44% · district not reported

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

Grade 764%

School 64% · district not reported

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 546%

School 46% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 648%

School 48% · district not reported

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

Grade 757%

School 57% · district not reported

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

Grade 878%

School 78% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 28 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.