Achievement First Apollo Charter School

Math is the bright spot here: 64% proficiency against a district average of 48.2%, and Grade 4 hits an exceptional 85.1%. ELA at 54.6% also beats the district average of 48.9%, but by a narrower margin. The trajectory shows real growth from 2016 to 2019, a sharp COVID-era dip in 2022 (math fell to 45.6%), and a recovery that has math back near its pre-pandemic levels while ELA is still working its way back to 2018-2019 highs. Grade-level data is uneven — Grade 6 dips to 41.6% ELA and 46.8% math, suggesting the transition into middle school is a soft spot worth asking about.

The 91.5% attendance rate is solid — above the district average of 89.9% — but the chronic absenteeism figure of 70.5% tells a different and more troubling story. That number captures students missing 10% or more of the school year, and it's elevated across most demographic groups, with Asian students (82.8%) and girls (74.1%) hardest hit. The family survey drew only 3 responses, so parent voice is essentially absent from this profile and harder judgments about trust, communication, or satisfaction can't be made. With no suspension rate provided and no real survey data, the climate picture is dominated by that absenteeism signal.

The student body is 50% Black, 39% Hispanic, and 8% Asian — a working-class East Brooklyn profile that mirrors the surrounding Cypress Hills neighborhood. An economic need index of 77.9 (well above the district average) means the school serves a substantially higher share of low-income students than most of its District 19 peers. Because it's a charter, enrollment comes through lottery rather than zoning, so the student body draws from a wider geography than the immediate blocks around the building.

Cypress Hills is a working- and middle-income Brooklyn neighborhood where median household income sits at $66,262 and 17.6% of residents live below the poverty line. Roughly a fifth of households are raising children, and homeownership at 33.5% with median home values around $659,000 points to a community of modest, long-term families alongside renters still finding their footing. The J train pulls into Cleveland Street about four minutes from the building, with the C at Shepherd Avenue and the J/Z at Norwood Avenue filling out the nearby transit options.

Three subway stations sit within walking distance: Cleveland St (J) about 4 minutes away, Shepherd Av (C) about 6 minutes, and Norwood Av (J Z) about 8 minutes — solid transit coverage for a Cypress Hills location.