At a Glance
An affordable Islamic school in Brooklyn pairing Quran and Arabic study with New York State standards.
Best suited for
Muslim families seeking an affordable, Arabic- and Quran-centered elementary education who are comfortable with a larger school environment and want their children grounded in Islamic studies alongside a state-standard curriculum.
What stands out
- The Al-Furqan Hifz Program offers structured Quran memorization, a specialized offering most NYC Islamic schools don't run at this scale.
- Tuition of $4,000–$5,999 is genuinely rare for a Brooklyn private school — well below most alternatives.
- Arabic language and cultural studies sit alongside a state-aligned curriculum, giving Arabic a stronger daily presence than at most faith-based schools.
- At 747 students, it has the scale to run electives like Debate and Science Fairs that smaller private schools often can't sustain.
Things to consider
- Parent reviews are mixed — some praise teachers and community while others describe staff as disrespectful and raise concerns about how special needs are handled; weigh this carefully if your child has learning differences.
- A 15:1 student-teacher ratio is reasonable but not the intimate setting some private-school families are looking for.
- Enrollment tops out at 5th grade, so families will need to plan a separate middle school transition.
- Religious affiliation is with the Church of God rather than a more commonly expected Islamic institution — worth asking how this shapes governance and identity.
Identity
Al-Madinah is a coeducational Islamic elementary school (PK–5) affiliated with the Church of God, founded to provide Islamic education alongside the New York State curriculum. The school emphasizes Arabic language, Quran memorization, and Islamic studies as core to its identity.
Community
The student body splits roughly evenly between students identifying as Asian (45.9%) and White (45.8%), with smaller Black (5.9%), Hispanic (1.1%), and multiracial (1.3%) populations. In a faith-based school, this likely reflects a Muslim community that includes South and Southeast Asian families alongside white American converts or heritage Muslims, though the diversity index of 0.614 sits in the middle range for NYC private schools.
Neighborhood
The surrounding Carroll Gardens–Cobble Hill–Gowanus–Red Hook area has a median household income around $139,897 and a college-educated rate of nearly 68%, placing it among Brooklyn's more middle- and upper-middle-class neighborhoods. The poverty rate of 13.5% reflects the mix that has long characterized this transitional Brooklyn edge.
The 4 Av–9 St stop on the R train is about a five-minute walk, with F and G access there at about six minutes and the Union St R stop roughly seven minutes away.
Notable Programs
What Parents Are Saying
Mixed reviews - some parents praise excellent teachers, caring environment, and quality education; others report disrespectful staff, toxic environment, and concerns about handling special needs students
Synthesized from public parent reviews · Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is AL-MADINAH SCHOOL a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for AL-MADINAH SCHOOL yet on Motley. It's a private school serving grades Pre-K to 5 in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook.
- What grades does AL-MADINAH SCHOOL serve?
- AL-MADINAH SCHOOL serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into AL-MADINAH SCHOOL?
- AL-MADINAH SCHOOL runs its own private admissions process — typically an application, a visit, and sometimes testing.
- Is AL-MADINAH SCHOOL public, charter, or private?
- AL-MADINAH SCHOOL is a private school.
- What neighborhood is AL-MADINAH SCHOOL in?
- AL-MADINAH SCHOOL is in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook, Brooklyn.