At a Glance
An alternative learning center spanning grades 6-12 in transit-connected Brighton Beach
Best suited for
Families seeking an alternative public school placement for a student in grades 6 through 12, comfortable with a coastal Brighton Beach location and the B/Q commute.
What stands out
- Serves grades 6 through 12 in a single building — an unusually wide grade span for any NYC public school
- Labels itself as an ALC (alternative learning center), signaling a different mission from the district's mainstream and gifted-and-talented programs
- Runs classrooms at the district-norm size of 24.6 students, not the smaller cohorts some alternative settings use
- Sits in Brighton Beach with three B/Q subway options within a roughly 12-minute walk
Things to consider
- Limited school-level academic, climate, and demographic data appears in publicly available figures — parents should ask directly for current proficiency, attendance, and discipline numbers before committing
- District 21 also includes several highly-rated traditional and gifted-and-talented schools (I.S. 98 Bay Academy at 90/100, Brooklyn School of Inquiry at 94/100, Mark Twain at 93/100), so families should weigh alternative vs. mainstream tracks carefully
- The surrounding neighborhood's 23.3% poverty rate signals economic strain on many families in the catchment
- Brighton Beach is far from Manhattan — the Q line gets commuters to Midtown in roughly 45-55 minutes, but the location is genuinely southern Brooklyn
- No specialized program data is available for this profile, so it is hard to gauge what differentiates the school day-to-day
Based on 2023-24 data
School SummaryDistrict 21
District 21 is one of Brooklyn's higher-performing districts, anchored by gifted-and-talented and charter schools scoring in the 90s out of 100 — making an alternative learning center within the same district a notable counterpoint to that mainstream track.
Academics
The only school-specific academic indicator in this profile is class size at 24.6 students, identical to the District 21 average of 24.6. District 21's overall proficiency sits at 60% in ELA and 63% in math, but no school-level proficiency figures are provided here for direct comparison.
Culture
No school-level attendance, parent satisfaction, or discipline metrics are available in this profile, so day-to-day climate cannot be benchmarked against the district's 91% attendance average, 92% parent satisfaction, or 0.5% suspension rate.
Community
Student demographic composition is not available in this profile, but the Brighton Beach neighborhood that surrounds the school pairs a 23.3% poverty rate and $49,254 median household income with a 51.6% bachelor's-degree rate — an unusual mix where credentialed adults and working-class households share a high-cost market. Just 16.9% of neighborhood households include children, so family density is modest on the blocks around the school.
Neighborhood
Brighton Beach is a coastal neighborhood defined by stark contrasts: a $641,280 median home value against only 24.8% homeownership and a $49,254 median income, suggesting a renter-heavy community living through rapid price appreciation. A 51.6% bachelor's-or-higher rate among adults sits well above the city average for an area with 23.3% poverty, painting a picture of credentialed workers and working-class families sharing the same blocks a short walk from the boardwalk.
Three subway stops serve the school: Brighton Beach (B, Q) is about a 9-minute walk, Ocean Parkway (Q) about 11 minutes, and Sheepshead Bay (B, Q) about 12 minutes — solid transit access for a coastal Brooklyn location, with the Q line as the through-route to Manhattan and the B adding Brooklyn-only service.
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. We don't have Brighton Academy (ALC)'s program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. We don't have Brighton Academy (ALC)'s program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
Make this school part of your plan
Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.
No credit card required
Compare head-to-head
Explore nearby
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Brighton Academy (ALC) a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for Brighton Academy (ALC) yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 6 to 12 in Brighton Beach.
- What grades does Brighton Academy (ALC) serve?
- Brighton Academy (ALC) serves grades 6 to 12.
- Is Brighton Academy (ALC) public, charter, or private?
- Brighton Academy (ALC) is a public school in NYC Community School District 21.
- What neighborhood is Brighton Academy (ALC) in?
- Brighton Academy (ALC) is in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.