At a Glance
A small screened high school for newcomers, where zero suspensions and near-universal family trust make it an outlier in a competitive district
Best suited for
Recent immigrant families and English-language learners who want a humanities-centered, supportive small school with a college-prep trajectory and don't need extensive on-site special education services.
What stands out
- Zero suspensions across the entire school year — an exceptionally rare figure for a high school of this size.
- A 6-to-1 applicant-to-seat ratio, making admission genuinely competitive despite the school not being widely marketed.
- A humanities-centered curriculum with dedicated ELL support and heritage-language clubs in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, and Spanish.
- Program richness score of 100/100, covering arts (Dance Company, Photography), STEM (Robotics, Computer Technology Squad), and athletics.
- Family and teacher trust metrics that run 5-10 points above district averages, suggesting a tight-knit school culture.
Things to consider
- Public proficiency data isn't reported in this snapshot, so families can't directly compare test outcomes to other screened high schools.
- The 2% IEP rate is notably low — families seeking strong special education services may want to ask specifically how students with IEPs are supported here.
- As a screened school serving newcomers, the academic profile and social environment will feel very different from a neighborhood zoned school — not a fit for every family.
- Located in a neighborhood where the surrounding demographics (high-income, low share of households with kids) don't match the student body, which can feel disorienting for families used to a school that mirrors its block.
Based on 2023-24 data
School SummaryDistrict 13
District 13 includes standouts like P.S. 011 Purvis J. Behan (96/100) at the elementary level and Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, but Brooklyn International is one of the few high schools in the borough posting near-perfect family trust and zero suspensions. It occupies a distinctive niche as the district's go-to newcomer-focused screened high school.
Academics
Brooklyn International doesn't publicly report ELA, math, or science proficiency rates in this dataset, so there's no direct way to benchmark academic outcomes against the district's 53% ELA and 46% math averages. The school's academic identity centers on a Humanities focus with ELL support built into the core program, and students can layer on Computer Technology Squad, Robotics, and Science Research electives. The 100/100 program richness score suggests breadth is a strength even where proficiency data is unavailable. Without year-over-year scores, it's hard to call a trajectory, but families choosing this school are typically prioritizing language acquisition and a humanities-centered college prep path over raw test outcomes.
Culture
Zero suspensions is the headline number here — for a school of 327 teens, many of them recent arrivals navigating a new country, that figure is genuinely unusual. Teacher-reported trust in school leadership sits at 97%, parent-teacher trust at 96%, and 94% of teachers rate instruction quality positively — all meaningfully above the district averages of roughly 88-91%. Parent satisfaction at 95% is striking, though worth noting the family survey response rate of 52% means this reflects a vocal subset. The day-to-day feel, based on the numbers, is one of close adult-student relationships and a restorative rather than punitive approach to behavior.
Community
The student body is 57% Hispanic, 20% Asian, 18% Black, and 5% White, with a diversity index of 61% — a population that doesn't reflect the surrounding Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill census tracts, where higher-income, college-educated households dominate. Only 2% of students have IEPs, well below city averages, suggesting the school's screening process and newcomer focus shape who enrolls. This is fundamentally a school for immigrant teens, and the cultural clubs on offer — African, Haitian, Latino, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese — signal a community organized around linguistic and national heritage.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill area, where the median household income is roughly $150,000 and more than 73% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Just 15% of households include children, reflecting a young-professional population that doesn't always match the family makeup of the school itself. Only about a quarter of homes are owner-occupied, and median home values approach $1.5 million, signaling a fast-gentrifying pocket where long-time residents and newcomers increasingly share streets. Families getting here will find themselves threading through one of Brooklyn's most transit-rich and rapidly changing corridors.
The F train at York St is about a 7-minute walk, and the A, C, and R trains at Jay St-MetroTech are about 8 minutes away on foot.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 142 families responded (52% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Thematic-based, interdisciplinary course structure.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Brooklyn International High School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Brooklyn International High SchoolScreened
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.
- 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
- 3Rank 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.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Brooklyn International High School a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for Brooklyn International High School yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 9 to 12 in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill.
- What grades does Brooklyn International High School serve?
- Brooklyn International High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Brooklyn International High School?
- Brooklyn International High School is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is Brooklyn International High School public, charter, or private?
- Brooklyn International High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 13.
- What neighborhood is Brooklyn International High School in?
- Brooklyn International High School is in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.