Brooklyn Lab School

Publicly reported proficiency numbers aren't in the dataset for this school, so the academic story has to be read through other signals. The headline academic fact is demand: 664 applicants competing for 85 seats in Engineering and Science — a 12.5% offer rate that puts Brooklyn Lab among the more selective lotteries in eastern Brooklyn. The program menu includes AP courses, ELL support, STEM emphasis, and Spanish, with a program richness score of 67.8/100 that lands in solid-but-not-spectacular territory. Average class size of 21.8 sits right at the district average, so kids aren't getting notably smaller groups than peers elsewhere.

The day-to-day feel here is unusually calm and trust-heavy. Zero suspensions were recorded against a district average suspension rate of about 1.6%, which suggests a closely-managed culture in a small setting — likely both working in the school's favor. Parent satisfaction runs at 93% (above the district's 91%), parent-principal trust at 96%, and parent-teacher trust at 94%. Teachers rate their own instruction quality at a perfect 100% and trust the principal at 81%, though collegial trust among teachers is lower at 75% — worth asking about if peer collaboration matters to your kid. One honest caveat: only 17% of families returned the survey, so the parent numbers reflect a self-selected group, not every Brooklyn Lab household.

Brooklyn Lab's student body is roughly 58% Hispanic, 25% Black, 11% Asian, with smaller shares of White and Native American students, for a diversity index of 62%. The economic need index of 86.5% tells you most students come from households under real financial pressure, and 22% of students have IEPs — meaningfully higher than the citywide average. The school offers ELL support and Spanish, and notably fields a cricket team alongside the usual basketball and soccer, a reflection of the South Asian families in the surrounding community. With just 354 students total, this is one of the smaller public high schools in the borough, which can mean teachers actually know each kid by name.

The census tract that includes the school's address covers the Highland Park–Cypress Hills cemeteries, so the demographic figures show no residential population — the zeros reflect a tract that's literally cemetery, not a data error. The actual neighborhood wrapping around the school is Cypress Hills and the eastern edge of East New York, a working-class, family-dense part of Brooklyn where many households have lived for generations. The school is reachable by the J and Z trains, putting older students within a reasonable commute of Lower Manhattan and the rest of Brooklyn.

The school is about a 4-minute walk from the 75 St–Elderts Ln station on the J and Z lines, with the Cypress Hills J stop roughly 6 minutes away and the 85 St–Forest Pkwy J stop about 10 minutes on foot.