At a Glance
A small charter where families feel heard and academics are catching up to the neighborhood around them
Best suited for
Families who want a small, culturally Hispanic charter community with strong parent-teacher relationships, easy subway access from anywhere in Brooklyn, and who are comfortable prioritizing relationships and improvement over top test scores.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- With just 173 students across K–7, this is one of the smaller schools in the district — class size averages 25, so teachers can know every family.
- Parent survey results are extraordinary: 99% satisfaction, 100% parent-teacher trust, and 99% parent-principal trust — rare numbers in any NYC public school.
- The 77% Hispanic student population gives the school a distinct cultural identity that contrasts sharply with the surrounding neighborhood.
- Suspensions have fallen dramatically, from 16 to 4 over two years, suggesting real progress on discipline even though the rate remains above average.
- Three subway lines within a four-minute walk make this one of the most commute-friendly schools in District 15.
Things to consider
- Test scores are well below district averages and have declined since 2022 — families prioritizing strong state-test outcomes should look elsewhere.
- Chronic absenteeism affects two-thirds of students, which can mean classmates are frequently absent and routines get disrupted.
- The 6% suspension rate, while improving, is more than 20 times the district average — worth understanding the school's discipline philosophy.
- Lottery admission means there is no guarantee of a seat, and families should have a backup plan.
- The sharp demographic gap between the school and its wealthy neighborhood may not be what some families expect when they visit the area.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 15
Within District 15, Brooklyn RISE sits well below standout peers like P.S. 172 and Success Academy Cobble Hill (both 95/100) and the mid-tier elementary schools scoring in the low 90s. It is a charter option in a district where several strong neighborhood schools already exist, so families are effectively choosing a small, tight-knit community over higher-rated alternatives.
Academics
Proficiency is 50.6% in ELA and 48.9% in math, both meaningfully below the District 15 averages of 65.5% and 63.3%. The trajectory is concerning: scores have fallen from 64% in both subjects in 2022 to where they sit now, with math dipping notably in the most recent year after holding steadier. Grade 4 is the strongest spot (about 58% in both subjects), while grade 5 math (43.3%) drags the average down. This is a school where students are catching up, not leading.
Culture
The day-to-day feel here is unusually warm on paper: 99% of parents are satisfied, 100% trust their child's teacher, and 98% of teachers rate instruction quality highly — numbers most schools in the city would envy. The trouble spot is chronic absenteeism at 66.1%, far above the district, with Asian students missing school at especially high rates (89.3%) while Black students (49.3%) attend more reliably. Discipline is real but moving in the right direction — suspensions dropped from 16 to 4 year-over-year, though the 6% suspension rate still far exceeds the district average of under 1%.
Community
The student body is 77% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 8% White, and 5% Black, with 20% of students having IEPs and an economic need index of 82.4 signaling widespread financial hardship. The surrounding Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill neighborhood looks very different — high median incomes and graduate degrees are the norm locally. That gap between neighborhood demographics and student demographics is one of the defining features of this school, and the charter lottery is how families from a much wider geography end up here.
Neighborhood
This corner of Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, and Boerum Hill is one of the borough's priciest: a median household income around $150,000, a homeownership rate near 26%, and a home value well over a million dollars. About 15% of households have children, and 73% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a fairly low share of families relative to the highly educated adult population, which is part of why this small charter draws from well beyond the immediate blocks.
Transit access is excellent — Nevins St (2, 3, 4, 5) is about a two-minute walk, DeKalb Ave (B, Q, R) is about three minutes, and Hoyt-Schermerhorn (A, C, G) is about four minutes, so families from across Brooklyn can reach the school without a car.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 78 families responded (25% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2022-23)
Economic Need & Special Populations
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Brooklyn RISE Charter School a good school?
- On Motley, Brooklyn RISE Charter School earns an overall rating of 50/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 15 average.
- What grades does Brooklyn RISE Charter School serve?
- Brooklyn RISE Charter School serves grades K to 7.
- How do students get into Brooklyn RISE Charter School?
- Brooklyn RISE Charter School is a charter school — it admits through a free public lottery, with no test or attendance zone.
- Is Brooklyn RISE Charter School public, charter, or private?
- Brooklyn RISE Charter School is a public charter school in NYC Community School District 15.
- What neighborhood is Brooklyn RISE Charter School in?
- Brooklyn RISE Charter School is in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.