Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School

On the most recent state exams, 48.9% of students met ELA proficiency and 31.3% met math proficiency — ELA is about five points below the district average of roughly 54%, while math is nearly 20 points below the district average of about 51%. The overall quality rating of 1.6 out of 4 also trails the district average of 2.1. Looking at the longer arc, this is a school that has improved substantially: ELA rose from 28.3% in 2017 to a 61.1% peak in 2024 before slipping to 48.9% in 2025, and math climbed from 10% in 2017 to around 32% in recent years. The trajectory is clearly upward over time even though the latest year's drop is worth watching. Among 8th graders, 72.7% hit ELA proficiency — a strong showing that suggests older middle-schoolers are where the school's academic model works best.

The survey numbers tell a split story. Teachers give leadership very high marks — 94% trust the principal and 87% trust each other, which is the kind of internal cohesion that usually supports serious academic work. But only 73% of teachers rate instruction quality positively (versus 88% districtwide), and parent satisfaction sits at 70% compared to the district average of about 91%. That gap suggests communication or follow-through with families may be a friction point even when staff are aligned internally. Attendance is essentially average at 88.3%, but chronic absenteeism is high at 52.5% — meaning more than half of students miss enough school to be flagged, which is a real drag on academic outcomes, especially for female students (63.2% chronically absent).

The student body is 69% Black, 27% Hispanic, and 3% Native American — a population that closely tracks the surrounding East Harlem census tract, which itself is predominantly Black and Latino. With a diversity index of 44%, the school is less racially varied than the city as a whole or even many neighborhood schools, mostly because the neighborhood itself is not very diverse. About 80% of students qualify as economically needy, well above the district average, and nearly a quarter of students have IEPs. Total enrollment is 453 students across six grades, with average class sizes around 20 — slightly larger than the district average of about 19.

East Harlem (North) is a working-class, predominantly renter neighborhood where the median household income is around $36,709 — well below the citywide median — and about a third of residents live below the federal poverty line. Only about 11% of households include children, and homeownership is rare at just 8%, so most families who send kids here are renting. About 30% of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, which is below the city average. The school sits among a dense cluster of charter options in this part of Harlem, so families are choosing among several strong campuses within walking distance.

The school is reachable from the 125 St station on the 4, 5, and 6 lines (about a 6-minute walk), the 125 St station on the 2 and 3 lines (about 8 minutes), and the 135 St station on the 2 and 3 lines (about 9 minutes).