Challenge Preparatory Charter School

The school's 2025 results mark a real high-water mark: ELA proficiency landed at 54.9% (just below the district average of about 56%) and math at 49.9% (well below the district average of about 57%). The math jump from 23.3% in 2022 to 49.9% in 2025 is the most dramatic story in the data — more than doubling in three years. Still, the math gap with the district is meaningful. Results by grade are uneven: Grade 4 math is strong at 72.8%, and Grades 6-7 ELA reach the mid-60s, but Grade 8 math collapses to just 21.1%, a serious weakness families should ask about. The overall quality review score of 2.1 out of 4 sits a touch below the district average of 2.27.

The daily feel here leans family-forward. Parent-teacher trust is 94% and parent-principal trust is 92%, both above what you'd see at most schools, and 796 families returned the survey — strong engagement for a school of this size. Teachers rate their instruction quality at 91%, in line with the district, though teacher-principal trust is a softer 82%. Teacher-reported safety sits at 88%, below the district average of about 93%, which is something to ask about on a tour. Chronic absenteeism is high at 61.9% — nearly two-thirds of students miss enough school to be flagged — even though the overall attendance rate of 90.1% is slightly above average. That gap suggests a small group of students with serious attendance challenges pulling the chronic-absenteeism number up.

The student body is 77% Black and 19% Hispanic, with single-digit percentages of every other group reported, giving the school a diversity index of 39% — a relatively homogeneous community that closely mirrors the surrounding neighborhood. The economic need index of 79.2 means about four out of five students qualify as high-need, and 16% have IEPs. The 796 family survey responses out of 955 students show that parents here participate at unusually high rates.

Far Rockaway-Bayswater is a working-class corner of the Rockaways with a median household income around $67,668, a poverty rate of 17.6%, and a 26.4% rate of residents holding a bachelor's degree or higher. About 22% of households have children, and homeownership is low at 29% — most families rent. The median home value of roughly $625,800 reflects the coastal housing market more than typical local buying power.

The A train is genuinely close — Beach 25 St is about a three-minute walk, Beach 36 St about eight minutes, and the Far Rockaway-Mott Av terminal about eleven minutes. Getting here without a car is very doable.