Coney Island Preparatory Public Charter School

ELA proficiency of 58.1% sits just below the district average of about 60%, while math proficiency of 62.8% is essentially at the district average of 63.2% — on any given year, this is a typical-performing school in District 21. The more interesting story is the trajectory: ELA proficiency has climbed from 28.8% in 2016 to 58.1% in 2025, and 2025 represents the school's strongest year on both measures, a meaningful bounce-back from the 2022 pandemic-era dip. Gains show up across grade levels, with grade 5 ELA at 67.9% and grade 8 math at 70.5% among the brightest spots.

Inside the building, trust is high — 92% of teachers trust their principal, 98% report feeling safe, and parent-principal trust sits at 91%. The day-to-day feel is collegial and orderly, more than the size of nearly 1,200 students might suggest, and family survey participation is solid at 286 responses. The asterisk is attendance: an 85.7% rate is well below the district's 91.2%, and chronic absenteeism has climbed to 43%, with multiracial students (68%) and Asian students (59%) showing especially high rates — a pattern worth asking the school about rather than assuming away.

The student body is majority Black (39%) and Hispanic (34%), with growing White (17%) and Asian (8%) representation, and an economic need index of 82.6 signals that roughly four out of five students come from low-income households. The surrounding neighborhood reflects much of that picture — 27.8% poverty and homeownership under 29% — making this a school where most families share a similar economic reality. About 21% of students have IEPs, meaningfully higher than at a typical neighborhood zoned school, and the diversity index of 75 confirms the building is genuinely mixed.

Coney Island-Sea Gate is a working-class coastal stretch of southern Brooklyn where median household income is $43,818 and only about 10% of households have children under 18, meaning families with school-age kids are a smaller share of the neighborhood than in most parts of the city. Roughly a third of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree, and homeownership is rare at under 29% even though the median home value sits at $886,404 thanks to the area's beachfront real estate. The school is closest to home for families already in the neighborhood, but it draws from a wider catchment via lottery.

Neptune Av (F) is about a four-minute walk from the building; Ocean Pkwy (Q) is roughly ten minutes away, and Avenue X (F) is another eleven minutes on foot.