Cultural Arts Academy Charter School At Spring Creek

ELA proficiency at 50% lands below the district average of about 58%, and math at 40% trails the district average of roughly 61% — a meaningful gap, especially in math. The trend, though, is the more interesting story: math proficiency has nearly doubled since 2016, climbing from 24.6% to 40%, and ELA has generally trended upward despite a pandemic-era dip in 2022. By grade, 3rd graders post the strongest ELA performance (60%) while 4th and 5th graders carry the math results (47.8% and 45.2%), suggesting strong early-literacy work that gives way to solid middle-grade math gains.

This is a school where relationships clearly work: parent-teacher trust is at 97%, parent-principal trust is 98%, and teachers give safety a 99% rating — all above the district average. Teacher collegial trust of 89% and instructional quality of 85% are solid, though instruction quality runs a touch below the district's 89.8%. Attendance, however, is a serious flag — at 75%, it sits more than 15 points below the district average of 90.5%, and chronic absenteeism reaches 56.6% overall, with female students and Black students most affected. Day-to-day, classrooms feel safe and connected to families, but getting kids to school consistently is clearly a struggle.

The student body is 91% Black, 5% Hispanic, and 2% multiracial, with a diversity index of just 22% reflecting how concentrated the demographics are. This closely tracks the surrounding Brownsville neighborhood, where household incomes hover around $33,000 and 37.6% of residents live below the poverty line. About 65% of students qualify for the economic-need index, and 17% have IEPs, meaning most families here are navigating real financial pressures alongside school.

Brownsville is a working-class neighborhood where most households rent rather than own, median income sits at about $33,494, and only about 7.9% of households have children at home — though the public schools here serve many more kids than that percentage suggests. About 37.6% of residents live in poverty and roughly 13.4% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, reflecting a community where access and resources are uneven. The area is well-served by subway lines though stations require a real walk.

Families have three nearby subway options — the 3 train at Rockaway Av, and the L train at East 105 St and New Lots Av — but each station is an 11- to 12-minute walk, so plan extra time, especially on cold mornings with little ones.