Harlem Link Charter School

Harlem Link is performing modestly above its district. ELA proficiency at 58.1% is essentially at the district average of 59.3%, while math proficiency at 57.3% is actually a few points above the district's 54.0%. The bigger story is the trajectory: in 2016, only about 1 in 5 students hit ELA proficiency and roughly 3 in 10 hit math. By 2025, those numbers had climbed into the high 50s, with a particularly sharp jump in ELA between 2024 and 2025. By-grade results show the upper grades pulling more weight — Grade 4 ELA is 65.7% and Grade 5 math is 66.7% — while Grade 3 sits a bit lower (50% ELA, 48.8% math). The 2.31/4 overall quality score edges out the district average of 2.27.

The trust numbers here are unusual. Parent-teacher trust and parent-principal trust both sit at 96%, and teacher-principal trust is a perfect 100%. Teacher collegial trust is also at 100%, and every surveyed teacher says there are strong relationships — a rare finding. Teacher-reported safety is 85%, solid though not outstanding, and parent-reported satisfaction is well above the district average at 94%. On the flip side, chronic absenteeism at 60.7% is a serious flag — more than half the kids miss enough days to be considered chronically absent, and the gap between boys (65.7%) and girls (55.2%) is wide. Two caveats worth noting: only 13 teachers responded to the survey, and just 24% of families did, so these are strong signals from a small subset rather than a full census. Attendance overall is 90.8%, basically at the district norm.

The student body is overwhelmingly Black (65%) and Hispanic (31%), with a small slice of Asian, White, Multi-Racial, and Native American students. The diversity index of 46% reflects that the school serves a relatively homogeneous community rather than a broadly mixed one. The economic need index of 89% — meaning 89% of students are considered economically needy — places Harlem Link firmly in the high-need category, and 22% of students have IEPs. The surrounding neighborhood tells a similar story: a median household income of $68,758, a 20.3% poverty rate, and a college-degree rate of 51.7%. This is a school where most families are navigating real economic pressures, and the strong parent-trust scores suggest that connection to the school matters a lot to them.

Harlem Link sits in South Harlem, a neighborhood where the median household income is around $68,750 and roughly 1 in 5 residents lives below the poverty line. College attainment is relatively high at about 52% of adults, though homeownership is low at 18.2% and the median home value reflects the broader Harlem market. Only about 12% of households in the area have children, so families with school-age kids are a minority of the surrounding population — though many of those families clearly route through this school. The neighborhood has a working-class and middle-class mix, with deep cultural roots and a strong sense of community identity.

Getting here by subway is easy. The 110 St–Malcolm X Plaza station (2 and 3 lines) is about a 2-minute walk, the 116 St station (2 and 3) is around 6 minutes, and the 110 St station on the 6 line is about 8 minutes away. Three nearby stations across two lines make this one of the more accessible spots in the area.