High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice

No school-level ELA or math proficiency data was reported for this profile, so direct academic outcomes can't be interpreted here. What we can say: the school offers AP coursework and dedicated ELL support, and the average class size of 23.1 sits exactly at the District 3 average — meaning students aren't getting smaller-than-typical classes. The school's program catalog leans academic-vocational (law, advocacy, debate, journalism), which signals a particular flavor of college prep rather than a STEM or test-prep focus.

The day-to-day feel here is unusually calm and family-positive. Zero suspensions — well below the District 3 average — suggests a tightly managed environment where students aren't being pulled out of class. Parent satisfaction is 91%, comfortably above the district's 88%, and parent trust in both teachers (88%) and the principal (87%) is strong. The one notable gap is teacher-to-principal trust at 66%, noticeably below the district's roughly 87% — meaning the staff isn't as aligned with leadership as you'd typically see, even though families are. Teacher-reported instructional quality (80%) also runs below the district's 87%, which is worth weighing. Family survey response is low at 13%, so treat parent numbers as a signal from a self-selected group rather than the full population.

The student body is 62% Hispanic, 26% Black, 5% Asian, 4% White, and 2% Native American — a predominantly Black and Latino population that looks very different from the surrounding Upper West Side-Lincoln Square census tract, which is overwhelmingly white, college-educated, and high-income. With a 56% diversity index and 84% economic need index, this is a high-poverty school drawing from working-class and immigrant families across the city, not a neighborhood school feeding its local community. About 17% of students have IEPs, and the school runs formal ELL support, so families with special needs or English-language learners are clearly part of the population the school is built to serve.

The Upper West Side-Lincoln Square area around the school is one of Manhattan's more affluent census tracts: median household income over $162,000, only about 9% of residents living in poverty, and 83% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. Just 15% of households here have children, which is why a school this size sits in a neighborhood with relatively few school-age kids — most students commute. The neighborhood is dense, walkable, and anchored by Lincoln Center, with homeownership around 37% and a very high median home value reflecting the upscale residential stock. It's the kind of block where the school building and the apartments around it feel like two different worlds.

Families get here mainly by subway. The closest stop is 66 St-Lincoln Center on the 1 line, about a 5-minute walk. The 72 St station (1, 2, 3) is roughly 7 minutes on foot, and 59 St-Columbus Circle (1) is about 11 minutes away.