At a Glance
A small expeditionary-learning school in Gravesend where discipline is quiet and trust is loud
Best suited for
Families who want a small, mission-driven high school with an outdoor-and-arts flavor, are comfortable competing for an ed-opt seat, and value a tight-knit community over the broader elective catalog of a large zoned campus.
What stands out
- Zero suspensions — a clean discipline record that is genuinely rare at any school, let alone a large high school in District 21
- Highly selective ed-opt admissions with a 16.7% offer rate, meaning 425 families competed for 75 seats
- An unusually broad adventure-and-outdoor programming slate (rock climbing, rowing, backcountry camping, snowboarding/surfing) that signals a real expeditionary-learning identity
- 96% teacher collegial trust and 96% parent-teacher trust — the kind of internal cohesion most schools aspire to
- Sixteen PSAL sports including uncommon offerings like Cricket, Bowling, and Handball, unusual breadth for a 378-student campus
Things to consider
- Ed-opt admissions means this is not a guaranteed zoned seat — families need to apply and rank it deliberately through the high school match
- An economic need index of 74.5 means most families here are working-class, and per-pupil fundraising is likely leaner than at better-resourced district peers
- Total enrollment of 378 means fewer course sections and a narrower elective catalog than a 2,000-seat zoned school
- Family survey response rate was only 17%, so the glowing satisfaction numbers reflect a self-selected group of engaged families rather than the full parent body
- Class sizes match the district average, so the small-school benefits come from community, not lower pupil-teacher ratios
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 21
District 21 includes selective standouts like Brooklyn School of Inquiry (94/100) and Mark Twain I.S. 239 (93/100), but those are middle schools — Leaders High School is the district's expeditionary-learning-themed high school option, with a distinct mission-driven identity that sets it apart from the test-focused gifted programs.
Academics
AP courses and dedicated ELL support anchor the academic program, paired with Spanish as a world language offering and an average class size of about 25 that matches the district average. With only 378 students total, the course catalog is necessarily narrower than at a 2,000-seat campus, but the small enrollment means closer teacher-student relationships and tighter advisory support. The school does not appear to have published proficiency data in this snapshot, so test-score trajectory is hard to characterize beyond the program-level offerings.
Culture
The culture here reads as unusually collaborative: parent-teacher trust sits at 96%, parent-principal trust at 95%, and teacher collegial trust at 96% — numbers that are difficult to find anywhere in the system. Teacher-reported instruction quality is 96%, matching the strong family-side scores. The most striking single figure is zero suspensions, a clean record against a district average suspension rate of 0.5%, which suggests either an exceptionally strong climate or a discipline approach that leans heavily on intervention and mediation rather than removal.
Community
The student body is genuinely mixed: Hispanic 40%, White 23%, Asian 20%, Black 14%, with a diversity index of 76. About three-quarters of students qualify for economic need (ENI 74.5) and 20% have IEPs, painting a school that serves a broad working-class and immigrant slice of southern Brooklyn. The surrounding neighborhood shares that working-class character — 20.7% poverty rate, median household income of $58,206, and roughly 18% of households including children — so the school and its community mirror each other more than many DOE campuses do.
Neighborhood
Gravesend (South) is a working- and middle-class pocket of southern Brooklyn where about 18% of households include children and roughly 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Homeownership sits near 37% with a median home value around $630K, suggesting a neighborhood of modest single-family houses and multi-family rentals rather than new luxury towers. The area is dense with families, transit-oriented in the D and N corridors, and visibly diverse in its block-by-block makeup.
Two D-line stops — 25 Av and Bay 50 St — are each about a 7-minute walk, and the N at 86 St is roughly 9 minutes away, so subway commuters from most of southern Brooklyn have a real choice of stations.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 64 families responded (17% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Leaders High School is a NYC Outward Bound School implementing the EL Education model (see www.nycoutwardbound.org and eleducation.org). Leaders uses hands-on learning that has real-world application to ignite a joy for learning and discovery in our students. At our school, leadership, active citizenship, and character development go hand in hand with academic rigor and challenge.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Leaders High School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Expeditionary Learning School for Community LearnersEd. Opt.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
Open house
Thu, Nov 5, · 6:00 PM · In person
Open house
Thu, Nov 12, · 6:00 PM · In person
Open house
Tue, Nov 17, · 6:00 PM · In person
Open house
Tue, Nov 24, · 6:00 PM · In person
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
Make this school part of your plan
Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.
No credit card required
Compare head-to-head
Explore nearby
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Leaders High School a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for Leaders High School yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 9 to 12 in Gravesend (South).
- What grades does Leaders High School serve?
- Leaders High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Leaders High School?
- Leaders High School uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is Leaders High School public, charter, or private?
- Leaders High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 21.
- What neighborhood is Leaders High School in?
- Leaders High School is in Gravesend (South), Brooklyn.