At a Glance
A tiny Brownsville high school where families feel deeply heard but academic outcomes trail the district by a wide margin
Best suited for
Families who value a tiny, close-knit school community with strong family-teacher relationships and are prepared to actively supplement academic support at home given the school's low proficiency numbers.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Zero suspensions recorded — a rare disciplinary outcome that suggests a restorative, relationship-based approach to behavior.
- Parent satisfaction and parent-teacher trust both at 93%, well above what the academic numbers might predict.
- Tiny enrollment of 141 students means every family and teacher is known by the principal and likely by each other.
- Ed-opt admissions with a 50% offer rate, so families who land a seat have actively chosen this school.
- AP courses are offered despite the low overall proficiency, signaling an attempt to push students toward college-level work.
Things to consider
- Academic outcomes are far below the district average and have been declining, based on the most recent reported data.
- Attendance at 82% means roughly one in five students is missing school regularly enough to fall behind.
- 40% of students have IEPs, which is high and signals both strong special-education services and the need for substantial staff resources.
- Teacher confidence in instruction quality (69%) and principal (70%) is notably below the district, and only 9 teachers responded to the survey, so those numbers carry real uncertainty.
- Brownsville's economic pressures (median income ~$33K, ~38% poverty) shape the student body and the supports families can provide outside school.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 23
Within District 23, Legacy sits well below the district averages on academic proficiency, attendance, and teacher-reported instruction quality, though it leads the district on suspension discipline with none recorded. Compared with peer schools like Brooklyn Landmark Elementary and Eagle Academy II, Legacy's small size and low proficiency make it an outlier rather than a typical District 23 option.
Academics
Legacy's reported proficiency numbers are sobering. The most recent figures available show 8.3% of students proficient in ELA and 6.3% in math, against district averages of roughly 52% and 51% respectively. The trajectory has been steeply downward — ELA fell from 21.5% in 2016 to 8.3% in 2018, and math slipped from 15.9% to 6.3% over the same window. The school does list AP courses among its programs, but the data suggests these offerings are not translating into measurable proficiency gains for the majority of students.
Culture
The climate picture is mixed. Attendance runs at 82.2%, well below the district average of 88.6%, and chronic absenteeism affects 17.6% of students — a real concern. On the upside, the school recorded zero suspensions, suggesting a restorative rather than punitive approach to discipline. Parents report strong trust in teachers (93%) and the principal (88%), but only 69% of teachers rate instruction quality as strong (vs. 89% district-wide) and just 70% trust the principal, hinting at a gap between family confidence and staff confidence in day-to-day operations. Teacher survey responses were very low (9), so those staff-side numbers should be read with some caution.
Community
Legacy's student body is 65% Black and 28% Hispanic, with small shares of Asian (5%) and White (2%) students, and 40% of students classified with IEPs — a notably higher share than at most Brooklyn high schools. The demographics closely mirror the surrounding Brownsville neighborhood, where median household income sits around $33,500 and more than a third of residents live below the poverty line. With only 141 students enrolled, the school community is small enough that most families know each other, and the high parent-survey response rate (115 families) reflects that tight-knit feel.
Neighborhood
Brownsville is a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood where median household income hovers around $33,500 and roughly 38% of residents live below the poverty line. Just 14% of households own their homes, only about 8% of households include children, and 13% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — figures that shape both the challenges and the resilience of the families this school serves. Despite the economic pressures, parent engagement at Legacy runs high, suggesting a neighborhood actively invested in its kids' schools.
The school is served by the 3 train, with Rockaway Av about a 6-minute walk, Saratoga Av about 8 minutes, and Junius St about 11 minutes away.
Historical Trends
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 115 families responded (71% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
College- and career-readiness program that prepares students to transition in all careers especially in the arts and teaching.
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. Legacy Leadership High School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Teachers Preparatory High School for New StudentsEd. Opt.105 seats
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
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Legacy Leadership High School a good school?
- On Motley, Legacy Leadership High School earns an overall rating of 41/100 — the average of the school's four-year graduation rate, the share of its students scoring college-ready (70+) on the English Regents, and its Regents completion rate, shown out of 100.
- What grades does Legacy Leadership High School serve?
- Legacy Leadership High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Legacy Leadership High School?
- Legacy Leadership High School uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is Legacy Leadership High School public, charter, or private?
- Legacy Leadership High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 23.
- What neighborhood is Legacy Leadership High School in?
- Legacy Leadership High School is in Brownsville, Brooklyn.