At a Glance
A small, open-enrollment Gravesend high school where families and teachers give top marks — even with zero suspensions on the record.
Best suited for
Families who want a small, relationship-driven high school in a diverse southern Brooklyn neighborhood and who value a calm, inclusive climate over elite academic screening — especially families new to the U.S. school system or those whose student would get lost in a 2,000-kid campus.
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
- Recorded zero suspensions in the most recent reporting year, against a district average suspension rate of 0.5%.
- 99% parent satisfaction and 100% teacher-principal trust — both well above the district averages.
- Program richness score of 90/100, with an unusually deep arts catalog (Film, Dance/Step, Music, Art/Photography) layered onto the business-and-technology focus.
- 17 different sports offered — far more than typical for a 263-student school.
- Open-enrollment (Education Option) school with 293 applicants for 67 seats, a 25% offer rate — a sign of real demand from families across the borough.
Things to consider
- No state proficiency data was provided, so it's not possible to compare academic outcomes to district averages — families who care about measurable test performance should ask the school directly.
- At 263 students, the school is small — which is a plus for relationships but means fewer AP sections, fewer electives, and less course variety than a large comprehensive high school.
- The economic need index is 84.7%, meaning most students arrive facing significant outside pressures; the school clearly manages this well, but parents should know the context.
- Teacher survey responses numbered only 18 — strong numbers, but a small voice in the building.
- Open enrollment means no academic screen, so incoming preparation levels vary widely; families whose student is already performing well above grade level may want to ask about honors and AP depth.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 21
District 21 in southern Brooklyn contains some of the city's most sought-after schools (the peer list here includes three gifted programs in the 90s), but Life Academy sits in a different lane — an open-enrollment, high-need school whose value proposition is relationships and climate rather than selectivity. Against district averages, it overperforms on family satisfaction, teacher trust, and discipline; the open question is academic performance, which the available data does not address.
Academics
No state proficiency data is available for this school in the data provided, so it's not possible to benchmark ELA, math, or science results against the district averages of roughly 60% ELA and 63% math proficiency. What the catalog does show is a deliberate mix: AP Courses for college-bound students, ELL Support for the large share of English learners, and a World Languages program. Class size sits at about 24.6, exactly matching the district average — so families should not expect the intimate 18-student seminar feel here.
Culture
The climate story here is unusually positive. Zero suspensions is the headline — most Brooklyn high schools post at least some, and the district average suspension rate is 0.5% — so a clean record in a school serving an 85% economic-need population is genuinely notable. Parent satisfaction is 99% (vs. 92% district average), parent-teacher trust is 99%, and teachers give their principal a 100% trust rating. With 18 teachers responding and 161 families weighing in, this isn't a small-sample fluke. The day-to-day feel appears to be one where adults are aligned, families feel heard, and consequences aren't the primary tool.
Community
The student body is 53% Hispanic, 21% Black, 14% White, 9% Asian, and 2% multiracial — a genuinely diverse mix with a 71% diversity index that mirrors the immigrant character of Gravesend. The economic need index of 84.7% tells you that most students come from low-income households, and 22% have IEPs. Education Option admission means there's no academic screen, which generally produces a wider range of incoming preparation levels — and also means families from across the borough can apply. The school also serves a notable ELL population, given the explicit ELL Support program and the Spanish language offerings.
Neighborhood
Gravesend is a working- and middle-class neighborhood in southern Brooklyn with a strong immigrant and family presence. The median household income is around $58,000 and one in five residents lives below the poverty line, but homeownership is over 37% and the typical home value is around $630,000 — signs of a neighborhood that mixes longtime homeowners with newer immigrant families. About 18% of households have children, and 35% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher, slightly below the citywide rate. The feel is residential and community-oriented rather than transit-central.
The school is reachable on foot from two D line stops — 25 Av and Bay 50 St, each about a 7-minute walk — with the N at 86 St roughly 9 minutes away.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 161 families responded (85% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
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. Life Academy High School for Business and Technology admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Life Academy High School for Film and MusicEd. 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
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 Life Academy High School for Business and Technology a good school?
- On Motley, Life Academy High School for Business and Technology earns an overall rating of 53/100 — 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 Life Academy High School for Business and Technology serve?
- Life Academy High School for Business and Technology serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Life Academy High School for Business and Technology?
- Life Academy High School for Business and Technology uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is Life Academy High School for Business and Technology public, charter, or private?
- Life Academy High School for Business and Technology is a public school in NYC Community School District 21.
- What neighborhood is Life Academy High School for Business and Technology in?
- Life Academy High School for Business and Technology is in Gravesend (South), Brooklyn.