Pharos Academy Charter School

The numbers here are striking. ELA proficiency has gone from 28.1% in 2016 to 78.5% in 2025, and math from 20.6% to 83.5% — a more than fourfold improvement that puts the school well above the district averages of roughly 45% ELA and 43% math. The school's overall quality score of 3.24 out of 4 is nearly double the district average of 1.76. By middle school, students are performing especially well: 91.3% of seventh-graders and 87.8% of eighth-graders hit proficiency in ELA, and math proficiency stays in the high 80s across grades 4 through 8. The trajectory is consistent enough year-over-year that the gains don't look like a fluke.

Day-to-day, this looks like a place where families and teachers are largely on the same page — 96% of parents say they're satisfied, and 96% trust their children's teachers. Teachers give their own school's instruction quality a 95% rating and report feeling safe at 91%, both well above district norms. The main tension in the data is a gap between parent-principal trust (96%) and teacher-principal trust (88%), and a lower teacher collegial trust score of 82% — so while the school runs smoothly for families, the staff culture is a touch more complicated. Attendance is strong at 94.9%, comfortably above the district's 90.1%. One figure that stands out is the chronic absenteeism rate of 88%, which is unusually high for a school with otherwise strong indicators and worth asking the school directly about during a tour.

The student body mirrors the surrounding Longwood community: about 66% Hispanic and 30% Black, with small percentages of Asian, White, and Native American students. The economic need index of 86.4 is high, meaning most families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 18% of students have IEPs. With roughly 705 students spread across 13 grades, Pharos is small enough that most families know each other — class sizes average 21.9, right around the district norm. The diversity index sits at 43%, relatively modest by city standards because enrollment is concentrated in two demographic groups rather than spread across many.

Longwood is a working-class South Bronx neighborhood where the median household income is about $36,558, more than a third of residents live in poverty, and only about 13% of households own their homes. Families with children make up 14.3% of households and just over 15% of adult residents have a bachelor's degree, putting this among the more economically stretched parts of the Bronx. The block feel is dense row-house and apartment territory, and the school sits within easy reach of the 2 and 5 trains.

Easy access from three stations on the 2 and 5 lines — Intervale Av is about a 2-minute walk, Simpson St about 5 minutes, and Prospect Av about 7 minutes — making this one of the easier subway commutes in the area.