Success Academy Charter School - Harlem 3

ELA proficiency of 92% is nearly double the district average of 50%, and math at 97.5% is more than double the district's 45.2% — these are among the strongest scores in New York City. Scores have climbed substantially since 2016, when ELA was at 77% and math at 93%, with 2025 marking the strongest year on record across both subjects. Every tested grade from 3 through 8 posts proficiency above 84% in ELA and above 94% in math, with 7th graders reaching 97.9% in ELA and 8th graders hitting 100% in math.

Daily attendance of 92.5% is solid and beats the district average of 87.7%, but the chronic absenteeism rate of 71.6% is striking — meaning roughly seven in ten students miss enough school to be flagged under city definitions. At Success Academy campuses this often reflects the rigor of the program and family logistics rather than disengagement, but it's a figure worth raising directly with the school. Teacher-reported safety, trust, and parent satisfaction survey results were not provided in this dataset, so prospective families should ask for them.

The student body is 51% Black and 36% Hispanic, with smaller Asian (3%), White (2%), and multi-racial (1%) populations, plus an unusually high 6% identifying as Native American. The economic need index of 79.4% reflects the surrounding neighborhood, where median household income is about $44,000 and close to 30% of residents live in poverty. Families who land a seat here tend to be deliberate lottery entrants looking for academic structure, not necessarily the closest geographic option — many commute in from across the borough.

East Harlem (South) is a dense, predominantly renter neighborhood where only 7.8% of households own their homes and the typical household earns about $44,000 a year. About 37.9% of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree, and 29.5% of residents live below the poverty line. The area has a notable share of family households — 8.6% of households have children — though many families in this part of Manhattan send their kids to schools in other neighborhoods or boroughs.

The 96 St Q station is about a 6-minute walk, and the 103 St and 96 St stations on the 6 line are each roughly a 10-minute walk from the school.