Success Academy Charter School - South Jamaica

These are exceptional scores — the kind that put Success Academy in conversations about the highest-performing schools in the city. At 93.8% ELA and 98.5% math, students here are performing roughly 35-40 percentage points above the District 27 average. Looking at the trend, there's been real volatility: scores dipped during COVID (ELA dropped to 67.7% in 2022), then rebounded strongly. The 2025 numbers show ELA recovery to 94% territory and math holding steady near 98%. Grade-level data shows strong performance across both 3rd and 4th grade, with 3rd grade ELA at a remarkable 96.7%. This suggests the school's curriculum and interventions are working, though the historical dip is worth noting for families who want consistency.

The attendance data tells a complicated story. At 93.4%, the raw attendance rate looks fine — actually above the district average of 90%. But the chronic absenteeism rate of 80.5% is extraordinarily high, meaning a huge share of students are missing significant chunks of school even if they show up most days. This could reflect the demanding charter schedule, transportation challenges, or families who enroll but then find the model difficult to sustain. The survey data is essentially unusable (only 2 responses, 0% rate), so we don't have reliable parent or teacher feedback on trust, safety, or instruction quality to draw from. What we do know from district context: the suspension rate is low at 0.5%, and teacher-reported safety in the district averages 92.6%, suggesting a generally orderly environment.

The student body is predominantly Black (53%) with significant Asian representation (21%), followed by Hispanic (15%), White (3%), Native American (7%), and Multi-Racial (2%). This is a diverse community — the diversity index of 72% reflects that — and notably different from the neighborhood's slightly higher poverty rate (11.3%) and BA+ education rate of 20.5%. With 13% IEP students and an economic need index of 63, the school is serving a meaningful number of students with disabilities and from lower-income households, though the community skews more working-middle-class than high-need.

Baisley Park is a stable, residential Queens neighborhood in South Jamaica with a homeownership rate of 62.8% and median home values around $550,000 — indicating a solid middle-class base. The area scores moderately on safety (55th percentile) but lower on transit (29th percentile), meaning families are likely driving or taking buses rather than relying on subway access. Education orientation scores 36th percentile, which is below average — suggesting this isn't an education-heavy neighborhood with multiple school options, making Success Academy's presence more notable. The health environment score is strong (86th percentile), though lead and asthma rates show some environmental concerns typical of urban Queens.

Transit options are limited — families will likely rely on cars, buses, or school transportation rather than walking or subway access