At a Glance
A tiny middle school with extraordinary family trust and a startlingly rich program menu for its size
Best suited for
Families who want a small, relationship-driven middle school with rich electives and don't mind that academic outcomes are still catching up to the district — especially families who plan to stay through 8th grade, since older students post stronger results here.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Program richness score of 90/100 is remarkable for a school of only 132 students — offerings include robotics, coding, film, dance, band, fashion, photography, yoga, and Specialized High School test prep
- Zero suspensions last year, down from 6 two years prior — a sharp, hard-won turnaround
- Parent-principal trust at 98% and parent-teacher trust at 97% are unusually high signals of family-school partnership
- Teacher-rated instruction quality at 95%, well above the district's 89.1%
Things to consider
- Math proficiency at 26.4% is roughly half the district average — families who prioritize strong math outcomes should look closely
- Chronic absenteeism near 49% means nearly half of students are missing significant school, which can compound academic gaps
- Small enrollment (132) means fewer peer connections and a narrower athletics program than larger middle schools
- Below-average overall score of 1.58/4 reflects the academic gap, even as the trend line points up
- Only 8 teachers responded to the survey, so staff perspectives carry less weight than usual
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 17
Within District 17, this school sits below the district average on every academic measure but ahead on climate indicators — parent satisfaction, instruction quality, and discipline. Peer schools like Success Academy branches and P.S. 249 post higher overall scores, but those are different governance models and admissions pathways. Among traditional unscreened middle schools, this is a quietly distinctive option for families who value relationships and programming over headline test scores.
Academics
ELA proficiency at 52.8% is below the district average of roughly 60.5%, and math at 26.4% is significantly behind the district's ~57.3%. But the trajectory is the real story here — ELA climbed from 15.2% in 2016 to 52.8% in 2025, and math has roughly doubled over the same period. Older students do noticeably better: 8th graders hit 60.5% in ELA, right at the district average, suggesting the school gets stronger results the longer students stay. Science proficiency sits at 31.4%, another area where growth has room to run.
Culture
The day-to-day feel here is warm and unusually trusting — 94% of families say they're satisfied (above the district's 91%), and parent-principal trust is at 98%. Teachers rate instruction quality at 95%, well above the district's 89.1%, which is striking for a small school. Suspensions have trended down from 6 two years ago to zero last year, a genuinely meaningful shift. The one climate flag is attendance: the 86.6% rate trails the district's 91%, and nearly half of students are chronically absent — so the school is winning on relationships and discipline while still wrestling with the daily challenge of getting kids through the door.
Community
The student body is 67% Black and 23% Hispanic, with smaller shares of Asian, White, and Native American students — a diversity index of 54%. Twenty-eight percent of students have IEPs, and the school runs ELL support, so it's serving a wide range of learners under one roof. The surrounding Crown Heights (North) census tract has a median household income of $73,859 and a 20.2% poverty rate, which fits the school's 82.9 economic need index — most families here are working-class, and the school reads as a neighborhood institution rather than a destination school.
Neighborhood
Crown Heights (North) is a working- and middle-class Brooklyn neighborhood where 11% of households have children and 42.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Median home values are high (over $1 million), reflecting a tight housing market, but only 16.4% of households own — most families rent. The school sits within easy walking distance of subway service, making it accessible for families coming from elsewhere in Brooklyn.
Three nearby options: Park Place on the S about a 5-minute walk, and Franklin Avenue on the C or S about 7 minutes away.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 104 families responded (90% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. The Academy for Collaborative Exploration admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Elijah Stroud Middle SchoolUnscreened82 seats
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 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 The Academy for Collaborative Exploration a good school?
- On Motley, The Academy for Collaborative Exploration earns an overall rating of 40/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 17 average.
- What grades does The Academy for Collaborative Exploration serve?
- The Academy for Collaborative Exploration serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into The Academy for Collaborative Exploration?
- The Academy for Collaborative Exploration admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is The Academy for Collaborative Exploration public, charter, or private?
- The Academy for Collaborative Exploration is a public school in NYC Community School District 17.
- What neighborhood is The Academy for Collaborative Exploration in?
- The Academy for Collaborative Exploration is in Crown Heights (North), Brooklyn.