The College Academy

The school doesn't publish test scores in this snapshot, so the academic picture has to be read through its programming and demand signals. The two admissions tracks — College Access for All (71 seats, 186 applicants) and Dual Language Spanish (24 seats, 72 applicants) — both landed at a 33.3% offer rate, meaning roughly two applicants chase every seat. With AP courses, a Humanities focus, STEM, World Languages, and ELL Support layered in, the curriculum is built for students aiming at postsecondary work, and the family demand confirms that's how applicants are reading it too.

This is where the school really distinguishes itself. Zero suspensions against a district average that isn't zero is a meaningful signal — and it lines up with survey results that are uniformly high: 96% parent satisfaction, 95% parent-teacher trust, 96% parent-principal trust, and 100% of teachers rating instruction quality positively. The 93% teacher collegial trust suggests staff feel supported by one another, not just by leadership. The day-to-day feel is one of a school where adults and families are aligned, and where behavior isn't a chronic issue. One honest caveat: only 23 teachers responded to the survey, which is a small sample for a staff of this size and is worth weighing against the otherwise glowing numbers.

The student body is 88% Hispanic, 8% Black, 2% Asian, and 1% White, with a diversity index of just 26%, which signals a school that's ethnically homogeneous rather than mixed. Twenty-five percent of students have IEPs and the economic need index sits at 93.1 — high. This profile closely tracks the Washington Heights neighborhood around it, where the population is largely Hispanic and median household income is in the high $70Ks.

Washington Heights (North) is a working- and middle-class neighborhood where about 13% of households have children, the poverty rate is 14%, and 41.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Median home value sits around $575,000 and homeownership is low at 17.5%, meaning most families around the school are renters. Median household income of $76,919 puts the area comfortably middle-income, and the educational attainment rate is meaningfully higher than the city average, which is worth noting for a neighborhood anchored by a screened college-prep school.

Families can reach the school from the 191 St (1) stop in about four minutes, the Dyckman St (1) stop in about six minutes, or the 190 St (A) stop in roughly ten minutes on foot — three 1/A-line options within a short walk.