At a Glance
A small law-and-justice themed Brooklyn high school that turns away nine in ten applicants and runs a notably calm climate.
Best suited for
Families drawn to a small, law-and-justice themed high school with strong staff culture and a calm, low-suspension climate — and who can compete in a lottery that accepts about 1 in 10.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Intensely selective admissions: roughly 1 in 10 applicants gets an offer
- Zero suspensions against a district average of 1.39%
- Teacher trust scores run in the 90s across instruction quality, principal trust, and collegial relationships
- A focused law-and-justice curriculum uncommon at the high-school level
Things to consider
- Program richness at 56/100 — families wanting broader arts, sciences, or technical electives should look carefully
- 20% IEP enrollment and a 78.8 economic need index, meaning students bring substantial challenges to a relatively narrow program
- Parent satisfaction is a few points below district average even as staff-side scores are strong
- Family survey response rate of 34% means parent-voice data is thinner than the teacher-trust numbers suggest
- ELA and math proficiency figures weren't reported, so academic outcomes can't be verified from the data provided
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 13
The peer schools listed alongside this one in District 13 are mostly K-8 schools — P.S. 011, the Emily Warren Roebling School, Brooklyn Prospect Charter, Community Roots, Compass, and Bridges — none of which are direct high-school peers. Within that group the top scorers are elementary schools, so this law-and-justice high school sits in a different category from its data neighbors and is better understood as one of Brooklyn's selective small public high schools rather than ranked against K-8 peers.
Academics
The academic footprint here is modest — a program richness score of 56/100 suggests a thinner elective catalog than peers, anchored by AP Courses, ELL Support, and Spanish. Average class size of 21.2 matches the district exactly, so families won't get a small-class advantage here. ELA and math proficiency figures weren't reported in the data provided, so academic outcomes can't be benchmarked against the district averages of 53% ELA and 46% math.
Culture
Zero suspensions against a district average of 1.39% is the headline climate number — students here are not being removed from class. Teacher-side trust runs unusually high: instructional quality at 92% (above the 87.6% district average), principal trust at 93%, and collegial trust at 95%, which together suggest a staff that genuinely buys in. Parent satisfaction at 87% sits below the district's 90.6% average, though parent-to-principal trust is 95%, so engaged families feel heard even if the broader parent survey lands a touch lower.
Community
The student body is 61% Black and 31% Hispanic, with a 78.8 economic need index and 20% of students with IEPs — a population carrying real academic and social weight. Just 5% of students are Asian or white combined, so the school looks very different from the Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill neighborhood around it, where the median household income tops $150,000 and over 73% of adults hold a bachelor's degree.
Neighborhood
Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill is one of Brooklyn's most affluent and educated corridors — median household income above $150,000, bachelor's-degree attainment over 73%, and a median home value approaching $1.5 million. The 15.5% poverty rate and 15.1% share of households with children hint at a less monolithic reality underneath those topline numbers.
Three nearby subway stations make for short commutes. Borough Hall on the 2 and 3 lines is about a 3-minute walk, Jay St–MetroTech on the A, C, and F is about 4 minutes away, and Borough Hall on the 4 and 5 is also about a 4-minute walk.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 131 families responded (34% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Law and justice are the lenses through which subject matter is viewed and academic skills are developed. Our theme reflects our conviction that educating is in itself an act of social justice, and that learning can be amplified when done through the lens of the law.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Urban Assembly School for Law and JusticeEd. Opt.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 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 Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice a good school?
- On Motley, The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice earns an overall rating of 68/100 — the average of the school's four-year graduation rate, the share of its students scoring college-ready (70+) on the English Regents, and its Regents completion rate, shown out of 100.
- What grades does The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice serve?
- The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice?
- The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice public, charter, or private?
- The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice is a public school in NYC Community School District 13.
- What neighborhood is The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in?
- The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice is in Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.