Uncommon Bed-Stuy East Charter School NYC

Math proficiency at 62.3% is meaningfully above the District 16 average of about 57%, while ELA at 55.6% sits just below the district's 57.6%. Both subjects have climbed significantly since 2016, when ELA was 39.8% and math was 44%, though the journey has been uneven — math in particular dropped to 30.7% in 2022 before rebounding. Scores also vary sharply by grade: 6th-grade ELA is a relative weak spot at 41.3%, while 7th and 8th graders post stronger results, suggesting students settle in and gain traction as they move up.

This is a school where families feel heard: parent satisfaction sits at 98%, parent-teacher trust at 99%, and parent-principal trust at 97% — all well above district averages. Teachers also rate instruction quality and trust in leadership in the 90–92% range, pointing to a coherent staff culture. The one real flag is chronic absenteeism at 55.9%, notably higher among girls (62.9%) than boys (45.7%), which is worth asking the school directly about. Day-to-day attendance is actually slightly above the district average, so the high chronic-absenteeism figure likely reflects a smaller group of students with persistent, not occasional, absences.

The student body is 58% Black and 37% Hispanic, with an economic need index of 75.6 — meaning roughly three-quarters of students qualify as economically disadvantaged. Nearly one in five students has an IEP, which is meaningful for any family thinking about special-education services. Average class size of about 18 keeps things small, and total enrollment of 334 gives the school a middle-school feel rather than an institutional one. The demographic mix closely tracks Bedford-Stuyvesant East's population, where about a quarter of households live below the poverty line and two-in-five adults hold a bachelor's degree.

Bedford-Stuyvesant East is a working- and middle-class neighborhood where median household income sits near $71,000 and roughly a quarter of households live below the poverty line. Homeownership is relatively low at about 27%, meaning most families rent, though the area has seen rising home values over the past decade. About 40% of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree, reflecting the mix of long-time residents and newer homeowners that defines the neighborhood today. Households with children make up about 12% of the area.

The closest subway is the J at Kosciuszko Street, about a 9-minute walk; the A and C at Utica Avenue is roughly 13 minutes on foot, and the M, J, and Z at Myrtle Avenue is about a 14-minute walk.