Uncommon Bed-Stuy West Charter School NYC

Both subjects outperform District 13 — ELA at 63.7% versus the district's 53%, and math at 63% versus the district's 46%. Math has historically been this school's strength (peaking at 80.7% in 2019), though it crashed to 45.5% during the pandemic and has only partially recovered since. The 2025 numbers show a real rebound: ELA jumped 13 points from last year's 50.4%, and math is back near its post-pandemic high. The grade breakdown reveals very strong elementary math (90.6% in Grade 3, 87.5% in Grade 4) but a notable dip in Grade 5 math, which falls to 44.6%.

Parents clearly love this school — 94% satisfaction and 96-97% trust scores are well above district norms and reflect real buy-in. Teachers tell a different story: their assessment of instruction quality sits at 75.4%, more than 12 points below the district average of 87.6%. The 87.6% attendance rate and 52.8% chronic absenteeism rate are the school's biggest daily challenge, with the attendance figure substantially worse than the district average. One caveat: only 5% of families filled out the parent survey, so those trust numbers come from a small self-selected group of 58 respondents.

The student body is 78% Black and 15% Hispanic, reflecting the historic character of Bedford-Stuyvesant, with smaller shares of Asian, white, and multiracial students. An economic need index of 77.5% indicates most students come from low-income households, and 13% have IEPs. At 1,200 students running K through 12 in one building, this is an unusually large charter by New York standards — most charter schools serve a much narrower grade band.

Bedford-Stuyvesant (West) is a neighborhood in transition: median household income sits around $77,685, with nearly 28% of residents below the poverty line and about 48% holding a bachelor's degree or higher. The high median home value (over $1.2 million) and low homeownership rate (around 20%) tell a familiar Bed-Stuy story of long-term renters alongside new buyers priced into the market. About 15.7% of households include children, reflecting the area's mix of longtime families, younger professionals, and other longtime residents.

The school is reasonably accessible by subway: the Nostrand Av A and C trains and the Kingston-Throop Avs C train are each about a 6-minute walk, and the Franklin Av S train is roughly 11 minutes away on foot.