Whitelaw Reid Academy of Arts and Business

ELA proficiency is at 23.2% and math at 29.9%, both well below the district averages of roughly 58% and 57%. The two subjects tell different stories: math has climbed from 16.6% in 2016 to 29.9% today, with a particularly sharp jump in the last two years, while ELA has been bumpier — it actually dropped from 32.9% to 23.2% in the most recent year after several years of gains. Eighth-graders post the strongest math results (36.8%), suggesting skills build as students move through the school. Overall, students here are catching up rather than leading, and the math trajectory is the more encouraging of the two.

The family-facing numbers here are striking: 97% parent satisfaction, 98% trust in teachers, 98% trust in the principal, and 90% of families completed the survey — all well above district averages. The flip side is harder. Nearly 60% of students are chronically absent, meaning most miss 10% or more of the school year, and the suspension rate of 8% is eight times the district average of 1%, with suspensions rising from zero in 2022-23 to seven in 2023-24. The day-to-day feel is genuinely mixed — families feel heard and connected, but attendance and discipline are real headwinds the school is openly working against.

The student body is 58% Black and 30% Hispanic, with an economic need index of 93.4 — meaning almost every student comes from a low-income household — and 32% receive special education services. The neighborhood reflects a Bedford-Stuyvesant in transition: median household income around $70,755 sits comfortably above the citywide figure, but a 23% poverty rate tells you economic diversity is real. Only about 12% of neighborhood households include children, which is on the low side and helps explain why enrollment here is so small.

Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) is a neighborhood where the housing market tells one story — median home value over $1.1 million — and the income picture tells another, with median household income around $70,750 and a 23% poverty rate. About 41% of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree, a figure that reflects both longtime residents and newer arrivals drawn by changing blocks. Just under 12% of households include children, which is on the low side and shapes the kind of school-age population the area supports.

The J train at Kosciuszko Street is about a 5-minute walk; the M, J, and Z at Myrtle Avenue is roughly 9 minutes; and the M at Central Avenue is about 11 minutes on foot.