Cypress Hills Ascend Charter School
School code (DBN) 84K910
Grades K-5 · 396 GRANT AVENUE · Brooklyn
Sophia Balis- Harris/Axel Nda, Principal · 718-859-8400
About
Cypress Hills Ascend Charter School serves students in grades K-5, with an enrollment of 482, which is near the citywide median. The school's student population includes 85 percent with an Economic Need Index above the citywide median, 24 percent who are English Language Learners, which is above the citywide median and near the 75th percentile, and 16 percent with an Individualized Education Program, which is below the citywide median and near the 25th percentile. Academically, 72 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in math, a figure well above the citywide median and near the 75th percentile. In English Language Arts, 63 percent of students achieved proficiency, which is above the citywide median. The school reports a 0 percent suspension rate. The school describes itself as honoring, nurturing, and challenging the whole child, fostering critical thinking and a love of learning through the Science of Reading, an inquiry-based approach, the Responsive Classroom model, and anti-racist education, with a commitment to educational equity. Parent and student survey results are not available for this school.
Sources (4)
Academics
State test proficiency rates and acceleration.
ELA proficiency
63%
Math proficiency
72%
Proficiency rates are from the Grade 3–8 NYS state test (school-level).
Attendance rate
83%
Avg class size (general ed)
—
Avg class size (ICT)
—
Community & climate
Demographics, attendance, school survey results, and DOE quality ratings.
Quality signals
NYC School Survey, 2025-26
Overall positive % is averaged across every Pos/Neg survey question per respondent group (school year 2025-2026). Survey topics are the DOE’s framework measures (each the average favorable response across its questions; expand a topic to see them and the citywide average); the dimension scores themselves are no longer in the public data file.[3]
Operational health
Attendance
83%
Chronic absenteeism
15%
Suspension rate
0%
Teachers[7]
Teachers with 4+ years' experience
37%
Students per teacher
16:1
Teaching out of certification
100%
Teacher experience and certification from the NYSED School Report Card (2024–25); students per teacher = enrollment ÷ reported teachers. Fewer than 4 years counts as inexperienced.
Student body
Race / ethnicity[4]
- Asian 6%
- Black 16%
- Hispanic 74%
- Multiracial 1%
School-level totals; may not sum to 100% due to rounding and small subgroup suppression.
Gender[4]
- Female 53%
- Male 47%
Female / male shares as published by the DOE; other gender identities aren’t reported in the source data.
Enrollment
482
Economic Need Index
85%
Free / reduced lunch
88%
English learners
24%
Students with IEPs
16%
Financials
[8]What this school has to spend, and what it spends it on. Spending is not a measure of quality. Schools serving more students with higher needs receive more money.
Charter schools manage their own budgets rather than receiving a school allocation from the DOE, so the staffing and supplies breakdown the DOE publishes for district schools is not published for this school.
Spending
Total spend
$9.5MStudents: 485
22nd percentile citywide
Total spend per student
$19,539
4th percentile citywide · city median $33,357
Location & commute
Where the school is and how to get there.