Success Academy Charter School - Harlem 5
Grades K-8 · 301 WEST 140 STREET · Manhattan
Meghan Mackay/Molly Cohen, Principal · 646-380-2580
About
Success Academy Charter School - Harlem 5, serving students in grades K-8, is part of the high-performing Success Academy network, known for its rigorous academic model. The school demonstrates exceptional academic achievement, with ELA proficiency at 89% and Math proficiency at 96%, both significantly exceeding citywide medians and ranking well above the 75th percentile. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students. The school's approach combines traditional discipline with a progressive curriculum, emphasizing high expectations, structured classrooms, and extensive daily reading. Parents frequently commend the professional staff, effective teacher communication, and the school's success in fostering high aspirations among students. While the school's official parent survey response rate was notably low, other feedback highlights strong parent satisfaction with the quality of education and support provided. Some external commentary, however, points to the intensity of the academic environment and disciplinary practices.
Sources (14)
- Success Academy Charter School - Harlem 5 Official Data · 2023-2024
- Success Academy Charter School-Harlem 5 in New York, NY - Homes.com · 2024
- Success Academy Charter School-harlem 5 vs. Democracy Prep Endurance Charter School - Compare Rankings, Test Scores and Reviews - Public School Review · 2024
- Success Academy Charter School - Harlem 5 in Manhattan, NY - Niche · 2024
- Success Academy charter schools provide an interesting approach to education · 2019
- Big Demands and High Expectations at Success Academy Schools - Edutopia · 2024
- Success Academy Charter Schools · 2021
- Success Academy Harlem 5 Charter School - District 5 - InsideSchools · 2024
- Philosophy, Test Results, Values - About Success Academy · 2025
- We Asked Parents How We Were Doing, and Here's What They Had to Say · 2020
- Parent Voices, Parent Choices - Success Academy · 2015
- publicschoolreview.com
- philanthropydaily.com
- successacademies.org
Academics
State test proficiency rates and acceleration.
ELA proficiency
89%
Math proficiency
96%
Proficiency rates are from the Grade 3–8 NYS state test (school-level).
Attendance rate
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Avg class size (general ed)
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Avg class size (ICT)
—
Community & climate
Demographics, attendance, school survey results, and DOE quality ratings.
Quality signals
Overall positive % is averaged across every Pos/Neg survey question per respondent group (school year 2023-2024). 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
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Chronic absenteeism
—
Suspension rate
0%
Student body
Race / ethnicity[4]
- Asian 2%
- Black 65%
- Hispanic 28%
- White 2%
- Multiracial 2%
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
725
Economic Need Index
88%
Free / reduced lunch
83%
English learners
7%
Students with IEPs
18%
Location & commute
Where the school is and how to get there.