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PREPARATORY ACADEMY FOR WRITERS: A COLLEGE BOARD SCHOOL

SPRINGFIELD GARDENS · NY · NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #29 · Public · K-12 combined

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 5 AP courses offered — Moderate
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 50% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 34% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 87% (Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How PREPARATORY ACADEMY FOR WRITERS: A COLLEGE BOARD SCHOOL compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • LocallyNY sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: EXCELSIOR PREPARATORY HIGH SCHOOL, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE SCIENCES, QUEENS PREPARATORY ACADEMY and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Moderate — some AP / advanced course access

Bottom 50% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Science ✓
Advanced math classes
1
0 calculus · 1 advanced
Lab science classes
2
0 physics · 2 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 34% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
34
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
9.9
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
87%
Range: 85–89%
4-year cohort size
97
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
2.9%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
12.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

69.5%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

Stony Brook University

49%
admit rate
$10,931
in-state tuition/yr · $32,741 out-of-state
1320–1490
SAT 25–75 · ACT 28–33

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $18,784/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Stony Brook University profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
34.7%
Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.
Students absent 15+ days
181
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
496:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
1.1
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
38
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 79 in 2021 to 99 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+25.3%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 521 students:

2025
517
2027
509
2029
502

≈ 19 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
EXCELSIOR PREPARATORY HIGH SCHOOL
SPRINGFIELD GARDENS
Public 0.0 479 +21.9%
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE SCIENCES
SPRINGFIELD GARDENS
Public 0.0 420 +23.9%
QUEENS PREPARATORY ACADEMY
SPRINGFIELD GARDENS
Public 0.0 319 +48.4%
AUGUST MARTIN HIGH SCHOOL
JAMAICA
Public 1.4 643 +32.9%
VOYAGES PREP-SOUTH QUEENS
JAMAICA
Public 1.4 217 +14.2%
UNITED CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED MATH AND SCIENCE IV
JAMAICA
Public · charter 1.4 363 -24.2%
HS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY
JAMAICA
Public 1.8 535 +43.4%
EAGLE ACADEMY FOR YOUNG MEN III
JAMAICA
Public 1.9 317 +34.3%

For Parents

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