Academy of Arts and Letters: SHSAT testers and specialized high school offers, 2022-2026
District 13 · Brooklyn · DBN 13K492
- 8th graders, 2026
- 100
- Sat the SHSAT
- 40
- Took the test
- 40%
- Offers
- 5 or fewer (not published)
SHSAT 2026: registration October 6–30; the test is November 14–15 (School Day November 18, 9th grade November 21).
For families choosing a middle school
Getting in (Fall 2026 admissions)
In Fall 2026 middle school admissions, Academy of Arts and Letters admitted sixth graders through one program (Open).
It had 135 general education applicants for 67 seats, 2 applicants per seat in the DOE's count.
| Program | Admissions method | General education seats | Students with disabilities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Applicants | Per seat | All filled | Seats | Applicants | Per seat | ||
| Academy of Arts and LettersOpen to New York City residents | Open | 67 | 135 | 2 | Yes | 21 | 22 | 1 |
Where its students go next. The DOE lists Art and Design High School, Bard High School Early College and Essex Street Academy as the high schools its students most often attend.
Fall 2026 admissions: families applied in fall 2025 for sixth grade in September 2026. Seats, applicants and applicants per seat are the DOE’s, from its Fall 2026 Middle School Data file on InfoHub (saved by the DOE 2026-09-18), the same figures MySchools shows as last year’s demand. The DOE counts applicants this way: “MySchools shows the true number of applicants who were considered for a seat in a program, meaning this number excludes applicants who matched to a more preferred choice from their application.” (schools.nyc.gov, read October 4, 2026). Applicants per seat is the DOE’s own figure, rounded to a whole number, so 0 means fewer than one applicant for every two seats. “All filled” is the DOE’s flag for whether every seat in that group was filled; “n/a” means the file gives no figure. Seats and demand change every year; this page does not turn them into a chance of admission.
In 2026 admissions, 100 eighth graders at Academy of Arts and Letters applied to high school and 40 of them sat the SHSAT, a participation rate of 40%. That is close to the 39% rate across District 13. Citywide, among public middle schools that published both counts, 39% of eighth graders sat the test. It ranks 4th of 9 in District 13 on that measure. With 100 eighth graders applying to high school, it has the largest eighth grade of the 9 schools listed in District 13.
The number of its students who received an offer to a specialized high school was 5 or fewer. The DOE does not publish counts that small, so it could be any number from zero to five; this page does not guess. That is true of every school in District 13 that year.
The number of testers went from 32 in 2022 admissions to 40 in 2026, up 8. The sharpest move came between 2024 and 2025, when it rose by 10. The eighth grade itself grew from 57 to 100 over the same years, so part of that movement is the size of the class, not the share sitting the test. Offers went from 15 in 2022 to 10 in 2023. In 2024 and 2025 and 2026, the offer count was 5 or fewer and was not published.
No school in District 13 had a published offer count in 2026 admissions: every one was 5 or fewer.
Year by year
| Admissions year | 8th graders | Sat the SHSAT | Took the test | Offers | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 57 | 32 | 56% | 15 | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2023 | 87 | 29 | 33% | 10 | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2024 | 79 | 31 | 39% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2025 | 83 | 41 | 49% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2026 | 100 | 40 | 40% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| District 13, 2026 | 566 | 222 | 39% | none published | |
| New York City, 2026 | 26,123 | 4,023 |
“2026 admissions” means students who sat the SHSAT as eighth graders in the 2025-26 school year and received offers for fall 2026, as in the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary. “8th graders” counts the school’s eighth graders who applied to high school; “took the test” divides testers by that count when both are published. The district row adds the published counts of its schools, so its offers are a floor; the city row is the DOE’s own total. “Not listed” means the school is absent from that year’s file.
Schools in District 13 with a similar share of testers
The schools just above and below Academy of Arts and Letters when District 13’s schools are ordered by the share of eighth graders who sat the SHSAT in 2026 admissions.
- Restoration Academy Magnet School of Global Exploration and Innovation89% of 46 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- Dock Street School for STEAM Studies44% of 70 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- Fort Greene Preparatory Academy41% of 88 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- I.S. 91540% of 80 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women27% of 33 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- M.S. K266 - Park Place Community Middle School24% of 25 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
See how this school ranks
Academy of Arts and Letters is not ranked for 2026 admissions: 40 students sat the SHSAT, but its offer count was 5 or fewer, which the DOE does not publish, so no rate can be computed.
Best middle schools in Brooklyn for the SHSAT
Compare with…
What to do with these numbers
Your child is in 8th grade now
Registration closes October 30. Test day: November 18.
November 18 is the SHSAT School Day; the weekend sittings are November 14/15 and November 21. Whatever the count at Academy of Arts and Letters, the decision to sit the test is yours, and a scored official practice test tells you more about your own child than any school figure.
- How to register for the SHSAT, step by step
- Score an official SHSAT practice test, free
- Book an SHSAT session
Dates read on schools.nyc.gov on October 19, 2026.
Your child is in 6th or 7th grade
A 7th grader sits the SHSAT in fall 2027; a 6th grader, in fall 2028.
The test comes in the fall of 8th grade, so there is no deadline yet, and that is the point: starting now leaves time to work on reading and math at a steady pace instead of in the last weeks. The counts above show what happened at Academy of Arts and Letters, not where your child stands. We start with a scored official practice test, which does.
Your child is in 5th grade
Middle school applications are open until December 11.
Start with how many families applied for each seat last year: the DOE publishes it program by program. The middle school you choose is also where the SHSAT years happen, so ask the schools on your list how many of their students sit the test and how they prepare them.
- How hard Academy of Arts and Letters is to get into
- SHSAT preparation: what it involves and when to start
Dates for fall 2027 entry read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
Academy of Arts and Letters is a school figure. Your child needs a score.
Figures from Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results (school counts) and Specialized High Schools Admissions Overall Summary (city totals), New York City Department of Education, as listed for DBN 13K492; 2026 figures from the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary on InfoHub, not yet on NYC Open Data. Rebuilt 2026-10-04. Method and caveats are set out on the index page. Back to all 735 middle schools.