Academy For Personal Leadership And Excellence

ELA proficiency (35.6%) and math proficiency (27.4%) both trail district averages of 45% and 43.5%, and the overall quality score of 1.26/4 sits below the district's 1.77. But the trajectory is the more honest story: ELA has climbed steadily from 15.8% in 2016 to 35.6% in 2025, and math has roughly tripled from 8.8% to 27.4% over the same period. By 8th grade, students are hitting 41.2% ELA proficiency — above the district average — and 32.2% in math, suggesting real growth across the middle school years. The 6th-grade dip (27.3% ELA, 21.9% math) is worth noting: this is a transition year where new students are still finding their footing.

The parent survey numbers here are exceptional for any school, let alone one where 93.5% of students have economic need: 94% parent satisfaction, 96% parent-teacher trust, 97% parent-principal trust, and 95% teacher-reported instruction quality, with 78% of families responding. The discipline trend tells a clean improvement story — suspensions fell from 19 in 2021-22 to just 5 in 2023-24, a 74% drop that suggests a maturing restorative culture. The harder truth is attendance: 87.8% trails the district's 90.8%, and chronic absenteeism at 56.6% means more than half of students are missing too much school. That's the day-to-day reality underneath the strong survey numbers.

The student body is 84% Hispanic and 11% Black, with small Asian, White, and Native American populations — a demographic profile that mirrors the surrounding Fordham Heights neighborhood, where the median household income is around $40,000 and roughly a third of households are below the poverty line. A quarter of students have IEPs, and the school offers ELL support. The diversity index of 34% reflects a school that is, by NYC standards, relatively homogeneous — but it's also a school where the families and the neighborhood are clearly the same community.

Fordham Heights is a working-class, predominantly renter neighborhood on the western edge of the Bronx — only about 1% of households own their home, the median household income sits just above $40,000, and roughly a fifth of households include kids. College-degree rates are low at 11.4%, well under half the citywide figure. It's a dense, transit-rich area, and the school sits within a short walk of three subway lines on two nearby stations — about as connected to public transit as anywhere in the borough.

Families can reach the school from the Fordham Rd B/D station in about 4 minutes, the Fordham Rd 4 station in about 5 minutes, or the 182-183 Sts B/D stop in about 5 minutes.