At a Glance
A selective early-college program tucked into the South Bronx, where high schoolers earn real college credit before they graduate.
Best suited for
Self-motivated students ready for college-level coursework in 9th or 10th grade, and families willing to navigate a selective application process in exchange for a more intimate, college-credited high school experience.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- The early-college model lets students graduate with an associate's degree — or significant transferable credits — alongside their high school diploma.
- Teacher trust scores hit 100% on both principal trust and collegial trust, which is rare for any school.
- Parent satisfaction and parent-principal trust run higher than district averages, despite a low family survey response rate.
- Selective, application-based admissions make this a genuinely chosen school, not a default zoned assignment.
- The 2/5 subway at 174 St is a four-minute walk — the most useful Bronx commute corridor.
Things to consider
- Admissions are selective, so this isn't a guaranteed-seat neighborhood school.
- State test proficiency isn't reported in the standard district format, making apples-to-apples comparisons harder for parents who track those numbers.
- Survey response rates are low — especially among teachers (only 7 respondents) — so the glowing trust numbers reflect a small sample.
- Most students commute in from outside Crotona Park East, so the neighborhood feel doesn't necessarily match the student body.
- The early-college model is academically demanding and works well for self-directed kids but can be a poor fit for students who want a more traditional high school experience.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 12
Within District 12, the highest-rated peer is South Bronx Classical Charter School at 96/100, and Bard sits among a mix of charters and traditional schools spanning 67 to 96. It's one of the few non-charter, non-zoned options in the district, offering a fundamentally different academic model rather than competing on conventional school-quality metrics.
Academics
Standardized proficiency rates aren't reported for this school in the typical district-comparable format, which is the norm for early-college programs that emphasize transcript-based college coursework over state exams. The school's defining academic feature is the Bard model itself — students take college-level classes starting freshman or sophomore year, and many graduate with an associate's degree. Teacher-reported instruction quality is 89%, modestly above the district average of about 88%.
Culture
Trust numbers are unusually strong — 100% of teachers say they trust both their principal and their peers, while 95% of parents report trusting the principal and 95% trust teachers. Parent satisfaction at 94% beats the district average of about 92%. One honest caveat: only 7 teachers and 41 families responded to the surveys, so the climate picture is based on a small slice of the community, especially on the staff side. Day-to-day, the signals point to a collaborative, low-friction environment rather than a top-down one.
Community
The student body draws from across the Bronx and beyond, since Bard's admissions are selective and not tied to neighborhood zoning — most early-college families are actively choosing this over their zoned school. Crotona Park East itself skews heavily renter (about 90% rent), with a poverty rate near 29% and a relatively low share of households with children (about 15%). The result is a school whose demographic profile doesn't mirror its surrounding blocks; families typically commute in.
Neighborhood
Crotona Park East is a densely settled, working-class stretch of the South Bronx with a median household income around $41,000 and a poverty rate near 29%. Only about 10% of residents own their homes, and just 15% of households include children — meaning a lot of working-age adults and older neighbors live alongside the families with kids. The neighborhood has its own strong local identity and is more residential than commercial.
The 174 St station on the 2 and 5 lines is the closest, about a 4-minute walk; Freeman St on the 2 and 5 is around 9 minutes on foot, and the 6 at Whitlock Av is roughly 15 minutes away.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 41 families responded (17% rate)
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. We don't have Bard High School Early College Bronx's program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
Open house
Wed, Nov 18, · 5:30 PM · In person
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Bard High School Early College Bronx a good school?
- On Motley, Bard High School Early College Bronx earns an overall rating of 91/100 — the average of the school's four-year graduation rate, the share of its students scoring college-ready (70+) on the English Regents, and its Regents completion rate, shown out of 100.
- What grades does Bard High School Early College Bronx serve?
- Bard High School Early College Bronx serves grades 9 to 12.
- Is Bard High School Early College Bronx public, charter, or private?
- Bard High School Early College Bronx is a public school in NYC Community School District 12.
- What neighborhood is Bard High School Early College Bronx in?
- Bard High School Early College Bronx is in Crotona Park East, Bronx.