At a Glance
A small debate-focused middle school where families and teachers report near-universal trust in leadership
Best suited for
Families who want a small, debate-themed middle school with an unusually strong sense of community and are comfortable navigating an eighth-grade transition after just two years.
What stands out
- A debate-themed identity that shapes curriculum and likely culture for grades 6 and 7
- Parent satisfaction at 98% and parent-principal trust at 99%, both well above the District 9 averages of roughly 94%
- 100% teacher-reported instructional quality, against a district average near 90%
- A self-contained special education program (SE) integrated into a small middle school
- Three subway lines within an 8-minute walk — solid commute options for a Bronx middle school
Things to consider
- The teacher survey only drew 5 responses — a tight-knit staff, but also a very small one, so the climate numbers describe a small group rather than a broad faculty
- Only grades 6 and 7 are served, meaning families face an eighth-grade transition after just two years here
- The surrounding neighborhood has a 32% poverty rate, which shapes the resources and supports the school has to bring to families
- No standardized proficiency data is included in what's been shared, so academic outcomes are harder to evaluate from outside
- The school is small by design, which is a feature for some families and a limitation for others who want more elective options or larger peer cohorts
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 9
In District 9, where the survey landscape is dominated by high-performing charters like Icahn and Success Academy, Bronx Debate Academy's climate metrics sit comfortably alongside those peers — the trust and satisfaction numbers rival the strongest schools in the borough.
Academics
Formal proficiency figures aren't part of what's been reported here, but the teacher-reported instructional quality is 100% — meaningfully higher than the District 9 average of about 90%, which suggests classrooms where teachers feel well-supported to teach. That gap between teacher-reported quality and the district norm is one of the more telling signals in the data, even without a test-score snapshot.
Culture
This is the school's defining strength. Parent satisfaction (98%) and parent-principal trust (99%) both run well above district averages of roughly 94%, and teachers report 100% trust in their principal and 100% collegial trust among themselves — essentially a unanimous faculty. One honest caveat: only 5 teachers responded to the survey, which means these numbers reflect a very small staff rather than a broad cross-section. Family engagement, by contrast, looks robust — 117 family responses and a 98% family response rate suggest parents are actively plugged in.
Community
Bronx Debate Academy sits in a neighborhood where the median household income is around $45,000 and only about 4% of households own their homes — a heavily renter, working-class community. Nearly a fifth of households include children, and the parent survey response rate of 98% suggests the families who do enroll here are deeply engaged. With only grades 6 and 7 on offer, the school draws from a narrow age band in a densely populated area.
Neighborhood
Mount Eden-Claremont is a working-class, family-dense corner of the Bronx where most residents rent and about a third of households live below the poverty line. College-degree attainment sits around 16%, well below the city average, but the share of households with children is healthy and the blocks around the school are clearly oriented toward families. The median home value near $262,000 reflects a neighborhood of mostly small multi-family buildings rather than owner-occupied single families.
Subway access is genuinely convenient: the 167 St (4) and 170 St (4) stops are each about a 5-minute walk, and the 167 St (B D) station is roughly 8 minutes on foot.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 117 families responded (98% rate)
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. We don't have Bronx Debate Academy's program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th 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
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Bronx Debate Academy a good school?
- Published quality ratings aren't available for Bronx Debate Academy yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 6 to 7 in Mount Eden-Claremont (West).
- What grades does Bronx Debate Academy serve?
- Bronx Debate Academy serves grades 6 to 7.
- Is Bronx Debate Academy public, charter, or private?
- Bronx Debate Academy is a public school in NYC Community School District 9.
- What neighborhood is Bronx Debate Academy in?
- Bronx Debate Academy is in Mount Eden-Claremont (West), Bronx.