Fordham Leadership Academy

Fordham Leadership Academy positions itself firmly as a college-prep school: it offers AP courses, a dedicated humanities track, STEM, and multiple world languages including American Sign Language, with a program richness score of 66.2 out of 100. Admissions are highly competitive at a 7.1% offer rate, suggesting strong demand from families seeking this kind of curriculum. Specific school-level proficiency data was not provided in this dataset, so academic outcomes cannot be benchmarked against the district averages of about 45% ELA and 44% math proficiency. With 29% of students on IEPs and a near-universal ELL support program on offer, the school clearly serves a wide range of learners alongside its college-prep mission.

Parents are unambiguously enthusiastic: 97% report satisfaction, with 97% trust in both teachers and the principal, and an unusually high 98% family survey response rate signals a deeply engaged parent community. Discipline data is striking — zero total suspensions in the reporting period, well below the district average suspension rate of roughly 0.28%. The teacher picture is more mixed: 79% rated instruction quality as strong (notably below the district average of about 91%), and only 72% expressed trust in the principal, while collegial trust among teachers was a healthier 88%. An important caveat is that only 8 teachers responded to the survey, so the teacher-side numbers should be read with real caution — the parent data is far more robust with 351 responses.

The student body is 72% Hispanic and 23% Black, with Asian, White, and Native American students making up small single-digit shares — a profile that closely mirrors the surrounding Belmont neighborhood. The economic need index of 90.8% indicates that roughly nine in ten students come from low-income households, consistent with a neighborhood where the median household income sits just under $33,000. With 29% of students classified as having IEPs and a dedicated ELL support program, the school serves a substantial share of students with additional learning needs. A diversity index of 42% reflects meaningful but not extreme variety in the student population.

Belmont is a dense, working-class Bronx neighborhood where the median household income is around $33,000 and more than a third of residents live below it. Only about 11% of households have children, homeownership is rare at under 4%, and just 13% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — the school is one of the main anchors serving local families with teenagers. The Fordham Road commercial corridor runs through the area, and the neighborhood is firmly car-light, with most families relying on public transit to get around.

Families reach the school primarily via the B and D trains, with Fordham Rd station about a 10-minute walk and Kingsbridge Rd about a 12-minute walk. The 4 train at Kingsbridge Rd is a longer 15-minute walk but offers another option.