Frederick Douglass Academy VI High School

Specific proficiency data isn't included in this snapshot, so academic performance can't be characterized numerically — but the program design suggests a balanced, project-leaning approach. Class size averages 23.4, right at the district norm, and the school pairs AP coursework with ELL support, Spanish language offerings, and a Computer Graphics Design STEM pathway. The Graphic Arts and Design admissions track drew 147 applicants for 92 seats, a 50% offer rate, which signals real demand for the school's specialized focus.

The day-to-day feel here reads as unusually calm and family-connected. Parents report 93% satisfaction, 93% parent-teacher trust, and 92% parent-principal trust — all above district averages — and teachers rate instructional quality at a perfect 100% versus the district's roughly 91%. Zero suspensions is a standout number in a district that averages half a percent. The one softer signal is teacher-principal trust at 78%, a noticeable gap below the 87% collegial trust teachers give each other, suggesting some friction between staff and administration even as classroom culture stays strong.

The student body is 47% Black and 48% Hispanic, a two-community profile that closely mirrors the surrounding Far Rockaway-Bayswater neighborhood. With an economic need index of 89.3, students come predominantly from households facing financial pressure, and 24% have IEPs — well above the citywide rate. The 51% diversity index reflects meaningful but not majority-mixed demographics; this is fundamentally a school serving Black and Latino families from the eastern Rockaways.

Far Rockaway-Bayswater sits at the eastern edge of the Rockaways, a community where about 22% of households include children and the median household income lands around $67,668. The 17.6% poverty rate reflects real economic stress, while a 29% homeownership rate and roughly $625,000 median home value hint at the housing-market shift this peninsula has seen in recent years. About a quarter of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Three A-line stations serve the area: Beach 25 St is about a 4-minute walk, with Beach 36 St and Far Rockaway-Mott Av each about 10 minutes away — the A train is the one and only subway lifeline in and out of the peninsula.