At a Glance
A sprawling Bronx high school with a near-spotless discipline record, near-universal parent trust, and career academies that draw students from across the borough.
Best suited for
A Bronx family looking for a large, career-pathway-focused high school — particularly a student with a clear interest in law enforcement, engineering, culinary arts, or media who can navigate a big building and self-advocate within a competitive academy.
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
- Seven specialized academies — Law Enforcement, Pre-Engineering, Culinary Arts, Computer Technology, Media Communication, Air Force JROTC, and Arts — with borough-wide competitive admissions, not just neighborhood walk-ins.
- Zero suspensions recorded in the most recent discipline tally, an unusually clean record for a school of this size.
- A perfect 100/100 program richness score, with offerings ranging from AFJROTC and Robotics-FRC to Hip-Hop Dance and Creative Writing.
- Parent-principal trust at 97%, the kind of family satisfaction that signals a stable, well-led building.
- ELL support paired with French, Italian, Spanish, and American Sign Language offerings — unusually broad for a Bronx high school.
Things to consider
- With 2,120 students and an average class size near 24, this is not a school that feels like a small community — your child will need to be self-directed and comfortable navigating a large building.
- An economic need index of 80% means most students arrive carrying the weight of poverty; resources, counseling, and wraparound supports matter more here than at a school where affluent families fill gaps on their own.
- One in four students has an IEP — a strength if your child needs services, but a sign that any family should expect a wide range of learners in every classroom.
- The Arts Academy turns away five of every six applicants; getting into a specialized program requires a strong application and a clear interest.
- The nearest subway is a 10-minute walk (Baychester Av on the 5), and bus connections will likely matter more than the train for most families.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 11
District 11 spans the northeast Bronx and includes several high-performing charters (Icahn, Bronx Charter for Excellence) alongside neighborhood schools, but Truman plays a unique role as a borough-wide destination for career academies rather than just a zoned comprehensive.
Academics
Truman's own proficiency scores aren't in this snapshot, so a head-to-head with the district's 56.7% ELA and 55.6% math averages isn't possible. What is visible is academic seriousness: a Pre-Engineering and Applied Mathematics academy that drew 314 applicants for 60 seats, AP coursework, ELL support across four languages, and a Computer Technology program that admitted only a quarter of its applicants. Students are selecting into specialized pathways rather than enrolling by default.
Culture
Zero suspensions is the headline — in a district where the average school suspends at a rate near 0.5%, that's a remarkable number for a school this size. Parents report overwhelming trust in the principal (97%) and in teachers (96%), though teachers' trust in their own principal runs lower at 82%, suggesting leadership hears families more clearly than its own staff. Teacher-reported instruction quality at 88% is solid, and the day-to-day feel, judging by the parent survey, is one where families feel heard and the building is stable.
Community
Truman's student body is 45% Black and 45% Hispanic, with small Asian, White, and Native American slices — a mirror of much of the Bronx. An economic need index of 80 means four out of five students qualify for free lunch, and 25% have IEPs, well above the citywide average. Around the school, Co-op City skews more middle-income than the Bronx as a whole, with 44% homeownership and a poverty rate under 11% — that gap between the school community and the immediate neighborhood is one worth understanding.
Neighborhood
Co-op City is the country's largest cooperative housing development, and the census bears that out — 44% homeownership and a $58,565 median income sit well above typical Bronx figures, while the 10.9% poverty rate is low for the borough. Only about 12% of households have children under 18, which means Truman draws from a far wider catchment than just the surrounding blocks. Roughly a quarter of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree.
The 5 train is the line that serves Truman — Baychester Av is about a 10-minute walk, with Eastchester-Dyre Av (about 20 minutes) and Gun Hill Rd (about 17 minutes) also on the 5 within reasonable walking distance.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 368 families responded (24% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Experience law enforcement, mock trials, debates, and internships in our state-of-the-art law library and courtroom. Opportunities to network with law enforcement professionals. Affiliated with St. John's University; students may receive college credit.
Website design, Power Point, publishing, the Internet and word processing. Customized learning individually paced to achieve mastery.
Using professional equipment and trained by experts chefs, students receive intense instruction. Students have opportunities to intern at high-profile restaurants throughout the New York area. Affiliated with C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), inter-high school competition at Monroe College.
Media students learn about human communication in a digital world through hands-on experience with video, web, and radio production. Internships and partnerships are available with WABC-7 Eyewitness News, News 12, Fox 5, and BronxNET.
Learn life skills with a military focus; discipline, respect, and service are the trademarks of our AFJROTC program
Focuses on mathematics and science to prepare students for careers in engineering and other technical fields. The curriculum is project-based and includes engineering design and production, energy applications, environmentally friendly technology, and electricity. We have partnerships with the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Mentor Program.
One of NYC's premier Arts academies. Our mission is to prepare students for excellence in music education, dance, drawing, painting, graphic design, digital photography, and theater; and to provide students with the academic skills and artistic talents necessary to develop into accomplished creative artists and performers. Our broader ethos is to foster creativity and inspire leadership.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Harry S Truman High School admits through 8 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Air Force Junior ROTCEd. Opt.
- Arts AcademyEd. Opt.
- Computer TechnologyEd. Opt.
- Culinary ArtsEd. Opt.
- Law and Legal Studies/Law Enforcement AcademyEd. Opt.
- Multimedia Communication and ProductionLimited UnscreenedEvent priority97 seats
- Pre-Engineering and Applied MathematicsEd. Opt.
- ZonedZoned
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.
- 2Programs marked “Event priority” put families who attended an open house, tour or information session first — sign in when you go.
- 3Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 4Zoned programs give priority to students who live in the zone — a priority, not a guaranteed seat.
- 5Rank 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.
A program here gives priority to families who attended an event — sign in when you go.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Harry S Truman High School a good school?
- On Motley, Harry S Truman High School earns an overall rating of 59/100 — 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 Harry S Truman High School serve?
- Harry S Truman High School serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Harry S Truman High School?
- Harry S Truman High School uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is Harry S Truman High School public, charter, or private?
- Harry S Truman High School is a public school in NYC Community School District 11.
- What neighborhood is Harry S Truman High School in?
- Harry S Truman High School is in Co-op City, Bronx.