Motley
District 66

High School for Excellence and Innovation

650 ACADEMY STREET

At a Glance

A tiny, family-trusted high school in Inwood where nearly every applicant gets a seat

Best suited for

Families who want a small, relationship-driven high school experience, value strong family-school trust, and live in or near Inwood — especially students who would benefit from ELL support, structured tutoring, and a calm disciplinary environment.

What stands out

  • 100% parent-teacher and parent-principal trust — virtually unheard of in NYC survey data
  • Zero suspensions, indicating a remarkably calm disciplinary environment
  • Paid internships and a Student Led Town Hall, which signal a real civic and career-prep orientation
  • Program richness score of 90/100, including ELL Support, AP Courses, and a wellness program
  • 100% offer rate on admissions, making it one of the more accessible small high schools in the district

Things to consider

  • Enrollment is only 153 students, so the social scene, elective choices, and sports teams are necessarily limited
  • Admissions demand is low — families should ask the school directly what that means for peer composition and motivation levels
  • No school-level proficiency data was provided, so academic outcomes should be probed in a school visit
  • Demographic concentration means students seeking a more mixed cultural environment may want to look elsewhere
  • The peer schools in District 6 that rank highest on quality are charter schools, so this sits in a competitive local landscape

Based on 2025 data

School SummaryDistrict 6

District 6 in upper Manhattan includes a mix of traditional public, charter, and community schools, with charter options like Zeta Charter Schools – Inwood and Success Academy – Washington Heights ranking higher on quality metrics. The district's average overall rating sits around 2 out of 4, and average proficiency in ELA and math hovers in the high 40s to low 50s, so families should benchmark expectations against this fairly typical upper-Manhattan district rather than citywide averages.

Academics

Steady

Standardized proficiency data for this school was not available for direct comparison, so academics should be read through the program offerings rather than test scores. The school runs AP Courses alongside Humanities and STEM tracks, plus ELL Support and Spanish, with Regents prep and tutoring baked into the extracurricular menu. With an average class size of about 22 students — roughly even with the District 6 average — instruction looks more like a small-school seminar experience than a lecture hall.

Culture

strong

The climate numbers here are striking. Parent satisfaction is 99% against a district average of about 94%, and both parent-teacher trust and parent-principal trust sit at 100%, suggesting families feel genuinely heard. Teachers rate instructional quality at 91% (a hair above the district's 90%) and report 98% collegial trust, which is the kind of internal culture that tends to stabilize a staff. Discipline is essentially a non-issue: zero suspensions, versus a district average suspension rate of roughly 0.4%.

Community

The student body is 86% Hispanic, 11% Black, with small Asian and White populations, which mirrors Inwood's neighborhood demographics closely. The diversity index of 27% reflects how concentrated the school is in serving one cultural community rather than mixing across NYC's many populations. About 14% of students have IEPs, and ELL Support is a formal program, so the school is built for multilingual learners and students who need extra scaffolding.

Neighborhood

Inwood

Inwood sits at the northern tip of Manhattan, where the median household income is around $63,000 and about 15% of residents live below the poverty line. Roughly 15% of households have children, and 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a working- and middle-class neighborhood with a strong renter presence (only about 9% own their homes). The local economy and family makeup shape who naturally walks through this school's doors.

Three subway options are close by: the Dyckman St A stop is about a 2-minute walk, the Dyckman St 1 stop is about 7 minutes, and the Inwood–207 St A stop is also about a 7-minute walk, so commuting from anywhere along the A or 1 lines is straightforward.

Survey Results

Family Feedback
Satisfaction
99%
Teacher Trust
100%
Principal Trust
100%
Relationships
n/a
Teacher Perspective
Instruction
91%
Principal Trust
95%
Collegial Trust
98%
Safety
n/a

NYC School Survey (2025) · 156 families responded (85% rate)

Programs & Activities

Academic(2)
AP CoursesHumanities
Arts(2)
Arts And Cultural TripsDance Club
Sports(7)
BadmintonBaseballBaseball/SoftballBasketballSoftballVolleyballYoga
Language(2)
ELL SupportSpanish
Clubs & Activities(9)
Chess ClubCollege/Career AdvisoryCooking ClubIntramural SportsPaid InternshipsRegents PreparationStudent Led Town HallTutoringWellness Program

Admissions Demand

High School for Excellence and InnovationAccessible

Our school presents an opportunity for 15- and 16-year old New York City residents entering the 9th grade for the first time. We believe that although these students have been held back two years during elementary and/or middle school, our trimester system and small class sizes will allow the pace and attention for these students to achieve in high school and be prepared for college and 21st century career paths!

Seats47
Applicants57
Apps/Seat1.2
Offer Rate100%
Fill Raten/a

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Low
86%Hispanic/Latino
11%Black
2%White

NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23

Discipline

0suspensions

NYSED Student & Educator Database

Economic Need & Special Populations

IEP Students
14.4%

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 High School for Excellence and Innovation'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.

  1. 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
  2. 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 High School for Excellence and Innovation a good school?
Published quality ratings aren't available for High School for Excellence and Innovation yet on Motley. It's a public school serving grades 9 to 12 in Inwood.
What grades does High School for Excellence and Innovation serve?
High School for Excellence and Innovation serves grades 9 to 12.
Is High School for Excellence and Innovation public, charter, or private?
High School for Excellence and Innovation is a public school in NYC Community School District 6.
What neighborhood is High School for Excellence and Innovation in?
High School for Excellence and Innovation is in Inwood, Manhattan.