At a Glance
A screened 6–12 school in Bedford Park where families compete for seats and math scores have quadrupled over the past decade
Best suited for
Working-class Bronx families who want a small, screened 6–12 school with strong family-teacher relationships, diverse extracurriculars, and a clear upward academic trajectory, and who are comfortable with a Hispanic-majority student body.
Overall Rating
Grades 3–8
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
High school
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
- Only 65 seats for 364 applicants make this one of the more selective screened middle-high schools in the Bronx at a 16.7% offer rate.
- Math proficiency has climbed from roughly 8% to 36% over the last decade — a fourfold improvement.
- Parent-principal trust of 95% is unusually strong for any school, public or otherwise.
- The program catalog is broad for a small school: AP courses, humanities, world languages, plus a deep athletics and arts offering reflected in a 80/100 program richness score.
- Light discipline — just 7 suspensions across nearly 500 students — suggests a calm, well-managed building.
Things to consider
- ELA and math proficiency both trail district averages despite the upward trajectory; this is a school on the rise, not at the top.
- Chronic absenteeism of 82.9% is high and worth asking the school to explain — even strong average attendance can mask widespread missed days.
- The student body is 100% Hispanic, so families looking for a more racially diverse peer group will need to look elsewhere.
- High economic need means most families here are navigating real financial pressure, which shapes the parent body and PTA resources.
- Demand far exceeds supply — the screened admissions process is competitive and there is no guarantee of a seat.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 10
In a district where the average overall score is 1.77 out of 4, this school's 1.17 places it below the district mean and well behind top peer P.S. 024 Spuyten Duyvil (92/100). It is, however, a school in motion — improving test scores and strong family engagement suggest it is climbing.
Academics
Math proficiency has quadrupled since 2016, climbing from 8.2% to 36.3%, though it remains below the district average of 43.5%. ELA proficiency has nearly doubled over the same period, from 11.6% to 22.3%, but also sits well below the district average of 45.0%. The school earned an overall score of 1.17 out of 4, meaningfully below the district average of 1.77. The trajectory, though, is the headline: this is a school catching up fast, not one that has arrived yet.
Culture
The day-to-day culture looks warm and tight-knit. Parent-teacher trust is 95% and parent-principal trust is also 95% — both extraordinarily high — and parent satisfaction (94%) matches the district average. Teacher survey responses came from 43 educators who rated principal trust at 93% and instructional quality at 93%, just above the district mark. The average daily attendance rate of 93.2% sits above the district average of 90.8%, but chronic absenteeism stands at 82.9%, which is strikingly high and worth asking the school about directly. Discipline is light: only 7 suspensions across 490 students.
Community
Every student here is Hispanic, and the school reflects its neighborhood rather than diversifying it. The surrounding Bedford Park community has a median household income of $44,438 and a 25.6% poverty rate, with only 7% homeownership — a predominantly renter population. The student body itself is high-need by economic measure (94.6 economic need index), reflecting the working-class families in the area. Eleven percent of students have IEPs, and the school offers ELL Support, suggesting some newcomers to the country find a place here.
Neighborhood
Bedford Park is a working- and middle-class residential pocket of the Bronx where about 14% of households include children and 17.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Renting is the norm rather than the exception in the immediate area. The school sits within easy reach of multiple subway lines, making it accessible to families from across the borough and beyond.
Kingsbridge Rd on the 4 line is about a 2-minute walk; the B and D at the same station are roughly 5 minutes; the 4 at Fordham Rd is about a 10-minute walk.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 272 families responded (58% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. International School for Liberal Arts admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Spanish Newcomers ProgramScreened48 seats
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.
- 2Screened programs rank 4th-grade course grades, so last year's report card is the one that counts.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. International School for Liberal Arts admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- International School for Liberal ArtsScreened
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.
- 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
- 3Rank 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 International School for Liberal Arts a good school?
- On Motley, International School for Liberal Arts earns an overall rating of 29/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 10 average. Its high school grades have their own rating, 66/100, from graduation and Regents results.
- What grades does International School for Liberal Arts serve?
- International School for Liberal Arts serves grades 6 to 12.
- How do students get into International School for Liberal Arts?
- International School for Liberal Arts is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is International School for Liberal Arts public, charter, or private?
- International School for Liberal Arts is a public school in NYC Community School District 10.
- What neighborhood is International School for Liberal Arts in?
- International School for Liberal Arts is in Bedford Park, Bronx.