At a Glance
A small, fiercely chosen Bronx high school where zero suspensions and near-universal parent trust define the culture.
Best suited for
Families who want a small, relationship-driven high school with a genuinely inclusive culture and don't mind playing a tough admissions lottery to get in.
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
- Zero suspensions across the entire student body — exceptionally rare for a high school of this size.
- A 14.3% offer rate makes this one of the more competitive non-screened high schools in the Bronx.
- A perfect 100/100 program richness score, including unusual offerings like a campus farm, Japanese Club, Her Story, and Photography.
- 28% IEP enrollment appears integrated rather than siloed, suggesting a genuine inclusion model.
- A 64% family survey response rate, with 266 families participating, signals unusually high parent engagement.
Things to consider
- No state proficiency scores appear in the data — ask the school directly about recent Regents outcomes before deciding.
- The 28% IEP share means resources are spread thin across a wide range of student needs.
- Almost every student comes from a high-poverty household, and the surrounding neighborhood is one of the more economically distressed in the city.
- All three nearest subway stations are an 11–13 minute walk, which feels long on cold or rainy mornings.
- Ed-opt admission is unscreened but capacity is tiny, so applying here is essentially entering a tough lottery.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 9
In District 9, the top-ranked peers are charters like Icahn and Success Academy, but Morris Academy holds its own as a non-charter public option with stronger climate and trust numbers than most of its neighbors. It runs above district averages for parent satisfaction and teacher trust, making it a quiet standout on culture even if the academic headline numbers aren't in the picture.
Academics
The data profile doesn't include proficiency scores, so there's no clean read on how Morris students land on state tests relative to the district averages of about 45% in ELA and math. The signal that does come through is structural: a robust AP and STEM offering, ELL support built into the program, and a 100/100 program richness score suggest the school is pushing kids academically even if the headline proficiency numbers aren't visible here.
Culture
Zero suspensions at a school of 453 students is striking and points to a restorative rather than punitive approach to discipline. Trust runs high on every measured dimension: 97% of parents trust the principal, 97% trust the teachers, and 91% of teachers trust their own administration — all well above district averages. Teacher instruction quality scores 94% (vs. a 90% district average), and the 64% family survey response rate, with 266 families weighing in, signals parents are engaged enough to show up and be counted.
Community
About 74% of students identify as Hispanic and 23% as Black, with very small Asian and white populations — the school closely mirrors the surrounding Morrisania community. The economic need index of 92.4% means nearly every student qualifies for free lunch, and 28% of students have IEPs, a notably high share that reflects a real commitment to inclusion rather than segregation into separate programs. The diversity index of 39% is on the lower side simply because enrollment is concentrated in two large groups rather than spread across many.
Neighborhood
Morrisania is a working-class, predominantly renter stretch of the South Bronx where roughly a third of households live below the poverty line and the median household income sits around $33,000. Homeownership is under 9% and only about 12% of households include children — a reminder that many families here are renters, often stretched across generations. Still, the fact that 690 families applied to this single school of 98 seats shows a community actively invested in its kids' education despite hard economic conditions.
The closest subway is Prospect Av on the 2/5, about a 12-minute walk; Intervale Av is an 11-minute walk and Simpson St about 13 minutes, all served by the 2/5 line.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 266 families responded (64% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Students learn by doing at MACS thereby building college-ready skills from the start. All students complete major course projects in all subjects each year and present to panelists and judges. We offer a wide variety of programs to enhance the whole child, including mentoring program recognized by the Obama Admin. Our students enroll in colleges such as Dartmouth, George Washington, Syracuse, Binghamton, Fordham, NYU, St. John's, Hunter, John Jay, Hofstra, Buffalo State, Courtlandt, and many others.
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. Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Morris Academy for Collaborative StudiesEd. Opt.
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.
- 2Educational Option programs fill in equal shares across three reading levels, half by the school's ranking and half by lottery.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
Open house
Mon, Nov 16, · 4:30 PM · In person
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies a good school?
- On Motley, Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies earns an overall rating of 47/100 — 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 Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies serve?
- Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies?
- Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies public, charter, or private?
- Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies is a public school in NYC Community School District 9.
- What neighborhood is Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies in?
- Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies is in Morrisania, Bronx.