Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School

Test score data was not available for this profile, so academic outcomes can't be benchmarked directly against the district's 51% ELA and 49% Math averages. What the school does offer is a program menu that includes AP Courses, a humanities track, French, Spanish, and dedicated ELL support — a notable combination for a school this size. Class size sits at roughly 20.5 students, essentially identical to the district average, so the small-school advantage here comes from the overall enrollment of 200 rather than tiny classrooms.

The climate numbers here are the headline. Teacher-rated instruction quality sits at 100%, teacher-principal trust at 91%, and collegial trust among teachers at 95% — all of which suggest a faculty that feels respected and aligned. Parent trust in the principal reaches 98%, and 93% of parents say they're satisfied, essentially matching the district average. Perhaps most notable: zero suspensions in the most recent reporting period, against a district average suspension rate of roughly 0.84%. That's a meaningful signal about how the school handles behavior, though it's worth remembering that a small enrollment can produce zero-suspension years by chance as well as by practice.

The student body is 68% Hispanic, 29% Black, and 3% Asian, with a diversity index of 41% — meaning the school is racially concentrated rather than integrated, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding Melrose area. Twenty-nine percent of students have IEPs, well above what you'd typically see, and the high economic need index of 94.4% confirms that nearly every family qualifies as low-income. This is a school deeply rooted in the lived experience of the South Bronx, not a destination school drawing from across the city.

Melrose is a dense, working-class South Bronx neighborhood where median household income sits around $30,236 and the poverty rate reaches 38%. Only about 14% of adults have a bachelor's degree, just under 16% of households include children, and homeownership is unusually low at 10% — most families rent. It's a neighborhood where many adults are working multiple jobs and where a small, stable school can be a real anchor. The community is young, largely immigrant, and tightly knit, which tends to show up in high family engagement at the schools that serve it.

Three subway stations are within walking distance. Jackson Avenue on the 2 and 5 lines is the closest at about five minutes on foot; 3 Avenue–149 Street on the 2 and 5 is roughly seven minutes; and E 149 Street on the 6 line is about a twelve-minute walk. The 2 and 5 lines in particular connect directly to Midtown Manhattan.