Passages Academy

State test scores are not included in the data available for this profile, so proficiency comparisons to the district averages of 51% ELA and 49% math cannot be drawn here. What stands out structurally is a class size of 20.5 — essentially identical to the District 7 average of 20.6 — paired with a very small enrollment of 208 spread across a wide grade band. With 52% of students on IEPs and an economic need index of 94.7, the academic identity here is shaped less by ranking and more by the intensive, individualized work those numbers imply.

Passages reported zero suspensions over the period covered — a striking figure given that more than half of its students have IEPs and its families face significant economic pressure. That record suggests the school leans on relationships, structure, and de-escalation rather than removal as its primary discipline approach. School-level attendance and survey data are not included in the figures available, so the day-to-day feel beyond the discipline picture is harder to read from this data alone.

The student body is 69% Black and 27% Hispanic, with small Asian, White, and multiracial shares — a profile that closely mirrors the surrounding Melrose neighborhood. With an economic need index of 94.7 and an IEP rate of 52%, this is overwhelmingly a school serving families experiencing both economic and learning-related challenges at the same time. The community here is defined less by cultural difference than by shared structural circumstances.

Melrose is one of the most economically stretched corners of the South Bronx. Median household income sits at about $30,200, the poverty rate is 38.1%, and only about 14% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Homeownership is rare at 10%, and just 15.7% of households include children — meaning families with school-age kids are a visible minority in their own blocks. The area is dense, predominantly renter-occupied, and shaped by long-standing disinvestment alongside more recent redevelopment pressure.

Families reach the school via the 2 and 5 trains at 3 Av-149 St (about a 6-minute walk) or Jackson Av (about a 7-minute walk), with the 6 train at E 143 St-St Mary's St roughly 11 minutes on foot.