School for Environmental Citizenship

ELA proficiency climbed from 15.5% in 2016 to 45.8% in 2025, and math from 15.2% to 43.8% — a near-tripling in both subjects over nine years. That trajectory puts the school right at the district average (45.0% ELA, 43.5% math), an enormous shift from where it started. The school isn't leading the district anymore, but it's no longer catching up either — it's arrived.

There's a real split between the parent experience and the teacher experience here. Families give glowing marks — 94% satisfaction, 95% trust in teachers, 94% trust in the principal — but teachers rate instruction quality at 76% (vs. the district's 91%) and their own sense of safety at 78% (vs. 87% districtwide). Daily attendance is solid at 92.9%, but 76.6% of students are chronically absent, meaning they miss 10% or more of the school year, which limits how far any classroom can go. On the discipline side, three consecutive years of zero suspensions is genuinely rare and worth noting.

The student body is 85% Hispanic and 12% Black, with an economic need index of 93.9% — meaning nearly every student comes from a low-income household. The school mirrors its neighborhood closely: Fordham Heights has a 32.6% poverty rate, a median household income around $40,000, and only about 11% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. This is a community-anchored school where the families in the classroom look like the families on the block.

Fordham Heights is a young, renter-heavy neighborhood in the central Bronx where roughly one in five households includes children and almost no one owns their home. Poverty touches about a third of families, and most adults didn't finish college, but the neighborhood has a working-family rhythm that public schools like this one are built around. Getting around without a car is straightforward here.

Subway access is a real strength: the 182-183 Sts station (B and D trains) is about a 3-minute walk, 183 St (4 train) about 5 minutes, and Burnside Av (4 train) about 6 minutes away.