At a Glance
A tiny, screened-admissions Bronx PK-8 that crams an extraordinary program catalog into 111 students
Best suited for
Families prioritizing exposure-rich programming — JROTC, arts, STEM, language — in a small, tight-knit, screened setting, and who are comfortable asking pointed questions about parent and teacher feedback on tour.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2024 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Program-richness score of 100/100 — about as broad a catalog as you'll find in any NYC public school, from JROTC to a campus educational farm.
- Zero suspensions in the reporting period, against a district that averages a small but nonzero rate.
- A genuinely unusual mix of partners: Bronx Museum of the Arts, Biobus, Montefiore Clinic Health Council, and Ramapo team-building, alongside the academic core.
- Only 111 students across PK-8 — small enough that most children will be known by name across grades.
- Competitive ed-opt admissions with about a third of applicants offered seats, suggesting real demand from families who tour.
Things to consider
- Parent satisfaction (68%) and teacher-rated instruction quality (42%) sit well below the District 9 averages of 94% and 90% — large gaps that warrant direct questions at any tour or info session.
- The 2 and 5 trains are the only nearby subway options, and each requires an 11- to 13-minute walk — a real commute for young children in bad weather.
- With 26% of students on IEPs, families should ask specifically about how special-education services are staffed at this small size.
- Average class size of 20.8 is essentially identical to the district average, so families shouldn't expect the tight pupil-teacher ratios a tiny enrollment might suggest.
- Proficiency trend data isn't available, so academic outcomes are harder to verify than the program catalog would imply.
Based on 2023-24 data
School SummaryDistrict 9
District 9's peer list is dominated by high-scoring charters — Icahn, Success Academy, and Bronx Charter for Excellence — so this small public ed-opt school is competing for the same screened-school families with a program catalog that genuinely rivals those charters, but with a notably different stakeholder-satisfaction profile.
Academics
School-level proficiency figures aren't available in the underlying data, so a direct read on ELA, math, or science outcomes isn't possible here. What the data does show is an academic spine built around AP coursework, humanities, ELL support, and a STEM robotics offering, framed against a district average hovering around 45% ELA and math proficiency. With only 111 students spanning PK through 8, instructional priorities skew toward breadth of exposure rather than data-rich proficiency tracking.
Culture
The day-to-day feel has clear bright spots and clear caveats. Zero suspensions — versus a district average of roughly 0.4% — is genuinely noteworthy and points to a restorative, low-removal culture. On the other hand, parent satisfaction lands at 68% against a district average near 94%, and teacher-rated instruction quality sits at 42% against a district average around 90%, both of which are large gaps that deserve a probing conversation at any tour. Families who want a calm, low-discipline environment may find the culture appealing, but the survey gaps suggest internal trust or communication issues worth asking about directly.
Community
The 111-student body is 58% Hispanic and 36% Black, with small Asian, White, and Native American shares, and an IEP rate of 26% — meaningfully higher than the citywide norm and a signal that special-education services carry real weight here. The surrounding neighborhood census paints a portrait of a low-income, renter-majority community with only about 11.5% of households including children and a BA+ rate under 15%. The school sits in a part of the Bronx where most families come from the local community, and the screened ed-opt admissions pull in a small slice from wider District 9.
Neighborhood
Morrisania is a working-class, renter-majority stretch of the South Bronx — median household income sits around $33,000 with a poverty rate in the mid-30s and homeownership under 9%, even as the median home value clears half a million dollars. The area has a relatively low share of households with children, meaning many families here are renters without kids at home, and a BA+ attainment rate under 15%. Day-to-day errands and commutes lean heavily on the 2 and 5 trains, with the closest stations roughly an 11- to 13-minute walk from the school.
Getting here by subway means a walk of about 11 minutes from Intervale Av (2 5), 12 minutes from Prospect Av (2 5), or 13 minutes from Simpson St (2 5) — doable but not a quick hop, so plan for stroller and weather logistics.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025)
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
Pre-K
School for Excellence also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
School for Excellence doesn't have an attendance zone of its own, so living nearby doesn't guarantee a seat here. Families apply on MySchools, and seats go to the school's priority groups first, then by random lottery.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the kindergarten application.
- 2Rank this school with your zoned school, if you have one, and any others you'd take — in true preference order.
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. We don't have School for Excellence's program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
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.
- 2Rank 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 School for Excellence a good school?
- On Motley, School for Excellence earns an overall rating of 49/100 — 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 School for Excellence serve?
- School for Excellence serves grades Pre-K to 8.
- How do students get into School for Excellence?
- School for Excellence uses the Educational Option (Ed-Opt) method, ranking applicants across performance levels so seats go to a mix of abilities.
- Is School for Excellence public, charter, or private?
- School for Excellence is a public school in NYC Community School District 9.
- What neighborhood is School for Excellence in?
- School for Excellence is in Morrisania, Bronx.