South Bronx Academy for Applied Media

Proficiency rates sit well below the District 7 average: 30.5% in ELA versus 51.3% district-wide, and 20.1% in math versus 49%. Science proficiency is particularly low at 5.7%. But the long-term trend is genuinely encouraging — ELA proficiency has nearly tripled from 11.1% in 2016, and math has climbed from 5.9% to 20.1% over the same window. The most recent year shows a slight dip from a 2022 ELA peak and a 2024 math peak, so the climb is real but not yet steady. Eighth-grade ELA stands out at 40.7%, suggesting students who stick with the school through 8th grade are gaining ground.

The day-to-day feel here is shaped by an unusual level of trust: 96% of parents are satisfied, 98% trust their child's teacher, and 99% trust the principal. Teachers rate instruction quality at 97%, far above the district average of 88.4%, and they report strong collegial trust at 96%. The catch is chronic absenteeism at 58.5% — far above the district — with Black students at 68.7% and Hispanic students at 53.1%. Attendance overall is 90.2%, slightly below the district's 91.1%. Discipline is light in absolute terms (4 suspensions, a 2% rate), trending down from 5 the year before. The teacher survey only drew 27 responses, which is small enough to treat those numbers as directional rather than definitive.

The student body is 57% Hispanic and 38% Black, with a small slice of White and Native American students. That mix closely tracks the surrounding Melrose community, where the population is largely working-class Latino and Black households. The economic need index of 92.7% tells you most students arrive from low-income families, and 39% have IEPs — a meaningfully higher share than the citywide average. The diversity index sits at 49%, meaning the school population is more concentrated than the city as a whole.

Melrose is a low-income corner of the South Bronx: median household income around $30,236, a 38.1% poverty rate, and only 13.9% of adults holding a bachelor's degree. Just 15.7% of households have children, and homeownership is rare at 10%, with a median home value of $365,899 suggesting a mostly renter community with some owner-occupied housing stock. It is a neighborhood shaped by its immigrant and working-class roots, and the school reflects that mix.

Three subway options within a short walk: the 2 and 5 lines at Jackson Avenue (about 4 minutes) and Prospect Avenue (about 5 minutes), and the 6 line at East 149th Street (about 10 minutes).