At a Glance
A Bronx middle school with one of the steepest academic turnarounds in the district — math proficiency has climbed roughly sixfold since 2016.
Best suited for
Families who want a relationship-driven, arts-rich middle school where parents are treated as true partners and discipline is handled restoratively rather than punitively. Especially strong fit for students who need ELL support, families who value enrichment breadth (chess, debate, gardening, cooking), and parents who want their child in a school with clear academic momentum — even if ELA scores haven't yet caught the district. Less ideal for families needing direct subway access or who want the highest overall rating regardless of admissions type.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- An eight-year academic turnaround — math proficiency went from 7.3% to 44.1% between 2016 and 2025
- Parent trust scores of 98% on both teacher and principal relationships, signaling unusually strong family-school partnership
- A genuinely arts-rich curriculum with dance, martial arts, theater, and visual arts woven into the school day
- Restorative discipline culture with Peer Mediation, Restorative Circles, and Advisory — backed by a near-zero suspension rate
- An unusually rich extracurricular menu (90/100) including chess, debate, gardening, cooking, fashion, videography, and yearbook
- Saturday Academy extending learning time beyond the regular week
- Algebra I available to advanced middle schoolers and a National Junior Honor Society chapter
- ELL support for the multilingual student population
Things to consider
- ELA proficiency at 38.3% still trails the district average of about 44.8%, even as math has caught up
- Chronic absenteeism is severe at 72.6% — a meaningful share of students are missing too much school
- 6th graders post notably weaker scores than 7th and 8th graders, suggesting the transition into middle school is rough
- Teacher-principal trust at 78% is the weak dimension in an otherwise strong staff culture
- Only one subway line serves the school (the 4), and even the nearest station is an 8-minute walk
- The broader neighborhood carries high poverty and low adult educational attainment, which affects peer and family resources outside school walls
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 9
Among District 9 middle schools, this school sits below the strongest charter options — Icahn Charter (99/100), Success Academy Bronx 2 (97/100), and P.S./M.S. 4 Crotona Park West (95/100) — but it offers unscreened public admission with no lotteries or special requirements. The school's academic trajectory distinguishes it among the unscreened traditional public options, and its combination of strong parent trust and minimal discipline puts it in the conversation with any of the higher-scoring peers for families who prioritize relationship over ranking.
Academics
Both subjects have climbed dramatically over the past eight years. ELA proficiency rose from 20.1% in 2016 to 38.3% in 2025 — nearly doubling — and math went from 7.3% to 44.1%, a roughly sixfold increase that's hard to overstate. Math now essentially matches the district average of about 44.7%, but ELA still trails the district average of roughly 44.8%, so there's real progress to celebrate and a clear gap to close. Performance varies meaningfully by grade: 6th graders post the weakest results (31.3% ELA, 32.7% math), while 7th graders lead (44% ELA, 50% math) with 8th graders close behind. The overall quality rating of 1.65 out of 4 sits below the district average of 1.79, but the trajectory is the more important story here.
Culture
This is a school where families feel genuinely heard and where the building runs without the kind of disciplinary friction that derails learning. Parent satisfaction is 96% (above the district average of 94%), and parent trust in both teachers and the principal lands at 98% — unusually high and worth paying attention to if you're choosing a school. Teachers rate instruction quality at 95% (well above the district average of 90%) and report strong collegial trust at 91%, suggesting a staff that works well together. The one soft spot in the teacher survey is principal trust at 78%, lower than the other teacher dimensions but not unusual. Discipline is essentially a non-issue: the school recorded just one suspension over the 2023-24 school year, a 0% rate, and trends have stayed near zero for three years — a function of the school's explicit use of restorative circles, peer mediation, and advisory. Daily attendance is solid at 91.9%, above the district average.
Community
The student body is overwhelmingly Latino and working-class in composition: 77% Hispanic and 22% Black, with very small percentages of other groups. About a quarter of students have IEPs (24%), and the school runs ELL support, reflecting the bilingual reality of many neighborhood families. The diversity index of 33% reflects how concentrated the school is in two demographic groups rather than how mixed it is — this is a school serving its immediate community rather than drawing from across the borough. The neighborhood around it is similarly Latino and Black, with a 31.9% poverty rate and only 16.3% of adults holding a bachelor's degree, so families here are largely relying on the school as a steady, supportive presence.
Neighborhood
Highbridge is a dense, working-class neighborhood in the central Bronx, with a median household income around $40,235 and nearly a third of residents living below the poverty line. Only about 12.7% of households in the area include children, which is unusually low and reflects the young-adult skew of the population. Homeownership is just 4.5% — the neighborhood is overwhelmingly renter — and the median home value sits around $502,435, which speaks more to limited supply than to wealth among residents. For families with school-age kids, this means a community where access to good schools genuinely matters and where the public school is often the most stable institution in a child's life.
Getting here means the 4 train. The closest station is 167 St on the 4 line, about an 8-minute walk; 170 St on the 4 is roughly 11 minutes on foot, and 161 St-Yankee Stadium on the 4 is about a 15-minute walk.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 222 families responded (59% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. The Highbridge Green School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- The Highbridge Green SchoolUnscreened103 seats
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.
- 2Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 3Rank 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 The Highbridge Green School a good school?
- On Motley, The Highbridge Green School earns an overall rating of 41/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run in line with the District 9 average.
- What grades does The Highbridge Green School serve?
- The Highbridge Green School serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into The Highbridge Green School?
- The Highbridge Green School admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is The Highbridge Green School public, charter, or private?
- The Highbridge Green School is a public school in NYC Community School District 9.
- What neighborhood is The Highbridge Green School in?
- The Highbridge Green School is in Highbridge, Bronx.