Fredrick Douglass Academy III aims to replicate the original FDA school in Harlem, which promotes strict discipline and high standards as keys to success. The program is designed to have students finish their diploma requirements by the end of their junior year, so that they can have internships and take college courses during their senior year.

Located in a residential area full of housing projects, FDA III is housed on the fourth floor of a 1967-vintage brick building with grated windows. The rest of the building is home to a middle school. Principal Rahesha Amon, a graduate of University of North Carolina, is deeply committed to the FDA model and to serving students in the Bronx. She is convinced that by believing in children and setting high expectations for them, teachers and administrators can mold kids who will succeed in college. Her presence promises stability for a program that has suffered administrative turnover in recent years.

FDA III offers more of a "middle school feel" than many high school students expect. Instead of a loud bell, contemporary music signals class changes. The day we visited, students were excited about a school spirit competition and many devoted their lunchtime to practicing their routines. And while there was some noise during class changes, all of the students appeared to get along.

The school's location in a middle school building has some downsides. The books in the library are not appropriate for high school readers. And the presence of younger students can be jarring for students who join the program in 9th grade. About 65 percent of high school students stay from middle to high school, Amon said; other middle school students leave for private and boarding schools. The new students, many of whom post standardized test scores significantly lower than those the middle school students enter with, take a while to adjust to the academic rigor and the stringent rules, and they must attend summer school if they want to catch up to their peers and take advantage of the flexibility planned for students' senior years.

The content of many classes appears to be challenging. In a global studies class we visited, the teacher lectured about the great French Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. In a 9th grade science class, students freely asked questions in a classroom decorated with students' depictions of famous scientists. In an art class, the teacher consistently praised middle school students as they discussed the textures of various fabrics. A "word wall"--vocabulary list--showed that high school students were focusing on "op art" and learning advanced terms such as "stippling," and several class projects were posted on the walls. On the day we visited, communications students worked together in groups silently putting together jigsaw puzzles as part of an exercise about overcoming obstacles. The teacher augmented the standard lesson plan with a discussion about how the activity related to Monster, a novel they had read together, and students quickly volunteered connections between the two topics.

Some teachers, especially in the high school, struggled with classroom management. One teacher harangued students loudly well into the beginning of the class time, chastising them about dress code infractions and essays that were not typed. "You're already cutting into my time; that's irritating!" this teacher yelled. Another teacher, from the city's program to train second-career professionals to be teachers, said his students were unmanageable and that they never followed his instructions. Indeed, few of his 26 students were working as they reviewed for a test; instead, they sat in desks scattered randomly across the room and chatted. In a health class, students worked on outlines for projects about the effects of alcoholism. Even though the entire period was designated for independent work, students were chatty and disorganized. Middle school classes were much quieter and more disciplined.

Some of the early promises of the school have not been met. As in all FDA schools, students--called "scholars"--must wear a formal uniform and adhere to a strict code of discipline, but some students complained that teachers sometime cannot control the noise level in the halls. Students take Spanish, not the Latin the school originally planned to offer, even though many of them are already fluent Spanish speakers. One student said every year the Spanish instruction starts from the basics again.

FDA III's brightest spot is its students. Student work posted on the walls showed that they spend a lot of time and care on their studies. Many students, especially in the high school, were eloquent, engaged, and comfortable speaking to adults, and some expressed a desire to be seen as role models by the middle school students. Students are also leaders; they initiated a fundraiser to earn money for families affected by Hurricane Katrina, and the student government sent representatives to a regional leadership conference, where they gave a presentation about peer pressure. Students spoke enthusiastically about field trips to the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, a football game between two historically black college teams, and a college fair.

Special education: The school has a resource room with materials for students with special needs who receive SETSS (special education teacher support services). It might offer a collaborative team-teaching (CTT) class, where students with special needs and general education students learn together in a classroom led by two teachers, one a special education instructor. But Amon said the school would "never have self-contained" classes, where special education students are segregated from other students.

After school: FDA III is continually expanding its offerings. Students can participate in basketball, fencing, chess, poetry, and martial arts groups.

Admission: Amon calls the admission procedure "semi-screened." In 6th grade, the school accepts only students who have scored in the upper levels of standardized tests, that is, at Level 3 or 4. In the high school, in addition to giving priority to continuing 8th graders, the school accepts a wider array of scores. (Philissa Cramer, October 2005)

I have a child that attends this school and it isn't what it is said to be. The staff there has no control over the students. Since my son has been in this school his grades have goon down. My son has never been arrested until he went to this school. A classmate of his accused the class of jumping him in the bathroom. It went from the class to four boys and then down to three and my son was named as one of the student. My son and his classmates was then arrested in the school a week after this event was supposed to has of happen. I was never inform of this by the school and never got a phone call from the school that my son was arrest. The parent of this young man ask the school staff to call for a meeting with the parents the school told her that we wouldn't come in so they told her to go and press charges on the the boys and that's what she did being advised by the school to do. Ms. Amon doesn't allow school safety on her floor because she feels that her school doesn't need it.

The city announced it will attempt to close Frederick Douglass Academy III in 2010-2011, after being prevented from doing so because of a lawsuit from the NAACP and the Teachers Union, The New York Times reported. The March ruling preventing the closures was upheld by a state appellate court on July 1.

A student complains about turnover of teachers at the school, saying students lack "the chance to adjust or to feel comfortable with the teachers." She also would like to see more after-school activities and classes outside of the basics. (January 2004)