Ronald Edmonds Learning Center is known for its classes in theater, dance, vocal music and band. Some graduates go on to performing arts high schools, including LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts. Two 8^th grade drama students were cast in a Spike Lee movie, Red Hook Summer, in 2012.

However, the school’s academic performance has a way to go, and teachers and students complain of discipline problems. One-third of students who responded to the Learning Environment Survey said there were physical fights and one-third of teachers said order and discipline was not maintained in the school. Enrollment at the school has declined from 934 in 2010.

The school, housed in a four-story sprawling brick building in the heart of Fort Greene, has three distinct programs: the Academy of Performing Arts, The Academy of Computer & Technology Science (ACATS), Fine Arts & Design.  The school has a dress code of khaki or dark pants (no blue jeans) and white shirts.  Dawn Pemberton-Daughtry has been principal since 2011. [The photo is from the school’s website]

Popular public high school choices for MS 113 graduates are nearby Benjamin Banneker and Bedford Academy Smaller numbers of students go to specialized high schools, particularly Brooklyn Tech and LaGuardia. Others go to audition schools such as Frank Sinatra, Fashion Industries and Art & Design and Brooklyn High School of the Arts

Special education: The school offers team teaching classes, in which two teachers, one a specialist in special education, oversee a class combining students with special needs and general education students. The school also has a few "self-contained" classes, only for students with special needs.

Admissions:  District 13 choice.  Students must audition for the Academy of Performing Arts and the Fine Arts & Design program.  Students are admitted to ACATS based on their grades and test scores. (Clara Hemphill, DOE statistics, May 2013)