Frederick Douglass Academy III Secondary School

At its best, Frederick Douglass Academy III offers riveting discussions of Shakespeare and some first rate teaching. It has a high graduation rate and an experienced principal who is committed to making sure kids succeed. But some classes are undisciplined and kids sometimes scuffle in the halls.

The school is modeled on the original Frederick Douglass Academy, a strictly disciplined college-prep school in Harlem. Unlike the original FDA, FDA III has no admissions requirements and accepts students with a range of abilities. Most students are poor, and some are homeless. Most students live in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan and take a combination of buses and trains to get to school.

On our visit, we saw a senior English class mesmerized by Shakespeares Othello. A very well organized science teacher had his students reading aloud from science worksheets to get help with difficult words like consistent.

Unfortunately, some teachers struggled to keep everyone focused. We saw students with heads down in at least half the classrooms.

Transitions were similarly uneven. Many kids were polite, but some lingered in the halls after classes resumed and we saw a group of 8^th graders get into a physical conflict. One of the schools five disciplinary deans quickly took control. There is not a fight every day, Jean Hill, the schools long-time parent coordinator told us.

The big brick building, constructed in 1967 and across the street from housing projects, is brilliantly clean, even though some facilities are out-of-date. The building also houses two middle schools: IS 219 and KAPPA. For many years, FDA III served children in grades 6-12, but the Department of Education decided in 2012 to phase out the middle school because of poor performance.

The school has had some significant success. Principal Rahesha Amon, who has led FDA III for nearly a decade, keeps in touch with FDA III alumni and she said about 60 percent of her first graduating class in 2008 graduated from college in 2012. At the time of our visit about 50 students were taking Advanced Placement courses in calculus, psychology, English, history and Spanish. Everyone has computer, art and music classes, as well as gym.

While kids must wear a collared shirt and tie or a polo shirt, they may select their own footwear and wear sweaters or jackets over their shirts.

Amon doesnt let her students leave for lunch because she says the surrounding neighborhood is difficult. Everyone goes through scanners on the way in and no phones are allowed in school. (Kids pay $1 to leave them in nearby stores or trucks outside the school.)

College. Students have gone on to Morehouse, Manhattan College and SUNY-Binghamton. A spot of pride: one FDA III grad currently plays Division 1 basketball at Hofstra. There is a full time college counselor.

Special education: There are two self-contained classrooms as well as co-taught (ICT) classes and ELL services. We saw a particularly good self-contained class in which kids were happily engaged and working on fun math games.

Admissions: Limited unscreened. Preference to students who attend an open house. (Anna Schneider, October 2012)