Our Insights
What’s Special
Paid internships for students; project-based learning
The Downside
Many students miss a month or more of school
Bronx Lab is a small high school that helps students develop a love for learning through hands-on projects and research. For example, in neurobiology, a student explored how smells affect emotions, and colors influence memory. In history, students studied how well the United States lives up to its constitutional ideals.
Bronx Lab is is part of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, a group of roughly 30 high schools whose students are exempt from taking most Regents exams required for graduation. Instead, in the 11th and 12th grades students complete “PBATs” (performance based assessment tasks) in English, math, history, and science. These tasks may include lab reports, research, and literary analyses; they culminate with students writing papers and presenting their work to family, teachers, and experts.
Academics & Instruction: Teachers focus on in-depth learning in all classes—they cover fewer topics and spend more time on each one. Classes are 90 minutes long, compared to the usual 45 minutes. During lessons, students do a lot of reading, writing, and research, often in small groups.
Ninth- and 10th-graders take a “real world learning” course that meets two or three times a week. This course helps them explore their interests, write resumes, apply for internships, and develop skills like leadership, organization, and communication.
The school also offers a four-year internship program where students earn graduation credit through real jobs. By their senior year, most students work four days a week, mostly in paid internships.
Past internships have included work at local schools, architecture firms, the Prospect Park Zoo, dentist and pediatrics offices, an accounting firm, an animal hospital, Google, and the Queens County Supreme Court.
As a FutureReady school, Bronx Lab offers students the opportunity to study software development, pursue industry certifications, and intern at tech sector and related industry businesses.
Culture & Environment: Students participate in advisory classes, which meet four times a week with the same teacher for all four years. Students typically participate in one or two extracurricular activities each week, such as playwriting with EPIC Theater, art and tech with BEAM Center, filmmaking with Reel Works, and boat-building with Rocking the Boat. Several organizations also help with internships, job training, and support.
Bronx Lab welcomes new immigrants, especially those entering 9th or 10th grades. Older students might find it harder to meet graduation requirements due to the long research required for PBATs, according to the administration.
New teachers receive strong support, including one-on-one mentoring, regular team meetings, and weekly visits for help with the consortium approach and requirements. All teachers study best practices for teaching new immigrants. Bronx Lab is connected to two local shelters to help inform unhoused new immigrants about school admissions.
Bronx Lab has a low attendance rate, and many students are absent for a month of more of the school year.
College & Career: Teens work with a full-time college and career counselor to explore goals beyond high school and complete scholarship, financial aid, and college applications. Students visit colleges, take part in events to learn about college admissions and complete applications.
Building & Facilities: Bronx Lab is located in the Evander Childs Educational Complex and shares the library, gym, and cafeteria with other schools in the building. (Lydie Raschka, web reports and interview, August 2024)
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School Stats
Academics
Students
Race/Ethnicity
Safety & Vibe
Faculty & Staff
College Readiness
Programs & Admissions
From the 2024 High School DirectoryBronx Lab School D75 Inclusion Program (X64U)
Bronx Lab School (X64X)
Program Description:
We are an inquiry-based, academically-focused member of the New York Performance Standards Consortium where students complete portfolios in core subjects in PBATs that replace most Regents. We offer a four-year advisory program, a senior internship program, CUNY College Now classes, service learning projects, college trips and many after school opportunities. We have partnerships with ISA, Here2Here, Big Picture Learning & The Mountain School.
Offerings
From the 2024 High School DirectoryAdvanced Courses
Algebra II (Advanced Math), Comp Sci/Math Tech (College Course [Credited]), Econ/Gov (College Course [Credited]), ELA (College Course [Credited]), Math (College Course [Credited]), Other (College Course [Credited]), Other (College Course [Uncredited]), Physics (Advanced Science), Social Studies (College Course [Credited])
Boys PSAL teams
Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Soccer, Swimming
Girls PSAL teams
Basketball, Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Softball, Swimming, Volleyball
Read about admissions, academics, and more at this school on NYCDOE’s MySchools
Contact & Location
Location
800 East Gun Hill Road
Bronx
NY
10467
Trains: , to Gun Hill Rd
Buses: Bx28, Bx30, Bx38, Bx39, Bx41, Bx41-SBS, Bx8, BxM11
Contact
Other Details
This school shares the Evander Childs Educational Campus with five other schools
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