NYC Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries (AECI)

The NYC Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industries (AECI) is designed to offer students skills that will lead to careers in the construction industry. It does a good job making sure that students with disabilities and those who are still learning English graduate on time. Attendance is good and teachers says the school is orderly, according to school surveys.

Students take classes in architectural drawing and computer science along with double periods of English and math their freshman year, according to the school’s website. They make three-dimensional models of buildings using computer software.

In the summer, they may visit architectural sites around the city in a program sponsored by the Center for Architecture, take engineering courses at the Cooper Union in Manhattan, or learn engineering design through a program called CodeNow, according to the school website.

While nearly all students graduate on time, very few earn Advanced Regents diplomas and many must take remedial classes when they go to college.

Students wear a uniform of gray shirts, navy pants and black shoes. About two-thirds of the students are male.

Teachers are members of the United Federation of Teachers, making the AECI one of the few charters in the city that is unionized.

The school shares space with a Roman Catholic school, Saints Peter and Paul, in the South Bronx. Sports include boys and girls basketball, soccer, track and field; boys baseball and flag football; and girls softball and volleyball.

Admissions: lottery. Apply on the school’s website. (Clara Hemphill, web reports, March, 2018)