Partner Spotlight

Bronx Arena High School

Our Launch

Founded in 2011 as part of the New York City Department of Education's efforts to create small, innovative schools designed to re-engage over-age and under-credited students. 

The Challenge

The school's founding aimed to address a pressing need in the Bronx, where many students faced significant academic and personal challenges that traditional schools were not equipped to handle.

The Solution

Offering a highly personalized learning model, combined with mentorship from teachers and advocate counselors and a focus on competency-based progression, Bronx Arena sought to provide a fresh start for students who were at risk of dropping out.

Bronx Arena Overview
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Succesful Outcomes

Bronx Arena High School has been recognized for its success in transforming the educational outcomes of over-age, under-credited students who have struggled in traditional school environments. Its personalized learning model, strong mentorship through advocate counselors, and competency-based approach have helped many students earn high school diplomas and transition to post-secondary education or careers.

Key markers of success include:

  • Graduation Rates: Despite serving a high-needs population, the school has consistently enabled students to graduate who might otherwise have dropped out.
  • Student Empowerment: The emphasis on individualized learning plans and flexibility fosters independence and critical thinking, preparing students for life beyond high school.
  • Community Impact: Paid internships, strong family involvement, and partnerships with organizations like SCO Family of Services contribute to a holistic support system that addresses students' academic and personal needs.
  • College and Career Readiness: Students graduate with actionable post-high school plans, demonstrating preparedness for further education or entry into the workforce.

Bronx Arena's innovative approach has been celebrated as a model for re-engaging at-risk students and improving equity in education.

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Watch the Tracker in action at Bronx Arena
The Tracker

Originally conceived by Ty Cesane, the principal of Bronx Arena, to replace the spreadsheets and documents for managing the daily operations, the Tracker is critical to how Bronx Arena operates and has evolved into a powerful system that empowers administrators, teachers, counselors to support their students to success. 

By leveraging multiple forms of visual and text based elements for students and teachers to monitor progress towards various goals and rewards, the Tracker drives self motivation and accountability consistent with goals of the program itself. 

The Tracker also provides teachers with the unique ability to add tasks on the fly for a student thereby truly personalizing their learning experience.  

The team

Our award winning staff have been nationally recognized with the Fishman Prize, the FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence and the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program.

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Ty Cesane

Principal
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Andrew WIZA

Generalist Teacher
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Preston Peoples

Advocate Counselor
Inside Bronx Arena

Read more about the details of the model and approach at Bronx Arena at the Learning Accelerator

22 Videos
In the news
Their experience may help point the way to a future where online education becomes a tool for empowering teachers and students alike—not a means of auctioning off the most struggling students to the companies and schools that promise to spend the least.
SLATE Sarah Carr
Like many of the roughly 200 students at Bronx Arena, Gastambides felt disengaged and unhappy at his last high school, which was about seven times larger. “I kind of developed anxiety, I was claustrophobic, and I just stopped going,” he said of his last school. “I wanted an education, I wanted a diploma, I wanted to go to college, so I came here.”
The Atlantic and Chalkbeat Alex Zimmerman
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