Dreamyard Preparatory School in the South Bronx was founded in 2006, one of six small high schools that opened when the Bloomberg administration closed William Howard Taft HS. Nine years later, this arts-oriented high school, located on the fourth floor of the Taft school building, is now facing the threat of state receivership.

The common denominator between the old school and the new is the kind of students served. Many have special needs and all come from impoverished families. The incoming 9th-graders arrive at high school with skills well below grade level.

But Dreamyard appears to be turning a corner, thanks to its committed and creative staff and to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s School Renewal Program, which works from the premise that student achievement will not increase unless these high-poverty schools address all the barriers to learning, whether academic or socioeconomic.

Like all 94 city renewal schools, Dreamyard has been transformed into a community school. It now has the help of Counseling in Schools, a nonprofit organization providing wraparound services to students and their families. Counseling in Schools is also matching 12th-graders with paid internships throughout the city.

The extended learning time, a feature of all renewal schools starting this September, is in high gear with after-school classes such as independent reading and computer science designed to meet the students’ particular needs. Two days a week, while teachers attend staff and grade-level meetings, professional barbers, cosmetologists and culinary and fashion experts give students a real world look into possible future employment.

And the staff now has three model teachers who share best practices at teacher-led professional development sessions and through inter-classroom visitations.

“Our professional development is always research-based,” says special education teacher Jessica Altounian. “We are a thoughtful community, always reading the research.”

The stakes are high because the State Education Department has designated Dreamyard as one of 62 “struggling” schools. According to a new state law, the school has two years to show “demonstrable improvement” or face being taken over by outside receivers.

Dreamyard’s 345 students, two-thirds Hispanic and one-third black, are all eligible for free or reduced price lunch. Incoming 9th-graders arrive deficient in academic skills — their average scores on the math and ELA state exams in grade 8 were just barely at Level 2 (Level 2.2 in ELA and 2.04 in math). Twenty-three percent of the students are overage and at risk of dropping out while 1 in 5 has a disability and 1 in 4 is an English language learner.

Chronic absenteeism is high, with average student attendance of only 80.5 percent in the 2013–14 school year. Rather than playing hooky, many of the students miss class because they are taking care of younger siblings or working themselves, the staff says.

“We’re a very collaborative, thoughtful, creative, invested and motivated staff but we can’t fix problems that are happening economically, socially and environmentally in the community,” says Altounian.

English teacher and chapter leader Mika Burns, who came from an A-rated school four years ago “because I needed more challenge,” got more than she bargained for at Dreamyard, but she says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“We’ve grown stronger each year I’ve been here,” she says. She credits the collaboration among staff and between staff and administration.

“Almost half the staff is here from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” she notes. “That’s what you have to do.”

Rachel Pierre-Louis still doesn’t have a lab for her science classes, but she’s created an after-school science-research club in which each student is working with a mentor in a city lab and researching topics such as sleep deprivation and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The club has become a full-time, mixed-age class in partnership with the University of Albany.

“The students have become very independent and sophisticated,” says Pierre-Louis.

The school also has overcome a woeful lack of computers, a serious resource shortage for students who have little or no access to home computers. Now the school has a computer lab.

Principal Alicia Wargo, a former teacher, says, “I believe in my staff and the trust among each other.”

The school’s four-year graduation rate has already improved, increasing from 44 percent in the 2013–14 school year to 60 percent in the 2014–15 school year.

Yet Wargo says it’s too soon to feel confident because “there is so much I can’t control that’s important.”

Math teacher Annaliese McKenna, who is new at the school after taking time off to finish a Ph.D., says the faculty is united in its common mission.

“We all take responsibility for every single student,” she says. “If we can’t turn this around, no one can.”