Top NYC High Schools that are Smaller in Size
Are you looking for a smaller high school that is academically rigorous with a personal touch and quite flexible? Are you seeking an academic environment where children feel like there teachers care and listen to them so their uniqueness can be fosters? Here are a few options you may want to consider.
HSAS Lehman
HSMSE
NYC iSchool
NYC Lab School
Millennium Manhattan
NEST+m
Millennium Brooklyn
Leon Goldstein
Beacon!
Richard R Green
Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science & Engineering - CSS - It’s like a mini-Stuyvesant
Essex St. Academy
UA Maker
UA Gateway
Telecommunications
Brooklyn Prospect Charter School
Brooklyn Collaborative
Essex, Harvest Collegiate, Humanities, Vanguard, Landmark, School of the Future (consortium schools)
Richard R Green
Also, be sure to check out the consortium schools as another option. The consortium schools are exempt from most of the Regents. This means that they don’t have to teach to the very rigid curriculum that specifically prepares students to take those tests. That great flexibility in curriculum allows them to adjust their teaching to match student’s interests and to support or encourage them in a variety of ways.
Instead of taking Regents, student have Performance Based Assessments. The student has the opportunity to follow their interests as they go in depth on the subject matter. Then they create a presentation that they submit to a panel to exhibit their knowledge.
The enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge I’ve seen from students working on PBAts far exceeds the drudgery of taking a Regents. This approach also instills skills that serve students well into adult life far better than filling in multiple choice bubbles.
Just remember Something I learned is that you can make a big school feel small, but you can’t make a small school feel big. And at that age, peers are more important and influential than teachers. So if they’re at a small school and don’t find their people, it can be alienating. Big schools also have vastly more resources and choices. But obviously you know your kid. And if you are considering schools with 700+ kids that is big enough to find a group. 400 might be tougher.
Q&A
Does this affect college eligibility?
Not at all. First of all most states don’t even have Regents, and colleges really don’t seem to care about them that much.
Secondly, the PBAts are accepted as replacement for the Regents so these students get the same diploma as students who take the regents.
Lastly, most of these schools really support students in research and writing, making them extra prepared for college apps.
