SPECIAL EDUCATION: The school offers ICT (integrated co-teaching) classes in several core 9th- and 10th-grade courses. Students are allowed off campus for lunch, but the neighborhood has few affordable food options. Although the building does not have a gym, it does have a weight room and students can earn physical education credits there or through participation on campus-wide sports teams. There’s also a rooftop garden that students tend to during and after school. Another large room is used as a quiet commons for students. Administrative offices open onto a common area, which also serves as a theater venue, cafeteria and meeting space for students and staff. The school makes good use of its space on the top two floors of an old, rather rundown building, which it shares with the Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School. Graduates attend a range of CUNY and SUNY schools as well as private and out-of-state institutions such as Syracuse, Cornell, Trinity, Goucher and University of Michigan. Each semester, students lead a conference with his or her advisor and parents about growth, struggles and goals.Ī fulltime college counselor meets with each family to discuss college options by the end of 11th grade. Many told us they appreciate how quickly freshmen acclimate to a high level of rigor and behavior when seniors are their teammates.Īdvisory groups that meet three times per week help students make scheduling decisions and reflect on their academic progress. Most courses are open to all grades, so teachers offer a wide range of supports and grade students on a combination of skills mastery and work habits that vary depending on the student’s year. All seniors must complete a final research project over the course of three quarters it culminates in a multimedia presentation such as a documentary, exhibit or informative lecture to families and peers. Languages are also taught online, allowing students to choose from Spanish (with teacher support twice a week) or Mandarin, French, German and Latin (entirely independent and online).Īdvanced students have plenty of options at iSchool, including Advanced Placement courses and College Now courses at John Jay College. At NYC iSchool, it’s a one-year course that combines class time with an online curriculum, allowing students more time to take advanced classes such as China: Mao to Now and Women and Ancient History. For instance, in most high schools students spend two years studying Global History before taking the Regents exam. The structure frees up time for students to take more interesting classes. Teachers for the online courses collect notes, give tests and provide extra help for those who need it.
During parts of the year, students in Regents courses meet only once per week with their teachers and spend several hours per week working through the online curriculum.
Principal Isora Bailey, formerly a principal of Greenwich Village Middle School (renamed the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School) and director of school improvement for a network of city schools, sees the required Regents exams as hurdles for her students to jump quickly since the related curriculum does not allow teachers to dive deeply into engaging topics and projects. In the children’s bookmaking module, students visit an elementary school to interview 1st-graders about their preferences for books and then spend nine weeks writing, illustrating and making them before returning to the elementary school to present the children with their custom-made books. A recent example is a pop-up restaurant where students drafted a business plan and managed all the details for running a one-night restaurant that doubled as a school fundraiser. Students who are passionate about science, for example, can enroll in the required living environment course and The Physics of Superheroes at the same time.Įvery student at iSchool also takes a hands-on course called a module each quarter. Every nine weeks, students register for classes online with a wide range of options. The iSchool stands out from other small schools in the amount of choice and flexibility it offers students.
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