High Honors for Middle & High Schools
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Math & Humanities Charters Represent a New Vision
Beyond ‘Chalk & Talk,’ Students Are Bound for the Outdoors
Taking Care of Students by Taking Care of Teachers
Minding Mind & Spirit at Molloy
Individual Attention All in a Day’s Work at Trevor
Classroom Work Is Only One Part of the Education
Parents Chart Their Own Course in Washington Heights
Looking to Retain ‘Street Cred,’ Principal Returns to Classroom
Arts and Academics: The Twain Shall Meet Here
Fostering Scientific Curiosity in the Tradition of Dr. Salk
By Josh Rogers
Blackboard Awards, Contributing Editor
This week we close our Blackboard Award special sections for 2011 with a look at some of the city’s best middle and high schools.
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Math & Humanities Charters Represent a New Vision
The phrase “two is better than one” can be easily applied in the case of a pair of new charter schools in the Bronx.
Conceived by New Visions, an organization that has opened more than a hundred schools across the city, the two institutions, one for advanced math and science and the other for humanities, are the first charter programs they have launched.
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Beyond ‘Chalk & Talk,’ Students Are Bound for the Outdoors
It’s not often you encounter an educational institution with the label “expeditionary” attached to it. What does this mean, and how does it reflect Gaynor McCown’s special citation for special needs?
Hint: It has something to do with camping out.
Located in the New Springville section of Staten Island, Gaynor McCown Expeditionary Learning School is one of a growing network of small college preparatory schools—now numbering 11 in all five boroughs—jointly operated by the city Department of Education and Outward Bound.
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Taking Care of Students by Taking Care of Teachers
By Ashley Welch
If you had asked Philip Weinberg as a child what he wanted to be when he grew up, he most likely would not have said a school principal.
“As a kid, I wanted to be quarterback for the Giants,” he said with a laugh.
Yet, as he grew older, Weinberg discovered he was better suited for the classroom than the football field.
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Minding Mind & Spirit at Molloy
On the morning of Nov. 10, Brother Tom Schady woke up to some difficult news: His mother had passed away. Heading into work, he knew he could count on support at Archbishop Molloy High School, the Queens prep school where he is the principal. As he walked the school’s hallways that day, he was stopped by students, teachers and administrators offering their condolences.
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Individual Attention All in a Day’s Work at Trevor
On a recent Thursday in the lobby at Trevor Day School’s upper school on West 88th Street, students readied themselves for a film shoot. They checked camera settings and positioned actors. Their teacher stood off to the side, asking occasional questions about workflow, but for the most part, the students ran the show.
It was an example of Trevor’s approach to experiential learning, which the school says is summarized by a Chinese proverb: “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may
The Center at Trevor Day School is a place where high school students consult individually with an adviser every week.
remember. Involve me and I will understand.”
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Classroom Work Is Only One Part of the Education
In just nine years of existence, Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side has earned its second Blackboard Award for Outstanding School. Since local residents rallied together for a community high school, Eleanor Roosevelt has met the challenge.
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Parents Chart Their Own Course in Washington Heights
By Juan DeJesus
Many schools strive to be part of the community, but very few are actually built by the community they serve.
After hearing complaints from neighborhood parents, Christina Reyes gathered likeminded individuals to help establish a new school. Their goal was to meet the needs she demanded for her pupils at the parochial school at which she was working at the time.
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Arts and Academics: The Twain Shall Meet Here
While middle school students around the city spend time each night reviewing history notes and racking their brains over math homework (at least we hope they do), the students at Mark Twain Independent School for the Gifted and Talented in Brooklyn do that and more. With a period set aside each day for talent, students at the middle school complement the usual subjects with art, dance, theater and other concentrations.
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Fostering Scientific Curiosity in the Tradition of Dr. Salk
To hear Rhonda Perry describe the Salk School of Science, it might seem as if there are no walls. Children go on field trips, scientists and doctors go into classrooms and students work in some of New York’s leading institutions.
But it’s just their philosophy to take advantage of the school’s rich location.
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