With Data Backing Smaller High Schools, City's Larger Ones Fret Over Their Fate
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When new research last week showed that students at New York City's growing crop of small public high schools had outperformed their counterparts at more traditional schools, shudders ran through some of the larger institutions.
And when Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott embraced the study, financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, some principals and teachers at large high schools said they felt there was a target on their backs. Mr. Walcott vowed to continue pursuing the Education Department's focus on creating small schools, which have about 100 students per grade.
"There's unfortunately a fear that the D.O.E. has created that the only solution is these small schools," said James Vasquez, the teachers' union representative for the Queens high schools.
Mr. Vasquez added that even some of the better-performing schools had wondered if they were next to be closed.
Bernard Gassaway, principal of the 1,650-student Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, said, "It definitely puts pressure on us, but I think we in many ways epitomize the diversity of urban education."
Yet even as the city moves to close more large high schools -- 3 are on a list of 25 institutions that may close or lose their middle-school classes -- many of them are likely to survive, at least for now. Among the remaining 67 schools with at least 1,000 students are some of most coveted in the city: Stuyvesant High School (3,200 students), Brooklyn Technical High School (5,100), Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School (2,500), Bronx High School of Science (3,000) and Townsend Harris High School (1,000) in Queens.
"As a graduate of a large New York City high school, I know we have some wonderful large schools and some wonderful small schools," said Mr. Walcott, an alumni of Francis Lewis High School in Queens (4,156 students). "The key indicator for us is whether the school performs at a rigorous academic level and offers students a nurturing learning environment."
First Published February 2, 2012 12:01 am
