School of the Future

School of the Future is a small, innovative public 6-12th grade school within District 2(now Region 9). We are located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood at 22nd Street and Lexington Avenue. We have an academically rigorous environment with a student population of 700 ranging from 6th through 12th grade and a staff of 40 teachers. Both the staff and the student population reflect the diversity of the city. We are a CES Mentor School, a network of schools across the nation that believes in interdisciplinary curriculum and project based assessment.

Students at School of the Future graduate by portfolio and exhibitions. Portfolios are a collection of the student’s best work and exhibitions are extensively researched papers and oral presentations whereby students demonstrate that they are capable of meeting challenging standards of research: construct and answer an interesting essential question, adhere to conventions of writing, and demonstrate habits of mind (critical thinking skills).

We have very creative and flexible programming, which allows teachers to work in grade teams. Teams usually consist of two Humanities instructors, one Math instructor, one Science instructor and a Foreign Language instructor. Each team is responsible for approximately 100 students and is led by a team leader (a teacher elected from and by the team). As a result of our grade structure, our class size is small--average class size is only 25 students.

Our philosophy is to be nurturing yet academically demanding. We believe that all students have different learning styles, thus our emphasis in creating differentiated lessons to meet student’s needs. In our advisory periods, teachers meet with their advisees to discuss a range of social, political and academic issues. Moreover, we offer a rigorous and challenging college preparatory liberal arts curriculum. Our staff uses a range of alternative diagnostic, formative and summative assessments to inform their daily practice and objectives for individual students.