Overview

New Visions Schools offer personalized and rigorous educational opportunities to K-12 students of all levels and backgrounds. Established from 1993 and 1998 through a challenge grant from the Annenberg Foundation and private and public matching support, New Visions Schools are pioneers in the small school movement and continually seek to implement innovative approaches to teaching and learning that serve as local and national models.

Goals and Objectives

Between 1993 and 1998, thousands of parents, teachers, administrators, cultural groups and civic and educational institutions engaged in a collaborative process that resulted in the creation of small, theme-based schools focusing on innovative, student-centered instructional practices. New Visions Small Schools grow from their communities and are invested from the start with the creativity, support and the ongoing involvement of local stakeholders.

The New Visions Schools have influenced the way people think about and create public school communities in New York City and nationwide. In 1998 the New York City Department of Education established a procedure for the creation of new small schools and academies throughout the school system based on the New Visions process. This work also served as a springboard for the success of the New Century High School Initiative.