Brooklyn Frontiers High School is designed to help students who have been held back at least twice in elementary or middle school.

Students, parents and teachers agree this new, small school is a safe place with high expectations, where teachers work together as a team to help children succeed, according to the Learning Environment Survey. Opened in 2010, Brooklyn Frontiers is patterned after the High School of Excellence and Innovation in Manhattan.

Good Shepherd Services, a social services organization, provides students with coaches who meet with them individually to talk about academics as well as what else is going on in their lives, their plans, and aspirations for the future. They have paid “Learning to Work” internships to help them “explore their interests and prepare for careers after high school.

Class size designed to be small–about 16 students--to ensure lots of individual attention. Founding Principal Alona Cohen, PhD, was formerly a science teacher at South Brooklyn Community, a transfer school.

A downside: Like many small schools, Brooklyn Frontiers has limited course offerings. Some kids complained on the survey that there weren’t a lot of activities.

Admission: Students must be entering 9th grade for the first time from middle school, have a record of being held back at least two times in elementary or middle school, and be no older than 16. Apply to the school directly. Check the website for more information. (Clara Hemphill, web reports, August 2012)