At the Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts, a strict academic environment coexists with a creative performing arts culture. Students spend their first two years studying four categories of performance arts, and during their junior and senior years, they undergo intense training in the arts major they choose. Although the facilities aren't designed for the performing arts, the school has done what they can with what they have - including using funding from the Gates Foundation to invest in a robust musical instrument program. Students are proud of the school's unique culture, and upperclassmen proudly (and voluntarily) wear pins showing the major they have chosen. The school began as a high school and will serve 9-12 grades in the fall of 2009. Eventually, the administration plans to add a middle school as well.

Building and location: The school occupies two clean, well-kept hallways in a Harlem building that it shares with three other schools as of September 2009: the Urban Assembly Institute for New Technologies, the Academy of Social Action, and the Renaissance Leadership Academy. The building atmosphere has changed dramatically since the original school, IS 172, was phased out due to poor performance. The hallways are painted neatly in Urban Assembly's burgundy and khaki colors and professionally printed signs with the school motto hang in classrooms, along the ceiling and on hallway walls. Once students get past the metal detector in the building entryway, the Urban Assembly hallways burst with school pride. "We are part of the movement to change this building," said founding Principal Fia Davis.

The facilities are not ideal for a performing arts school, however. Formal performances are held off-campus, since the old auditorium isn't adequate, and the school's practice space is extremely limited. The dance studio is a cramped classroom, and the theater space is another classroom that has been turned into a makeshift Black box theater.

School environment and culture: Students walk to dance class in leotards, and many teachers speak like actors or comport themselves like performers. Most of the students enter the school with talent and interest but little training. "Growing up with private training or lessons - that is just not the reality for our students," Davis said. "We are the only New York City public school that provides a four-year, unscreened sequence study in the performing arts at the conservatory level. We cultivate diamonds in the rough."

The school does have some challenges. Davis admits that her concept of a strict academic environment, including a full uniform policy, is sometimes seen as at odds with the creative, performing mission of the school. We saw two 9^th grade boys, who displayed a clear penchant for drama, unhappily stuck in lunch detention after refusing to wear the proper black footwear. The hallways were loud during transitions, but again in a particularly theatrical way reminiscent of too many performers in too small a space.

Attendance is a challenge, the principal said. "Once we get the students here, we can do a lot for them," she said. The school is disproportionately female: girls make up about 75 percent of the student body. Unlike many other schools, however, the performing arts mission attracts students from all five boroughs.

The three annual performing art shows are among the highlights of the Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts experience, according to students and staff. They rent space, such as the Harlem Stage at City College, and hold a full formal dress rehearsal with tech, lighting, and sound. Blown-up photographs from the showcases hang throughout the school.

Teaching and curriculum: In 9th and 10th grade, students study all four categories of performing arts that the school offers: drama, dance, vocal training, and instrumental music. In 11th and 12th grades, students choose a major and spend two hours a day studying in a conservatory setting.

Academics are emphasized to the same degree as the arts. "We use art to inspire the students academically," the dance teacher explained. Teachers of academic subjects are likewise encouraged to infuse their lessons with the performing arts. We saw a history lesson where students watched a video clip and listened to a song from the era to learn about propaganda. They then made their own propaganda posters.

Students carry full schedules for all four years of high school and those who find the curriculum too intense are encouraged to transfer after their freshman year. "In this school, we know that education is on the same level as the performing arts," one 11th grader told us.

There are no Advanced Placement classes offered but students can take honors classes. "I believe in the education equity model - smart is something you can get, not something you are born with," the principal said. Many of the incoming students have scored below state standards in English Language Arts and math in middle school, but in the school's second year, 87 percent of the 10th graders passed the Global History Regents exam.

Partnerships and programs: Partnerships include the Apollo Theater, Harlem Stage, City College, the National Jazz Museum, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Epic Theater Company. The partnerships allow students to attend performances for free and the school to borrow facilities for their own performances.

Family participation: The school hired a parent coordinator during its third year, and according to the principal, parent participation spiked with the addition.

Special education: In an effort to remove the stigma from the "special education" label, special education teachers are referred to as student intervention teachers. These teachers also develop intervention plans for students who are struggling but don't have official IEPs. The school offers CTT classes and SETSS services.

Engligh Language Learners: There were five students in the school who required English language services at the time of our visit.

Admissions: Unlike the official conservatory schools, students don't audition, but they do need to express an interest in a performing arts education at an information session, tour, or fair. The school looks for creative students. Open citywide.

After graduation: The school was founded in September 2006 and had yet to graduate its first class at the time of our visit. A college advisor was working with students to identify scholarships, particularly in the performing arts. (Lindsey Whitton Christ, 2009)

"The learning is good and the principal is lovely. She is serious about the learning at the school."

"We go on college tours every year. It gives you the experience of how college really is, and now I am not afraid to go like I used to be."

"You learn all about reading music and the history of different instruments."

"I could never see myself playing an instrument but playing the saxophone was pretty cool."

"I like the idea that we get to try every type of performing art before choosing out major."

" I love my school. It is mad interesting."