Classes for high achievers, a program for hearing-impaired students, and a substantial population of kids still learning to speak English are all part of the mix at MS 158, a large middle school in Bayside.

The school is home to a District 26 gifted and talented program that accepts students from a similar program at PS 188. For high achievers not in the gifted program, MS 158 offers a separate program that begins in 7th grade. Admission to these classes is based upon 6th grade test scores and class performance as well as teacher recommendations. Though the paths to the programs are different, the academics are basically the same, with a faster pace of instruction in core academics and Regents earth science taught in the 8th grade.

Throughout our visit we observed solid instruction delivered with a blend of teaching styles. In math, some teachers employed more traditional methods. We sat in on an 8th grade class where students worked quietly at their desks, neatly arranged in rows, while a few stood at the blackboard solving equations. In an accelerated English class, the focus of the day was on synonyms and antonyms.

Elsewhere, creative activities and group work were more commonplace. In a Regents earth science class, students chattered as they worked together to classify different rocksigneous, sedimentary, metamorphicbased upon their observed properties. Crayons, scissors, and glue were the tools of choice for a social studies project on the post-slavery Reconstruction era. Students assumed the roles of ex-slaves, crafting advertisements to help their search for lost family members. In technology, students were designing calendars, deftly switching back and forth between a calendar template and the Internet, as they researched holidays and historical events to include in the project.

With more than 1000 students, the school is large even though enrollment has dipped a bit since it became a 6th to 8th grade program, graduating its last class of 9th graders in 2006. And class sizes remain large, with some classes enrolling as many as 35 students. Still, the school maintains a calm tone. To help manage things, administrators assign an assistant principal and guidance counselor to oversee each incoming class for its entire three-year stay at the school. Instead of moving from class to class, 6th graders stay with the same teacher for three periods each day of instruction in reading, language arts, and social studies; administrators believe that this set up helps ease children's transition from a single class, elementary school environment to the multiple-class world of middle and high school. "Up" and "down" staircases keep students moving during changes of classes.

Marie Nappi, a former math teacher at the school, became principal after Charles DeMeo retired in June 2005.

About 10 percent of the students are recent immigrants from China and South Korea. Those struggling to learn English are assigned to small ESL (English as a second language) classes for language instruction and join the rest of the student population for other academic classes.

Beyond core academics, students participate in art, band, chorus, graphic arts, computers, and dance. Boys and girls basketball teams, bridge, and the yearbook are popular extra curricular activities. In past years overcrowding prevented the school from offering gym classes to 8th graders, but according Nappi every grade now gets physical education. Spanish is the only foreign language taught at the school.

Special education: The school has both "self-contained" classes, only for children with special needs, and team-taught "inclusion classes," where two teachers work in the same classroom with both general education students and those needing special services. A program for hearing-impaired students run by District 75, the citywide district for students with severe disabilities, is housed on the premises. Nappi, who makes it a point to get to know these students, stopped in one of their classes during our visit to brush up on her signing. Though overseen by a separate, off-site administration, the District 75 students are treated as members of the school community, with full access to the facilities and participation in school events.

After school: Two community-based programs, TASC (The After School Corporation) and the Beacon Program, a city-run youth-service organization, provide extra-curricular activities and academic support. A Saturday morning program offers tutoring and academic support as well.