N.Y.C. Museum School

The New York City Museum School attracts a nicely integrated group of bright students from District 2 and beyond, and takes them to visit museums, parks, houses of worship and other venues to enhance their studies. Museum studies culminate in a portfolio, project or performance.

A weeklong “museum module” takes place four times a year in grades 9 to 11. Children go out with two teachers, usually by subway, to visit cultural institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the Japan Society and the Rubin Museum of Art.

During a module on the history of world religions children may visit archives and houses of workshop in addition to museums. A freshman wrote us to say, “one of the modules I took this year [was] biodiversity and we went to zoos and gardens.” Modules are meant to “elucidate traditional classroom learning,“ it says in the comprehensive educational plan (CEP).

During the regular school day the studies are more traditional. Children read classics by Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Shakespeare according to information on the school website. All children must take four years of math and science.

Instead of offering lots of clubs, the priority at this small school is getting kids ready for college; most graduate on time, prepared to do college-level work. Colby, Wheaton, Kenyon and SUNY Purchase are a few college acceptances.

The morale among teachers seems low, however. Fewer than one-third would recommend the school to other teachers as a place to work, according to school surveys.

Principal Darlene Miller has a reputation as a stickler for order and details—such as telling students what kind of 3-ring binders to use. Some teachers complain that she can be tactless and overbearing. Just 32 percent report she is an effective manager. Parents have a more positive view on the surveys, and one wrote in our comments, “The principal cares a lot about the students and the school.”

Museum shares the cafeteria, gym and auditorium with NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies and NYC Lab Middle School. Museum and Lab field joint sports teams in basketball, baseball, golf, track, soccer and tennis.

Children are allowed to go out for lunch and they are assigned lockers. They study art all four years delving into topics like stop motion animation, art history and studio art, but there is little in the way of music. Ninth graders study Afro-Brazilian Samba [see video on nycmuseumschool.org] and drumming during a study of the history and culture of Brazil.

ADMISSIONS: Preference to District 2 students. Selection is based on attendance, grades and standardized test scores. Tours take place in September and October. Sign up on the school website. In recent years, about half the students have come from outside the district. (Lydie Raschka, DOE data and web reports, August 2018)