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Harvest Collegiate High School

Grades: 9-12
Staff Pick for Special Ed Noteworthy

Our Insights

What’s Special

Innovative classes; experienced staff

The Downside

Attendance is a work in progress; building has no gym or auditorium

Opened in 2012, Harvest Collegiate is an innovative school for students who want class discussions, lots of reading and writing, hands-on projects and class trips around the city. Housed on the upper floors of a building with a party supply store on the ground floor, the school is spacious, bright and inviting.

The school serves a wide range of academic abilities: Some students enter below grade level and others master demanding Advanced Placement or college classes. To help all students achieve, many classes have two teachers, and staff members give extra help outside of class. The students we spoke to said they receive an unusual level of personal attention from teachers, whom they call by first names. “The principal cares about the students,” one student told us. “She knows everything about me.” 

Instead of taking Regents exams for most subjects, students complete “capstone projects,” oral and written presentations to a panel of teachers on topics they choose themselves. One student researched the history of discrimination against Chinese immigrants; another argued that Richard Nixon was a better president than his reputation suggests; a third used mathematical equations to investigate how fast a virus might spread.

The school is part of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, a group of schools exempt from all Regents exams except English. Students receive a regular Regents diploma when they graduate.

The college-style course catalogue has thought-provoking titles: "Heroes and Villains" (history), "Beyond Voting: Democracy and Organizing" (social studies) and "Criminals" (English), to name a few. Every student is encouraged to pursue a special interest or talent after school. "We want students to love what they're doing," said principal Kate Burch.

Burch designed the school as her master's thesis at Teachers College, Columbia University. A Manhattan native, she graduated from Harvard College with high honors in history and literature, and taught at an alternative school, Humanities Prep, upon which Harvest is modeled. She believes in bringing together an economically, ethnically and academically diverse group of students. “Harmonious diversity is something that really stands out about our school, and we take pride in,” she wrote in an email. 

Students read books of their own choosing for up to half an hour during school hours. Teachers have found that students' writing abilities accelerated the most when they were required to write 16 essays during 9th grade.

Every week, teens spend half a day exploring the city beyond school walls, and there is a two-week "intensive" in January when students pursue activities like winter camping, computer animation or drama. After-school activities include Model United Nations, robotics, sailing, and a philosophy club called thinkTANK. While visual art is only offered after school, the school has a thriving music program. Every student learns a musical instrument (guitar, percussion or piano for two years in the lower grades, with an option to continue in various bands in the upper grades). 

Attendance is a work-in-progress; a new school system sends parents three text messages throughout the day alerting them of their child’s attendance status. There is no gym or auditorium. Student may participate in PSAL teams on the Washington Irving campus, a few blocks away.

SPECIAL EDUCATION: Students with special needs attend integrated classes where a team of special education and general teachers lead the class. The school also houses a District 75 school, which is separate from Harvest Collegiate.

COLLEGE ADMISSIONS: The school graduated its first class in 2016. Since then, most attend four-year CUNY and SUNY colleges (City College, Purchase and New Paltz are popular), with a significant number opting for two-year colleges, and roughly one-quarter attending private universities (i.e. Swarthmore, NYU, Brandeis). Several students have been awarded POSSE scholarships. The school has sent one student each (as of this profile) to Bard, Smith, Columbia University, Cornell and as far away as the University of Paris and University of Hawaii, Burch said in an email. (Isabel Corpus, June 2018; updated, principal email, October 2019)

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School Stats

Citywide Average Key
This school is Better Near Worse than the citywide average

Academics

School
Citywide
How many students graduate in 4 years?
 
86%
How many students with disabilities graduate in 4 years?
 
80%
Average daily attendance
 
81%
How many students miss 18 or more days of school?
 
56%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school offers enough activities and services for their children's needs?
 
73%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school works to achieve the goals of their students' IEPs?
 
73%
From the 2022-23 School Quality Guide and 2022-23 NYC School Survey

Students

394
Number of students
Citywide Average is 615

Race/Ethnicity


School
Citywide
Low-income students
 
71%
Students with disabilities
 
24%
Multilingual learners
 
5%
From the 2022-23 Demographic Snapshot

Safety & Vibe

School
Citywide
How many students were suspended?
 
1%
How many students say they feel safe in the hallways, bathrooms and locker rooms?
 
90%
How many students think bullying happens most or all of the time at this school?
 
41%
How many students say that some are bullied at their school because of their gender or sexual orientation?
 
27%
How many teachers say they would recommend this school to other families?
 
88%
From the 2022-23 NYC School Survey and 2019-20 NY State Report Card

Faculty & Staff

School
Citywide
How many teachers say the principal is an effective manager?
 
92%
10.7
Years of principal experience at this school
Citywide Average is 7
432
Number of students for each guidance counselor or social worker
Citywide Average is 191
How many teachers have 3 or more years of experience teaching?
 
84%
Are teachers effective?
From the 2022-23 NYC School Survey, 2022-23 School Quality Guide, 2021-22 Report on School-Based Staff Demographics, 2023 Guidance Counselor Report, and this school's most recent Quality Review Report

Advanced Courses

Which students have access to advanced courses at this school? Learn more

Calculus

 
4%

Computer Science

 
4%

Physics

 
24%

Advanced Foreign Language

 
19%

AP/IB Arts, English, History or Social Science

 
23%

AP/IB Math or Science

 
4%

Music

 
40%
From unpublished, anonymized data from the 2021-22 school year provided by the New York State Education Department, brought to you by

College Readiness

School
Citywide
How many students graduate with test scores high enough to enroll at CUNY without remedial help?
 
66%
How many students take a college-level course or earn a professional certificate?
 
66%
How many students who have graduated from this high school stay in college for at least 3 semesters?
 
65%
From the 2020-21 and 2022-23 School Quality Guide
Visit Understanding FAFSA for help with the FAFSA and financial aid.
For more information about our data sources, see About Our Data · More DOE statistics for this school

Programs & Admissions

From the 2024 High School Directory

Harvest Collegiate High School (A53A)

Admissions Method: Open

Harvest Collegiate High School D75 Inclusion Program (A53U)

Admissions Method: D75 Special Education Inclusive Services

Offerings

From the 2024 High School Directory

Advanced Courses

Algebra II (Advanced Math), AP Computer Science Principles, AP Psychology, Chemistry (Advanced Science), Econ/Gov (Advanced Placement), Physics (Advanced Science)

Boys PSAL teams

Baseball, Basketball, Handball, Soccer, Volleyball

Girls PSAL teams

Basketball, Softball, Volleyball

Read about admissions, academics, and more at this school on NYCDOE’s MySchools

NYC Department of Education: MySchools

Contact & Location

Location

34 West 14 Street
Manhattan NY 10011

Trains: 1 Line, 2 Line, 3 Line, F Line, L Line, M Line to 6th Av; 4 Line, 5 Line, 6 Line, N Line, Q Line, R Line to Union Square; A Line, B Line, C Line, D Line, E Line to West 4th St

Buses: M1, M101, M102, M103, M12, M14A-SBS, M14D-SBS, M2, M20, M23-SBS, M3, M55, M7, M8, SIM10, SIM1C, SIM3, SIM31, SIM33, SIM33C, SIM3C, SIM4C, SIM7, SIM9, X27, X28, X37, X38, X63, X64, X68


Contact

Principal: Catherine Burch

Parent Coordinator: Margarita Rodriguez

Phone: 212-242-3384

Website

Other Details

Shared campus? No

This school is in its own building.

Uniforms required? No
Metal detectors? No

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