P.S. 200 The James Mccune Smith School

PS 200 has a promising pre-kindergarten program, cheery and nicely-equipped facilities, and strong community partnerships that provide kids with free medical care, swimming lessons and quality art instruction.

The school has long struggled with declining enrollment and low test scores. Some teachers complain of discipline problems, according to the Learning Environment Survey. But principal Renee Balton is hopeful that the expansion of pre-kindergarten program in 2014 will lead to positive changes in the rest of the school.

The school's pre-k program is headed by the school's long-time, Montessori-trained early childhood director. The pre-k program has a nice mix of play and instruction-based learning. The curriculum emphasizes science and social studies. A day in the life of a pre-k student includes circle time, music and movement, literacy, thematic units, such as a study of dinosaurs, and center time, where classmates work together in small groups on activities such as painting, puzzles or math games. Volunteers from the Harlem YMCA teach American Sign Language (ASL) to pre-k students.

Children in pre-k have their own playground, bathrooms in their rooms, and lunch served in their rooms.

Belton, a former dance student who attended law school and grew up in Harlem, took the helm in 2004, after teaching in the city's public schools for seven years. She has brought in the structured Orton-Gillingham phonics-based program that has been shown to help struggling readers, and staffers say they have already seen results in the upper grades. Belton said she is hopeful that a school-wide shift away from teacher-led lessons and toward a more progressive, hands-on approach will foster a love of learning and translate into better academic results.

The school makes good use of community partnerships to help bolster academics, services and supports for students. For instance, Harlem Hospital sponsors an on-site clinic staffed by a physician assistant and a registered nurse where children receive inoculations, physicals and any other type of medical care they require. Those who need further medical care can be evaluated in the clinic before being transferred to the hospital. In addition to volunteer ASL instructors, the YMCA provides an after-school program, ESL instruction for parents, and both tutors and teaching assistants for kindergarten and first grade. Swimming instruction starts in third grade.

Partnerships also help provide a welcoming school environment. Rich student artwork is on display thanks to a program with Studio in a School, which sponsors teaching artists to provide art instruction in city schools.

School facilities include a cheery, well-stocked library, a dance studio, a small auditorium and an outdoor yard with a climbing equipment and tricycles for young students to ride. A roof garden is slated to open at the start of 2014-15 school year. Unfortunately, the school currently lacks a gymnasium. Physical education classes are held  in a multi-purpose room. (Mahalia Watson, April 2014)