P.S. 209

PS 209 is a tiny school for small people. It has fewer than 300 students, and none is older than 7 or 8. Teachers overwhelmingly would recommend the school to new families, NYC School Surveys show.

Teachers strive to give their young students experiences beyond school walls to help increase their knowledge of the world, according to the city's Quality Review. For example, kindergartners take trips to the Bronx Zoo, first reading books about zoos in preparation, and then writing stories and creating art based on their experiences. 

Parents may participate in math game nights, and workshops on reading, writing, homework help and other topics. Children who are behind in reading may be placed in a well-respected program called Reading Recovery, which has been shown to help 1st-graders catch up. Students are required to read or be read to for 30 minutes a night. Before and after school help is available for kids who struggle with schoolwork, according to the school's Comprehensive Educational Plan.

The school has many programs to help kids with behavior, including Yale’s RULER program, which aims to help kids identify and regulate their emotions. A comfort dog visits the school, as part of a program to offer emotional support as children read. 

SPECIAL EDUCATION: There is an ICT (integrated co-teaching) class on each grade level, in which two teachers, one trained in special education, work in general-ed classrooms that incorporate up to twelve students with special needs. There is one small “self-contained” class, plus services that individual children may need, for example, speech. 

ADMISSIONS: Neighborhood school.  (Lydie Raschka, web reports, March 2020; photo from the school’s twitter feed)