PROGRESS High School for Professional Careers

Located on the Grand Street campus in Williamsburg, Progress High School for Professional Careers is a small, safe and orderly school that offers a variety of supports and academic programs for its students, many of whom arrive at the school doing academic work below grade level.

Since its opening the school has shifted focus a bit from professional programs to the arts, with an instrumental music program with performance groups including five bands, choral ensembles, chamber groups and two dance ensembles, and a fine arts program where students get to work in various media. The school also offers programs aimed at careers in the health professions and teaching as well as a Mathematics and Science Institute. Students can choose from more than 10 Advanced Placement classes.

The school provides a a supportive environment with lots of services available to students including an on-site medical and mental health center operated by Woodhull Hospital, a special program called AVID that helps prepare students for college and three guidance counselors. Students and teachers give the school very high marks in a range of areas including the quality of classes, student behavior in those classes and school leadership, based on their responses to the NYC School survey.

The school’s graduation runs roughly the citywide average, although many of the students who graduate are not considered to not be ready for college work.

Progress shares the campus with two other high schools, East Williamsburg Scholars Academy and the High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology. The schools together field about 18 sports teams and use six gyms and other athletic facilities.

SPECIAL EDUCATION: Progress has team teaching classes with a mix of general and special education students and self-contained classes for students with disabilities. To serve English language learners, the school provides beginning, intermediate, advanced and transitional classes that make use of computer technology in English as a new language. It also has a bi-lingual program aimed at Spanish speaking students.

ADMISSIONS: The school admits students to all three of its programs – STEM Professional Careers, Aspiring Teachers, and instrumental music and art – using the educational option method that admits students with a range of academic abilities. Brooklyn residents get priority and fill almost all the seats. Typically there are seats available for incoming 10th graders. (Gail Robinson, web reports, September 2018)