Park Slope Collegiate

Park Slope Collegiate, a 6-12 school, is a small, diverse and progressive school with a social justice bent in the heart of Park Slope. Children study Brooklyn history, examining issues in their borough, such as inequality, and showcase their work in a public exhibition. The school offers three years of Spanish—along with a class in Spanish film. All high school students must take four years of English, math, science and social studies.

Visual arts and a guitar program are available to middle and high school students. There also is a middle school glee club. A partnership with a theater company features an ensemble performance every spring of writing by Park Slope Collegiate students.

The school program is designed to engage and support students at a range of academic levels. Classes are small and run for 55 minutes, longer than the typical 42-minute period. The instructional day is slightly shorter on Monday, when the staff meets together for 90 minutes.

Test scores and graduation rates are about average for the city, although the college readiness rate falls short. To help students with math and science, the schools has instituted a CUNY program where students receive instruction and support from their peers who, in turn, receive instruction in teaching methods.

The school offers an array of support for students. Groups of 10 to 15 students meet weekly with a teacher to discuss personal and global issues. Three guidance counselors, one a college counselor, serve the approximately 750 students. Seniors participate in a small group college advisory to work on college admissions and financial aid applications, and later have discussions designed to help them prepare for college.

Over the years, Park Slope Collegiate has enrolled more white and somewhat more affluent students. It also has gone from being under-enrolled, with staff worrying whether the school could even face closure, to having more applicants than available seats in high school. On its web site, school leaders stress they worry about maintaining diversity in such an affluent section of the city. “We actively pursue a school community that is integrated across race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and past academic performance,” it says.

The school is unabashedly active in social justice causes. Its long-time principal, Jill Bloomberg, has been outspoken about inequality in New York City public schools and, in what struck many as a weird throwback to a bygone era, was investigated by the Department of Education for communist organizing. She was cleared.

Park Slope does not offer Advanced Placement classes but the Department of Education classifies the Brooklyn history class and 12th grade English as “college certified.” Students may also take College Now classes at City University of New York (CUNY).

The John Jay campus, which Park Slope Collegiate shares with three other schools, has had safety issues over the years, and students must pass through metal detectors. Now, though, most students feel safe. PSC’s middle and high schools occupy separate wings on the building’s top floor. The school has joint sports teams with two of the other schools on the campus, John Jay School for Law and Secondary School for Journalism but not with the third, Millennium Brooklyn High School. 

Special education: An unusually high percentage of students, especially in the middle school, have disabilities. The school has many team teaching classes with a mix of general and special education students.

Admissions:  Middle school open to District 15. Students chosen by lottery. About 40 percent of Park Slope Collegiate middle schoolers remain for high school. Incoming 9th graders are selected through the education option method, which selects students with a range of academic backgrounds. Priority goes to District 15 students, then to Brooklyn residents, and then to children from elsewhere in the city. (Gail Robinson from school website and DOE material, October 2018)