Our Insights
What’s Special
Lots of field trips and hands-on learning
The Downside
Out of the way location
On the edge of Jamaica Bay, Channel View School for Research focuses on activities that get children outside the classroom—such as studying marine life or cleaning up the shore.
“It’s active learning and it makes a connection to real life. They’re not just learning geometry. They’re learning how to build a city,” Principal Denise Harper-Richardson says.
A small school serving grades 6 to 12, Channel View has “large school opportunities with a small school feel,” says Harper-Richardson, a former assistant principal who became principal in 2014. It offers arts electives, oceanography, robotics, and a full complement of academic classes including French, Spanish, chemistry and physics.
Channel View uses the EL Learning approach, formerly known as Expeditionary Learning, which is a component of NYC Outward Bound schools. Students are divided into groups of about 15, called “crews,” that meet daily with a teacher and stay together for several years. Ninth-graders go on a four-day wilderness trip, and students at all levels work on community problems.
Students work together in many classes, often on projects. Classes seem calm and organized, with most students participating in discussions and listening to their classmates and the teacher. Students seem to work well with one another. In a 12th grade physics class, for example, students easily questioned fellow classmates about concepts they did not understand as a teacher stood by to offer additional help.
Academic demands are significant. Students do as much as two hours of work a night and are expected to read extensively.
Every middle school grade includes two team teaching classes, combining general education and special education students, an accelerated class, an honors class and one other class. Those in the accelerated classes take Regents exams in 8th grade.
The middle school humanities class combines English and social studies, and students have as many as 14 periods of it a week. Seventh graders read Touching Sprit Bear, a novel about a contemporary Native American teenager; they also studied pre-colonial life among the Lenapes and wrote a fiction piece from the perspective of a Lenape.
Middle school test scores lag behind the city average but Harper-Richardson says high test scores are not the school's primary objective. “Our focus is that [students] be well rounded and have good character,” she said. “We know we are on the right track.”
The graduation rate is high, and the school has worked to improve college readiness, adding extra hours of classroom time in math and enabling students to take classes at the City University of New York.
Channel View has one full-time college counselor and an intern working on college admission. There are frequent college trips so by the time students graduate they will have seen about 30 colleges. In mid December, the entire school takes part in a celebration to cheer seniors on as they submit their college applications.
Channel View shares a building with three other schools: New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities IV, Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability and Rockaway Collegiate High School. The Channel View students enter through their own door but, like all others in the building, have to go through metal detectors. The school shares athletic facilities and varsity teams accept student from all schools in the building.
While the school’s location gives students views of the water and the Manhattan skyline, Channel View is difficult to reach, particularly for families who do not live on the Rockaway Peninsula. Despite that, Richards says, students are coming from an increasingly wide geographic area, and the school is becoming more ethnically diverse.
SPECIAL EDUCATION: The school has two integrated team teaching classes on each grade. Channel Views hosts an ASD Nest Program and Horizon program for children with autism spectrum disorders In Nest, students with ASD learn in a classroom alongside typically developing children, while the Horizon classes are self-contained. The graduation rate for students with disabilities is far above the citywide average.
(Gail Robinson, September 2017)
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School Stats
Is this school safe and well-run?
From the 2022-2023 NYC School Survey
From the 2019-20 NY State Report Card
From this school's most recent Quality Review Report
From 2023 End-of-year Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism Report
How do students perform academically?
From the New York State 2022-2023 Assessment Database
From the 2022-23 School Quality Guide
Who does this school serve?
From the 2022-23 Demographic Snapshot
From the 2022-23 School Quality Guide
From the 2020 School Directories
How does this school serve special populations?
From 2023 End-of-year Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism Report
From the New York State 2022-2023 Assessment Database
Programs & Admissions
From the 2024 High School DirectoryResearch Technology & Robotics (Q97A)
Program Description:
CVSR utilizes computers robotics and drone technology to research real world problems. Students learn programming, web-design, gaming, engineering and robotics.
Channel View School for Research ASD Nest Program (Q97H)
Channel View School for Research D75 Inclusion Program (Q97U)
Channel View College & Career Readiness Program (Q97X)
Program Description:
Students are offered a rigorous and engaging college and career readiness program.
Channel View School for Research ASD Horizon Program (Q97Y)
Offerings
From the 2024 High School DirectoryLanguage Courses
Spanish
Advanced Courses
Algebra II (Advanced Math), AP Biology, AP Computer Science Principles, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Psychology, AP Research, AP Seminar, AP Spanish Language and Culture, AP Statistics, AP United States History, AP World History: Modern, Chemistry (Advanced Science), ELA (College Course [Credited]), Other (College Course [Credited]), Physics (Advanced Science), Science (College Course [Credited]), Social Studies (College Course [Credited]), World Languages (Advanced World Languages)
Boys PSAL teams
Baseball, Basketball, Football, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball
Girls PSAL teams
Basketball, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball
Read about admissions, academics, and more at this school on NYCDOE’s MySchools
Contact & Location
Location
100-00 BEACH CHANNEL DRIVE
QUEENS
NY
11694
Trains: to Beach 105th St
Buses: Q21, Q22, Q53-SBS, QM16
Contact
Other Details
This school shares the Beach Channel Educational Campus with two other schools
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