New York City’s new small high schools — called Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) in this project — are more than just small. They were authorized through a demanding, competitive proposal process designed to attract innovative ideas for new schools from a range of stakeholders and institutions, from educators to school reform intermediary organizations. The resulting schools emphasize strong, sustained relationships between students and faculty. Each SSC also received start-up funding as well as assistance and policy support from the district and other key players to facilitate leadership development, hiring, and implementation.

While the new small schools in New York City have a wide variety of themes and educational philosophies, they are intended to share three common design characteristics:

• Academic rigor: Schools are expected to be college preparatory in that they move all students toward acquisition of a New York Regents Diploma.

• Personalization: Schools were to be small not only in size but also in function to ensure strong student-teacher relationships and to hold adults accountable for individual student outcomes.

• Community partnerships: Through partnerships with business and community partners, schools were intended to offer learning opportunities outside of the classroom and to infuse relevant real-world examples into classroom instruction. Partners were expected to bolster school capacity in areas ranging from curriculum and instruction to youth development and community outreach.

The ongoing evaluation of New York City high school reform addresses the following questions:

• What effects do the new small schools have on students’ engagement, academic performance, and postsecondary enrollment and degree completion beyond what they would have achieved if they did not have the opportunity to enroll in these schools?

• How are the small high schools similar to and different from other high schools in the system?

• What role have intermediary organizations played in effecting change in New York City high schools?

• What issues and challenges do the schools confront as they undertake new reform initiatives, and how do they respond? What are the instructional practices at a sample of the schools?