A trend is slowly and quietly working its way through New York City high schools. It has the potential to transform the city’s high schools into vibrant learning communities. This trend is the conversion of large, comprehensive high schools into smaller, more personalized schools.

Prompted by research showing that small high schools outperform their larger counterparts, up to 40 new small schools will open over the next two years, in some cases replacing comprehensive high schools that are being closed after years of inadequate performance. The effort is called the New Century High Schools initiative, and it is being administered through $30 million grant in grant funds awarded to New Visions for Public Schools. The Bronx High School Superintendency is leading the way, with 19 new schools that are either opened or on schedule for opening. In the Bronx and throughout the city, each school offers a distinctive academic program organized around a theme, but all of the new small schools must prepare students to pass the Regents exams required for high school graduation. PSA is conducting a multi-year evaluation of the initiative, which will answer the following questions:

• What is the contribution of the external support provided by core stakeholdes to the design and implementation of the new schools?
  
  
• To what extent is the initiative yielding sustainable high schools that implement the nine design characteristics endorsed by New Visions and its partners (among them, academic rigor, parent and community engagement, personalized learning environments)?
  
  
• How, if at all, does the initiative contribute to the systemic reform of secondary schooling in New York City?