About The Smith School - Overview
The Best Small Alternative Private NYC School
Among private alternative schools in New York City, The Smith School is exceptional. Total enrollment 50 and class sizes average five students. We specialize in unleashing each student's potential - providing a learning environment that is safe, focused, structured, and supportive.
The Smith School is ideal for students who struggle in larger public classrooms or other private schools. Whatever the issue, our school is committed to the success of each student.
Located on the Upper West Side, near Central Park and several museums, students are treated to an experience rich in arts, music, and cultural events.
How is The Smith School Different from Other Schools?
Students are individuals with distinct needs and learning styles. They enter schools with a host of qualities that may or may not mesh with that school's philosophies, teaching styles, and student culture. One student may be brilliant academically, but be socially awkward; another may have a learning disability that requires an individualized program; another may have a mild mental issue that requires additional support with teaching. The great majority of schools fail to serve the needs of those students who challenge their set policies, procedures, and culture. Such students find themselves in a place of frustration, anxiety, and underachievement.
The Smith School is very different and has earned a reputation as a place where troubled students are treated with the respect they deserve, and the support they need. All students, regardless of their individual challenges, are helped to achieve their fullest potential.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe in the power of good teachers to awaken the latent potential of all our students to succeed academically, to grow emotionally, and to overcome with success the various challenges each day brings.
We believe in the essential value of alternative education, and in our consequent responsibility to adapt, to respond, to innovate, and to be flexible, in addressing the needs of our students and their families.
We believe in a school environment that is, and that students know to be, safe, structured, fair, and exclusively dedicated to education.
We believe in the absolute incompatibility of our values with prejudice, bias, or discrimination of any kind, and in the school's responsibility to act accordingly at all times.
We believe that the critical moment of education takes place in the classroom, between the students and their teachers; and that therefore, the school should bring all of its resources and support to make the classroom moment succeed.
We believe that principled and informed selectivity in student admissions creates a uniquely diverse and tolerant student body.
WHAT WE OFFER
On-site individual counseling and support sessions with our licensed School Therapist
On-site speech and language therapy with our licensed Speech Pathologist
Regularly scheduled peer group counseling sessions with our licensed Guidance Counselor
On-site academic assessment and tracking provided by our licensed Learning Specialist.