Broome Street Academy, a tuition-free public charter high school in New York City, is doing big things. While 77 percent of the school is classified as economically disadvantaged, 82 percent of Broome Street’s first graduating class enrolled in a two-year or four-year college program in 2015.
Through their partnership with The Door, Broome Street is able to serve some of the city’s most vulnerable students. Half of the school’s student lottery is set aside for those students that are often forgotten about or get pushed out of traditional school settings–students who are homeless, recently homeless, transitionally housed, or in foster care.
“It’s about breaking the cycle,” BSA’s Head of School Barbara McKeon told The Daily Beast. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we couldn’t make a difference. Am I going to change the world? No. But am I going to change individual worlds? I hope so.”
BSA operates on a more therapeutic approach to discipline and holds their students to five pillars of excellence also known as five pillars of PRIDE:
- Professionalism
- Resilience
- Investment
- Dignity
- Empathy
Their success is so inspiring!
