Elementary & middle schools | High schools

Elementary & middle schools

New York City has dozens of schools that accept children from outside their immediate neighborhood or zone. If your neighborhood school is disappointing, or you just want to investigate all your options, you may want to look into alternative schools, gifted programs and charter schools in Find a School.

A neighborhood, or zoned, school guarantees a place for all students who live in a designated area. Zones are set by the district, and your address determines which zone you belong to. Zoned neighborhood schools are your first option. Call 311 to find the name of the school for which your child is zoned. If your neighborhood school is uninspiring, you may want to see if there are any good magnet, gifted or choice programs within the district to which you may apply.

Unzoned schools, are also called alternative schools, option schools, choice schools or magnet schools. Unzoned schools might serve children from a whole district or even a whole borough. They may be reserved for academically gifted children or be geared to a particular curriculum. Unzoned schools accept children by special application or by lottery.

Charter schools
Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local districts under a "charter" from the state Board of Regents, the State University of New York (SUNY) or the chancellor. Charter schools receive an allotment of taxpayer funds for each child. They are required to admit students by lottery and must give the same standardized tests as other public schools. They are free of most other school district regulations. The staff of a public school may vote to become a charter school, and several schools have already made the transformation. Charters are issued for five years and can be revoked if the school fails to perform as promised. Most charter schools in New York City serve kids in elementary and middle school. For more information, see our charter school primer, Find a School for our profiles, the Department of Education website, or the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence.

Dual language immersion programs
Dual language immersion programs have classes in which half the students are native speakers of English, and half speak another language (Spanish or Chinese). Classes are taught in each language on alternative days or weeks, and the children are expected to become fluent in both. PS 184 in Manhattan offers Chinese dual-language classes. District 3 on the Upper West Side and District 6 in Washington Heights and Inwood, both in Manhattan, offer dual language classes in Spanish. These programs shouldn't be confused with bilingual or English as a Second Language classes, designed to teach English to non-English speakers.

Gifted and Talented programs
Many districts offer programs for students they have identified as "gifted and talented." Some of these are separate classes within neighborhood schools. Others are whole schools dedicated to the education of gifted children. Still others offer after-school enrichment or special classes for part of the day.

Magnet schools
Magnet schools are designed to foster racial integration. They receive federal or state funding for special programs (such as art, drama or law) to make the school attractive to children of different races who might not otherwise attend, and they admit children from outside their immediate neighborhood. Call your district office for details.

Selective schools
We use the term "selective" to refer to middle schools for gifted students. Some selective schools have an entrance exam. Others don't have an exam, but do have minimum requirements in terms of scores on standardized tests. Some require a written application and an interview. Some have auditions, and accept children with artistic or musical talents. Some zoned neighborhood schools have an accelerated track called "special progress" for high-achieving students. Call your district for details.