Pilot

Four Years After its Launch, Brooklyn Generation School is

Showcased as a National Model of Innovation

New Students Welcome! Staff Openings for 2011-12. See Join our network.

Brooklyn Generation School
6565 Flatlands Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11236

Lydia Colon Bomani, Principal
lcolonb@schools.nyc.gov
o. 718 968 4200

Brooklyn Generation School welcomed its first class of students on September 4, 2007.  This first class graduated on June 29, 2011! Our first school opened in partnership with the NYC Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers as a district school. We worked closely over the course of a year with the district and the union to secure a landmark side agreement to the teacher’s contract so that we could implement our alternative organizational structures at the school. Our commitment was and remains to systemic innovation.

Located in the South Shore High School campus, the school serves the communities of Canarsie, East Flatbush, Flatlands and other surrounding neighborhoods. During its first year (2007-2008), Brooklyn Generation School served ninth graders. During our fourth year (2010-2011), we added our fourth class of ninth graders. Brooklyn Generation School and served 318 students from grades nine to twelve.

Brooklyn Generation School is part of the district’s turn-around strategy for the South Shore Campus. As a result, it has fewer students and less per pupil funding during the start up years. Model components have been phased in as enrollment has grown.When the school is fully enrolled there will be 460 students. We anticipate that the school will be fully enrolled by 2013-2014. Generation Schools will continue to solicit private contributions, corporate and foundation grants, and government contracts to subsidize the school’s start-up costs.

The early results are extremely promising. In the first year, Brooklyn Generation School scored in the top five of our 40 comparison schools in attendance, credit accumulation and Regents pass rates. In addition, the school ranked first in test scores. The school earned a score of Proficient on the 2008-2009 School Quality Review. It is in good standing with the New York State Education Department on its 2009-2010 Progress Report.

While 20% of students enter high school on grade level, an average of 78% of the student body is on track for graduation in four years. Attendance rates remain strong even with our longer 200-day school year. For 2009-2010, we surpassed our enrollment goal, with 80% of incoming freshman selecting Brooklyn Generation as one of their top three choices, a substantial accomplishment considering that historically South Shore High School was chosen less than any campus in the city for years.

Demonstrating Our Model is Scalable and Sustainable. We are expanding our successful pilot in two regions ~ the Northeast and Rocky Mountain States ~ with  full-model schools, affiliate schools, and professional residencies. Full-model schools are those that adopt the entire Generation Schools model from the onset. We will focus on this work as part of the federal turnaround schools. Affiliate schools are existing schools that Generation Schools will consult with to help them adopt comprehensive whole-school innovation strategies based upon our basic principals. By consulting with existing schools as Affiliates, we will demonstrate that a paradigm shift is possible and scalable. Our work with the Young Women’s Leadership School in Astoria is an example of our Affiliate work. We helped them add $1.5 million dollars in value to their school program by re-thinking how they utilized their existing resources: an amount that will benefit their school every year without additional costs. Professional residencies will be launched in partnership with local universities and districts leveraging the professional development and high-caliber training structures built strategically into our school models. By establishing, teacher, principal and guidance residencies in collaboration with university partners, we will help transform how educators are prepared and begin the process of reversing the national shortage of effective and committed teachers.

To learn more about our early successes in which 90% of graduating seniors are accepted into college: click here.