A central goal of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein’s Children First reforms is to provide high-quality educational options to all students. To expand the pool of options for academically gifted students and to reach high-achieving students in underserved communities, the New York City Department of Education committed to opening seven new academically selective secondary schools by 2009. These selective schools provide more of the city’s top-performing students with a rigorous high school experience where they are surrounded by other high-performing peers, challenged to think critically, and free to explore new academic interests and extracurricular activities. 

The Fund for Public Schools is has worked with several generous donors to support the development of new selective schools. Their gifts have been instrumental in establishing these schools and have helped fund school design, curriculum, and projects such as state-of-the-art science labs and libraries. These new selective schools have joined the ranks of some of the country’s most highly regarded public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, and Stuyvesant High School, and are located throughout the city, increasing access to selective schools for all students.