Our Schools

Choice

As a teacher in the largest urban school district in the country, the New York City public school system offers you an incredible breadth of school choice when it comes to finding the best fit for your subject expertise and professional interests.

Each of our 1,400 schools provides something unique.  They range in size from 200 to 4,000 students.  We have theme-based schools for everything from  technology to the performing arts to sports management.  We have neighborhood schools as well as specialty schools that draw students from all over the City, including some of the most academically challenging schools in the country.  Almost every school has a myriad of community and cultural partnerships.

Your choice are also not just limited to size, theme, level, and location.  Because our schools are not assigned a one-size-fits-all curriculum, principals and their staff decide how to best organize daily schedules and guide instructional approaches.  You could find yourself collaborating with a grade-level team in one of our new schools, team-teaching with colleagues in a large high school, or taking advantage of theme-based professional development in a small school.

As a NYC teacher, you will be encouraged to use your skills and passions to engage and motivate your students.

Fit

We also believe it is important for schools and teachers to find the right “fit” and we work with each new teacher to find a school that is a good match for his or her skills and interests.  While we hope that our teachers find schools where they can stay and grow for the long term, we recognize that not everyone will remain in the same school for their entire career.

The size and diversity of the New York City school system ensures that there are always opportunities to try something different.  Our Open Market Transfer System, as the name suggests, allows teachers, regardless of seniority, to change schools when there is mutual interest between the school and teacher.  There is also an annual process for teachers to express preferences for which program – grade, subject, and assignment – they want within a school.