Our Students
Our Network Schools primarily serve students from under-resourced communities who have historically lacked access to a high-quality education.
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66% are Black or Latinx
66%
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64% qualify for free or reduced lunch
64%
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22% receive special education services
22%
College Access & Success
We're on our way to achieving our long-term goal that 75% of our students will obtain a college degree.
Acceptance
97% of our 2019 graduates were accepted to college.
Enrollment
84% of our 2019 graduates enrolled in college within 6 months of their high school graduation.
Persistence
83% of our 2020 graduates who enrolled in a 4-year college were still enrolled by their sophomore year.
School Quality
Our schools consistently excel on NYC Department of Education accountability measures.
In 100% of cases across categories of the School Quality Guide system, our schools were identified as good or excellent, compared to a citywide rate of 81%.
100% of the time our schools received one of the two highest scores, compared to 88% of schools citywide.
“Our community taught me how to articulate who I am and ask for help when I need it and to never stop continuing to progress.”Jharol, NYC Outward Bound Schools Alum
Our Influence
The work we do in NYC public schools is having an impact not only on individual students and schools, but on the city’s public school system.Together with our partners at EL Education, we promote an expanded definition of student achievement that includes but is not limited to test scores, encompassing mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality student work.
Excellence
Our network schools are proving to be models of educational excellence that others are learning from and emulating.
MELS serves as NYC Department of Education Showcase School, regularly hosting visits from schools across the city to share their strong instructional practices and leadership structures.
Channel View was one of ten schools citywide to receive a grant from the Grammy Museum in recognition of its music program. 
MELS, MAELS, and Leaders High School are three of only 33 schools nationwide to achieve EL Education’s national credential for exceeding the EL Education standards of student achievement.
Leaders and James Baldwin are two of five NYC Department of Educations Restorative Justice Mentor Schools.
Innovation
Our schools are sources of innovation, incubating successful practices and structures that we are sharing with other schools throughout the city.
Crew is a powerful advisory program that supports students socially, emotionally, and academically. We are sharing this practice with schools throughout the city through our Select Strategies.
Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) replace traditional parent/teacher conferences, and are a cornerstone of student engaged assessment, a strategy that helps students understand and take ownership of their own growth as learners. We are sharing this practice with schools through our Select Strategies.
The College March is an annual ritual that helps establish college-going cultures in our schools. We offer an open-source resource that is being used by schools around the country interested in replicating the College March.
Changing the Conversation
We are changing the conversation about how to define educational excellence and how schools can support all students to succeed.
Edutopia reported on how our To & Through College program is supporting students who will be the first in their families to go and persist in college.
- Our Board Chair Gifford Miller wrote in the Daily News about “The Third Way,” a strategy for bringing innovative and scalable practices to NYC public schools.
The 74 published a case study on how utilizing Continuous Improvement practices at one of our network schools allowed for a quick pivot to virtual learning during the pandemic.
Our Reach
Over our 30+ year history, we have changed the lives of more than 200,000 students.
We work with more than 75 NYC public schools each year.
This year, we served nearly 29,000 students and over 2,800 educators.
We offer an outstanding return on investment.
NYC spends over $20K per student annually. For an extra annual cost of only $350 per student, we’re able to achieve exceptional results.
DONATEThird Party Research
Crew Keeps Kids in School
A four-year study conducted by Metis Associates determined that chronic absentee rates at NYC Outward Bound Schools that were part of the study were less than half that of comparison schools. In other words, Crew has a statistically significant impact on student attendance. Read More
Improving Reading and Math
A 2013 Mathematica Policy Research study of three of our network middle schools found that the schools significantly boost students’ reading and math—students gained 7 months of additional learning growth in reading and roughly 10 months in math accumulated over three years. Read More
Text to College Success
Researchers from Hunter College and University of Iowa studied our Text-to-Success texting program revealed that students who receive Text-to-Success text messages are 55 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in college than students who do not, a huge impact. Read More