Our Story

 

New Design High School (NDHS) is a small academic high school with a focus on design, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the Seward Park Campus.  We are a college preparatory school that uses the concept of design to assist in meeting the holistic needs of adolescents, including the academic, intellectual, social, emotional and artistic sides of students. 

 

NDHS integrates the idea, concept and process of design into a progressive, academic, high school curriculum, thereby offering a model of innovative and comprehensive education.  The school community believes that design and the design process allow students to experience a more experiential form of inquiry-based education that is focused on understanding real world contexts, self-expression and problem solving.  We believe that when students are engaged in the process of designing, they are learning to observe, seek problems, identify needs, frame problems, work collaboratively, explore and appreciate solutions, weigh alternatives, and communicate their ideas verbally, graphically and physically. 

 

The design process also includes periods for self-assessment, critiques of works in progress, revisions and opportunities for reflection on the entire process.  NDHS integrates all of its classes with the idea of design and the design process, as well as offer classes in design. NDHS currently has over 400 students in grades 9-12. 

 

Learn more about New Design High School

á          Read Our Mission Statement

á          Download our Developmental Overview (PDF)

á          Download our Quality Review Report for 2010-2011 (PDF)

á          Download our Quality Review Report for 2009-2010 (PDF)

á          Download our Progress Report  (2010-2011)

á          Download our Progress Report  (2009-2010)

á          Download our Progress Report  (2008-2009)