| Urban Academy Laboratory High School | |
| Address: | 317 East 67th Street |
| Zipcode: | 10065 |
| Country: | United States |
| Motto: | A Small school with Big dreams |
| Type: | Public |
| Established: | 1986 |
| Principal: | Christine Olson & Terri Grosso |
| Teaching Staff: | 15 (as of 2013-14)[1] |
| Enrollment: | 146 |
| Grades: | 9–12 |
The Urban Academy Laboratory High School (also known as the Urban Academy) is a small, progressive, transfer public high school located on the Upper East Side of New York City. Founded in 1986, its goal was to create a place where students could learn in a nontraditional sense. In 1995, it became one of six small schools located in the Julia Richman Education Complex.
The structure of the classes is non-traditional. Teachers don't lecture; rather, they facilitate class discussions. They create their own curriculum and direct students with a focus on inquiry, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Students' primary source of information is not textbooks.[2] [3] [4] Almost all classes are discussion based, with students expected to make arguments and support them with evidence, drawn either from course materials (primary and secondary texts) and/or their own experience. Urban's academic program is rigorous and college-oriented.[5] It has been designated a U.S. Department of Education "Blue Ribbon School of Excellence" and a "New American High School National Showcase Site."[6]
As a member school of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, Urban Academy has a waiver from the New York State testing curriculum. Students must pass only the English Language Arts Regents exam, and complete six other performance-based assessments. Students must obtain 44 credits, as in every other public school in New York. Urban Academy does not offer credit recovery, and all students are required to spend a minimum of four semesters at Urban, regardless of the number of credits they enter with (most students spend more than four semesters).
The school's six sports teams (Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball; boys and girls teams for each) are composed of students from Urban Academy and the other three high schools housed in the building: Vanguard High School, Talent Unlimited High School, and Manhattan International High School.
Urban Academy has a selective admissions process, as one cannot simply enroll through the central New York City Department of Education office.