New York City's Best Public High Schools

If you lived anywhere else in the country, you would probably send your child to your neighborhood high school. In New York City, it’s much more complicated than that.

But what parent has time to research hundreds of school options? To help you choose a high school that is just right for your child, Clara Hemphill and her colleagues at Insideschools visited nearly all of the city’s 400 high schools. This essential revision of the critically acclaimed parents’ guide features new school profiles; invaluable advice to help parents and students through the stressful admissions process; and new sections on alternative schools, vocational schools, and schools for students learning English. Featuring interviews with teachers, parents, and students, this guide uncovers the “inside scoop” about school atmosphere, homework, student stress, competition among students, the quality of teachers, gender issues, the condition of the building, class size, and much more.

Clara Hemphill is founding editor of the InsideSchools website and the director of education policy at The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs. She is the author of New York City’s Best Public Middle Schools and New York City’s Best Public High Schools. Her two children attended public school in Manhattan and the Bronx.

“The most definitive guidebooks to the city schools.”

—The New York Times

“Brisk, thoughtful profiles of topnotch, intriguing schools.”

—New York Daily News

“Hemphill has done for schools what Zagat’s did for restaurants.”

—Big Apple Parent

“Thoughtful, well-researched…required reading.”

—New York Magazine