Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts
Grades: 6-12Our Insights
What’s Special
Visual and performing arts
The Downside
Poor attendance, low test scores
Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a tiny combined middle and high school that offers programs in dance, theater, instrumental music, vocal music and visual arts (drawing and ceramics).
The school has long faced challenges and although there are signs of improvement, it still has a ways to go. Test scores in middle school are low and the high school graduation rate is below the citywide average. Attendance is poor; roughly one-third of the students miss a month or more of school.
The arts are surprisingly varied for such a small school, however, and students take arts classes every day of the week. The choir has a web page with videos and photos. Singers participate in annual performances at established art venues such as Carnegie Hall and the National Choral festival. Wadleigh student art has been displayed at the Schomburg Public Library. Several students have won the MOMA award for art and photography, according to the CEP (comprehensive educational plan).
Wadleigh (rhymes with “oddly”) is one of three public schools sharing a handsome landmark building that opened in 1903 as Wadleigh High School for Girls, New York’s first all-girl public high school. (Famous alumni include Jean Stapleton, Lillian Hellman and Isabel Sanford.) The all-girl school closed in 1954 and reopened in 1956 as a co-ed junior high.
Wadleigh graduates often go on to SUNY and CUNY schools, but not many graduates are ready for college-level work without taking remedial courses. (Lydie Raschka, DOE and web reports, November 2018)
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School Stats
Is this school safe and well-run?
From the 2024-2025 NYC School Survey
From the 2019-20 NY State Report Card
From this school's most recent Quality Review Report
From the 2024-25 School Quality Report
How do students perform academically?
From the New York State 2024-2025 Assessment Database
From the 2024-25 School Quality Guide
Who does this school serve?
From the 2024-25 Demographic Snapshot
From the 2024-25 School Quality Guide
How does this school serve special populations?
From the 2024-25 School Quality Report
From the New York State 2024-2025 Assessment Database
Programs & Admissions
From the 2024 High School DirectoryWadleigh Secondary School For the Performing & Visual Arts
Offerings
From the 2024 High School DirectoryContact & Location
Location
215 West 114 Street
Manhattan
NY
10026
Trains:
,
to 110th St-Central Park North;
,
to 116th St
Buses: M1, M10, M102, M11, M116, M2, M3, M4, M7
Contact
Other Details
This schools shares the Wadleigh Secondary Building with two other schools
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