The mission of The New School in the Heights is to provide an alternative educational experience for children with good or superior intelligence whose social-emotional delays interfere with success in school and life. Children ages 6-13, who need help making friends, who need a safe place from teasing, who are working through adoption issues, or who have a variety of diagnoses such as ADHD, Asperger's, OCD, ODD, Sensory Integration, Separation Anxiety or Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) that interfere with their ability to remain in their present school will benefit from our unique social-emotional curriculum. In our history, almost 100% of the New School in the Heights students transition to mainstream education in Houston's finest public and private schools.

The curriculum of the New School in the Heights is designed to help students in grades 1-9 develop and utilize their full potential in all areas of life: intellectual, social, emotional and physical. This goal is accomplished by offering an individualized academic program that allows each child to achieve at his or her best. Because our students tend to be precocious intellectually but as yet unable to master developmental tasks in the emotional domain, we provide small, academically-rich classrooms which provide individual attention, stability and support.

A pupil:teacher ratio of 1:5 makes it possible for us to achieve our goal of an individualized academic program within a group setting. Each student is taught at his or her actual level of achievement and not an outside standard determined by others in the class. Because language is the route to both intellectual expression and healthy emotional development, speech and language skill-building permeates all subjects in the curriculum. Both print and electronic media are used daily by students in all grades.

Social skills development is integrated into all aspects of the school day. the New School in the Heights' focus on teaching social/emotional skills does not interfere with academic achievement—quite the opposite. Students who can work successfully in a group setting and have emotional issues under control are able to devote their full energy to mastering intellectual tasks. The ability to perform as a contributing member of a group is mandatory for success in today’s adult world.

See The New School in the Heights website to learn more