By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — A new middle school that focuses on individualized learning is opening in Tweed Courthouse this fall, the Department of Education announced this week.
The Innovate Manhattan Charter School, which is based on a Swedish model and is the first of its kind to open in the United States, will only be allowed to stay in Tweed for one year, because the city plans to open a new elementary school there in 2012.
Eileen Coppola, the head of Innovate Manhattan, said she was excited to finally have an official home for the school, even if it is just a temporary one.
"Tweed is a very good place to start," Coppola said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. "I'm glad to have it — I'm just sorry it's not going to last longer."
Innovate Manhattan plans to open this fall with about 150 sixth and seventh graders, who will be chosen by lottery early next month. The school has received 174 applications so far.
Over the past few months, the discussion about Innovate Manhattan downtown has been mostly negative — local parents and elected officials fought the school's move into Tweed, arguing that the valuable classroom space ought to go to elementary students instead.
But Coppola hopes that now that the space issue is decided, the focus will shift to Innovate Manhattan's unique educational philosophy, which subverts the traditional model of one teacher lecturing and 30 students listening.
At Innovate Manhattan, all students will be responsible for their own learning. They will set daily, weekly and long-term goals with their main teacher, called a "coach," and then they will decide which classes, workshops and seminars to participate in to meet those goals.
All students will have to reach proficiency in the basic subjects, but then they can tailor the rest of their time toward work they enjoy, taking advanced math classes or doing extra science projects, for example.
"They get to set the goals and have some choice on how to meet them, instead of going to math first period and English second period every single day," Coppola said. "We direct the agency back to the kids."
In Sweden, where the for-profit Kunskapsskolan company runs 33 similar schools, the model tends to draw students who are struggling and need extra help, along with gifted students who want the freedom to move at their own speed, Coppola said.
Coppola, who previously served as principal of Hunter College High School, predicted that Innovate's approach would motivate students to achieve.
"It's very different," Coppola said, "and it addresses persistent problems in the educational system."
Coppola said she does not take the community's objections to Innovate Manhattan personally, and she predicted that the neighborhood would soon be glad to have the school, especially as downtown's population boom ages into middle school.
"In a very few years, the shortage will move to middle school seats," Coppola said.
Innovate Manhattan is holding an open house Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Chinatown YMCA, 286 South St. near Cherry Street. Prospective students can apply online through April 1.
