How We're Different

Visitors to Renaissance often remark that our students look exceptionally happy in the building. This makes us happy since the founding vision of school was that the happiness of students is the greatest goal of education and happiness leads to academic excellence. At Renaissance, we don't wear uniforms and everyone in the building is on a first name basis. Though we may appear informal, we have a culture of accountability and deep respect for each other, our community, and the world. Our strong classroom learning environments lead to high achievement, the acquisition of critical thinking skills and a commitment to developing a healthy community. We're proof that humanism and high achievement can go hand-in-hand.

An illustration: Annually, the TRCS junior class organizes a "Social Justice Day" with the support of our College Bound office. This is one of the Renaissance "rites of passage", every class organizes this event before they graduate. This day long event, designed, organized and implemented entirely by the 11th grade, features workshops, discussions and a feast for their peers in the high school. Social Justice Day supports collaborative, student centered learning, organizational skills, long term planning and the development of genuine interest in social issues based on research. While doing this great work, this same group of students met standards on the New York State English Regents Exam at a rate of 97%.

Our students, predominately low-income, students of color from Queens, outperformed our community school district, the City and also New York State on this important measure.

The Renaissance model demonstrates every day that you don't have to choose between high achievement and authentic education; we can have both!