GOOD SHEPHERD SERVICES

HISTORY OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD SERVICES TRANSFER HIGH SCHOOL MODEL

A Track Record of Success

Our collaboration with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) began in 1980, when the New York City Deputy Mayor’s Office of Youth Policy asked us to develop a program to serve the large number of students who were dropping out of a high school located near existing Good Shepherd programs in Brooklyn.  We agreed and South Brooklyn Community High School (SBCHS) was born.  Originally an off-site program of the locally zoned high school, SBCHS graduates received diplomas from that school. 

In July 2002, after a year-long process, our relationship with the DOE transitioned into a true partnership when SBCHS became an official diploma granting high school.  Our unique approach and long track record of success in meeting the needs of disconnected youth began to receive national attention.  In the fall of 2005, we received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to replicate our model and to codify our best practices to help other community-based organizations in their efforts to develop their own schools, both in New York City and across the country.

In the fall of 2006, we opened a second transfer high school, West Brooklyn Community High School (WBCHS), the first replication of our model.  In April of 2007 we published a codification manual documenting our approach to working with overage and under-credited youth, and in September 2007, we opened our third and final transfer school, Bronx Community High School (BCHS).  

We have also taken on the role of transfer school intermediary and are working with other NYC community-based organizations to help open three additional schools based on our successful model.  The first third-party replication of our model, North Queens Community High School (NQCHS) also opened in September 2007, and plans are currently underway for the second such school to open in Brooklyn in the fall of 2008.