Branded Environments

In cities across the country, educators and civic leaders are taking on the challenge of transforming large, failing high schools where graduation rates have remained below 50 percent for many years. They are replacing these high schools with small schools that will prepare students in underserved urban communities to meet the high standards needed to be successful in college and beyond. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education have created nearly 200 small high schools in an aggressive effort to improve the city's graduation rates. As part of this effort, New Visions for Public Schools has led the New Century High Schools Initiative (NCHSI) and created more than 80 of these schools. The sitting of these schools raises significant questions. How can facilities built to educate large numbers of students in a single school be reconfigured as homes for several small schools? This pamphlet describes the visual branding process piloted on 16 campuses in New York City. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Education, the School Construction Authority (SCA), and the many stakeholders involved in these schools. New Visions and its partner Print International conceptualized, refined, and implemented the visual branding system.