Mission & Philosophy
About Our School
PS 198 is committed to preparing every child to become a compassionate and responsible member of our community. We believe that personal and academic excellence results from opportunities that foster collaboration, creativity, and self-reflection. Our students are valued as diverse individuals, each with their own unique interests, experiences, and educational needs. Together with our families, we set high expectations for all students, and model what our children need to do to develop their self-esteem, sustain healthy friendships, and achieve academic success.
While we are a zoned community school (Pre-K – 5th grade), we are unique in that we offer a range of programing that supports general and special education needs, as well as those students that have qualified for our Gifted and Talented program. Across all classrooms, teachers engage students with challenging content, aligned to state standards. We have high expectations not only for academic achievement, but also for personal behaviors, and include both as graded components on our school’s report card. We foster independence in even our youngest students (even expecting our Pre-K and Kindergarten children to carry their own backpacks!). In upper grades, students provide community service to lower grade classrooms, assisting during their lunch and outdoor play. Our school is a joyful place in which children feel connected to the community, which includes other children, their families, and staff.
Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT)
PS 198 values diversity and considers traditional beliefs around disability outdated. We embrace different-abilities across all of our classrooms and integrate special education students with their general education peers wherever possible. PS 198 provides Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) classes at every grade level. This is currently the accepted and widely used model for inclusive education in the New York City Department of Education. ICT classrooms follow the same general education curriculum and standards as other classes on the grade, but offer the expertise of two classroom teachers, one of whom has earned a special education certification. Both teachers are trained to differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of a wide range of learners; this includes students who require more support, as well as those students who excel in their achievement of grade level standards. All students in this class have the opportunity to work in smaller groups, optimizing the student-teacher ratio at all times. Teachers in the ICT class collaborate with teachers in our general education and gifted classrooms across the grade.
