The Lang School is a private, nonprofit, K-12 school marketing itself as serving the needs of

twice exceptional The term twice-exceptional or 2e refers to individuals acknowledged as gifted and neurodivergent. As a literal interpretation implies, it means a person (usually a child or student) is simultaneously very strong or gifted at some task but also v ...

(2e) students located in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

. It was the first K-12 school to specialize in educating twice-exceptional (2e) students, though it later came to include (and currently does accept) a wider range of gifted students.

Students

Twice exceptional students are identified as being gifted/talented ("G&T") and diagnosed with specific learning challenges, such as ADHD, dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities, anxiety, high functioning autism, social communication disorder, or sensory processing challenges. These students are often unable to master curriculum to their potential in a traditional classroom; they are often labelled "lazy" and misunderstood by teachers, administrators, and peers.

History

The Lang School grew out of founder Micaela Bracamonte's dissatisfaction with the efficacy of NYC special education, gifted education, and public ICT programs in educating her two 2e sons, one of whom was already enrolled in a citywide gifted program with special education supports. It opened in September 2010 with two classes totaling 13 students.Nikki Dowling
No bullying, support for a new kind of school
''Downtown Express'' ("The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan"), Volume 23, Number 6, June 18–24, 2010 By its eighth year (2017), the school had five classes containing approximately 50 gifted and twice-exceptional students.

Name

The Lang School is named after Cyril Lang, the founder's tenth grade English teacher. Lang was a suburban Maryland public school teacher who, in 1979, taught what the local Board of Education deemed overly challenging material to his "ungifted" students, engaging them in Socratic debates about Machiavelli’s ''

The Prince ''The Prince'' ( ; ) is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat, philosopher, and Political philosophy, political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli in the form of a realistic instruction guide for new Prince#Prince as gener ...

'' and

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

’s ''Republic'', texts normally limited to 12th-grade

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

classes. Although the school where he was working threatened to fire him if he did not teach what was commonly considered 10th-grade material in more traditional ways, he persisted. “I made a premeditated, intellectual decision to continue teaching the way I had,” he said at the time. “There’s nothing wrong with the genetic makeup of these students. It’s the educational system that’s declining. We are bearing witness to the triumph of mediocrity.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang School Educational institutions established in 2010 Private elementary schools in Manhattan Private middle schools in Manhattan 2010 establishments in New York City