Mastery is reachable
With enough well-designed practice, nearly every student can master grade-level skills. When they haven’t yet, the cause is usually missing time and missing method, not missing ability.
About
A New York nonprofit focused on one job: helping students reach mastery.
The Free School of New York provides high-impact tutoring in literacy and math to students enrolled in New York City public schools, in partnership with their schools.
Who we are
A tutoring partner to public schools.
We provide consistent, small-group tutoring built to the NYC Public Schools high-impact tutoring standards: live sessions, three or more times a week, in groups of four or fewer, with the same trained tutor throughout. What sets us apart is that we also teach students how learning works, so they keep the progress they make with us.
Schools decide which students we serve and toward which goals. Our job is to deliver the tutoring well, measure it honestly, and report back clearly. We do not run a school, enroll students, or charge families.
What we believe
Three commitments behind the work.
How to learn can be taught
The methods that make learning last can be taught directly. Students who learn them do better in every subject, not only the one they are tutored in.
Schools lead
Principals and teachers know their students. Tutoring should follow their priorities and fit their schedules, not ask them to adapt to a vendor.
Our name
Borrowed from New York history.
New York’s first free schools, beginning with the African Free School in 1787, were founded on the belief that an excellent education should not depend on who a child is or what a family can pay. The city’s public schools carry that promise today.
We took the name as a standard for access and quality. We are not a school. We are a tutoring partner to the public schools that keep that promise, and our services are always free to families.
Organization
Leadership, governance, and status.
The Free School of New York was founded in New York City in 2026. It is in formation as a New York nonprofit corporation; its founder serves as board chair while an independent board of trustees is seated. We do not describe ourselves as tax-exempt until that status is confirmed.
Our instructional program builds on curriculum work in middle-grades literacy and mathematics, and on the Mental Arts course we developed to teach how learning works. Tutors are recruited, cleared through NYCPS, and trained for each school partnership.
Background on our leadership and our tutor training plan is available to school partners and ExpandED on request: inquiries@nyfreeschool.com.