The Beacon School
| The Beacon School | |
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| Address | |
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522 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036  United States
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| Information | |
| Type | Public High School |
| Established | 1993 |
| School district | New York City Department of Education |
| NCES School ID | 360007800592 |
| Principal | Ruth Lacey |
| Faculty | 59 (on FTE basis) |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Number of students | 1,276 |
| Color(s) | Blue and White |
| Athletics | Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Fencing, Indoor track, Outdoor track, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball, Wrestling |
| Athletics conference | PSAL |
| Mascot | Blue demons |
Coordinates: 40°45′41″N 73°59′45″W / 40.7614235°N 73.9957164°W
The Beacon School (also called Beacon High School) is a selective college-preparatory public high school in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square and the Theater District. Beacon's curriculum exceeds the standards set by the New York State Regents, and as a member of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, its students are exempt from taking most Regents exams. Instead, students present performance-based projects at the end of each semester to panels of teachers. Beacon offers extensive opportunities to participate in student organizations, varsity athletics, community service, and international travel.
Beacon has a Stock Market Club, Debate Team, Model Congress, Model UN, Math Club, Beacon Drama Arts Theater (B'DAT), Film Club, Photo Club, Arts Committee, Senior Committee, Yearbook, Beacon Ink Literary Magazine, Live Poet's Society, Student Leadership Team, and Student Government, as well as a wide variety of additional student clubs and activities. Beacon Ink is the student-run literary magazine that publishes exceptional creative writing and artwork. The literary magazine celebrates exceptional student work that might not otherwise be widely noticed, and provides students the opportunity to create a truly professional-quality publication.
Beacon was founded in 1993 as an alternative to the Regents Exam-based testing system in favor of portfolio-based assessment. The school's purpose was also purportedly to keep class sizes down and total student population at, or just above, one thousand students. The total population, for example, was once listed in a 1998 high school selection guide as "less than 600 students", though later had approximately 1,150 students. Over time, Beacon was forced to accept certain aspects of the Regents-based testing curriculum, and to abandon its portfolio-assessment system as the sole method of graduation, which it had been up until mid-1999. Beacon now utilizes, in its own words, "traditional testing ... [but] our students' progress is largely assessed through performance-based projects, completed individually and in groups. To graduate, students must present their best work to panels of teachers."
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