The Speyer School

The Speyer School (1935-1941) was started in a building at Columbia's Teachers College and named after financier James Speyer. It became well known between 1935-39 when it was used a "laboratory" to study how children perform when separated by educational ability. There were seven classrooms with 175 students, who had an IQ range on the Stanford Binet test of between 75-90 and two classrooms with students that tested at the level of 130+ on the same IQ test.[1]

The experiment was led by Leta Stetter Hollingworth, an American psychologist who specialized in education and who is credited with writing the first textbook on gifted children.[2][3] The results of the several studies conducted by Hollingworth dispelled many myths about exceptional children and suggested that many exceptionally gifted children suffer adjustment problems due to two factors: inept treatment by adults and lack of intellectual challenge. Her work also made "emotional education" an important part of the original Speyer School curriculum.[4]

The Speyer Legacy School is an independent (i.e. private) K-8 school in Manhattan, specializing in the education of gifted children. It was founded in 2009[6] and named after the original Speyer School.[7] It is located in the West side of midtown Manhattan, at 925 9th Ave.

The school describes itself as the only K-8 independent school for gifted learners in NYC.[8] In the public sector, K-8 schools in NYC specializing in gifted and talented education include the Anderson School and the Talented and Gifted School for Young Scholars. A different private school, the Lang School, provides K-7 education for "twice exceptional" children, i.e. gifted children with special needs such as ADHD or autism.[9]

In 2022, the school was listed as having an annual revenue of 19 million dollars[10] and as having 317 children enrolled.[11]