Windward Manhattan: Intensive Remediation With an Exit Plan

Learner fit and boundaries

A language-based diagnosis is necessary context, not a complete fit decision

Windward says its program is designed for a student with a written diagnosis or evidence of dyslexia or a language-based learning disability. It also looks for average-to-superior intellectual potential, no behavioral or emotional problem that would interfere with instruction, and academic performance below potential in a regular school.

The clearest likely fit is a student whose main barrier lies in decoding, spelling, written expression, receptive or expressive academic language, reading fluency, or the language demands of content and math. The child must also be available for direct instruction, repeated practice, flexible grouping, independent homework, and eventual transition.

Dyslexia with manageable ADHD or anxiety may fit; the diagnosis alone does not answer whether attention, regulation, attendance, or distress would interfere with the instructional program.

Windward does not present itself as a therapeutic school, a behavior program, an autism program, or a school for students with primary intellectual disability. Its published counseling is short-term and solution-based, and its admissions criterion excludes needs that would interfere with instruction.

A child needing frequent crisis care, intensive behavior support, a 1:1 aide, or substantial adaptation of group expectations is asking for a program the public materials do not establish. Give admissions the complete evaluation and ask the people who would deliver the program to explain the school’s capacity in writing.

The remediation and exit model

An intentional exit plan—and the Manhattan grade ceiling

Windward does not plan to keep your child through graduation. The school describes a three-to-five-year average stay and an annual progress review.

Windward says 98 percent of students return to mainstream schools after completing its academic program, and that schools report 98 percent of alumni performing at or above grade level two years after leaving. Those are school statements without a published cohort size, assessment, or treatment of students who withdrew early, so ask for the denominator.

When Windward recommends transition, families receive roughly one year of notice before the student’s final Windward year, and the outplacement team works for about a year with the family on school matching, applications, testing requirements, visits, interviews, records, recommendations, and student self-advocacy. Many families begin the process in spring of Grade 7.

This campus stops after Grade 8. A student entering Grade 6 cannot count on the schoolwide three-to-five-year average because the Manhattan runway is three years.

Westchester Middle serves Grade 9, but the public site does not promise a cross-campus Grade 9 transfer.

Structured literacy

Three daily periods of literacy

Remediation at Windward is the center of the day. Every day, students spend three 42-minute periods on oral language, reading, spelling, and writing.

Emerging readers of any age complete the beginning PAF sequence; decoding then continues through the Windward Reading Program. Reading and spelling use PAF, a multisensory Orton-Gillingham-based program, while reading, spelling, and handwriting are taught in a coordinated sequence.

The curriculum covers phonemic awareness, decoding accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Math and content subjects

Math is structured and language-aware

Students receive daily, level-based math in small groups. Windward describes direct, multisensory instruction in number sense, computation, problem solving, and mathematical language.

Vocabulary and word-problem strategies receive particular attention; teachers move from concrete models and manipulatives toward symbolic concepts and also use kinesthetic activities and technology. Groups can change as skills develop.

This directly addresses the vocabulary, syntax, working-memory load, and representation changes that can make math inaccessible to a language-based learner.

Support, counseling, and therapy

Counseling in school, and the outside-tutoring policy

Manhattan’s public support roster lists one counselor for Grades 1–4, one for Grades 6–7, and one for Grades 5 and 8. Lower-school support includes teacher consultation, classroom observation, new-student transition help, coordination with outside providers, short social-skills lunch groups, short-term solution-based counseling or crisis intervention, and Banana Splits peer groups.

Grades 6–7 receive support groups every other week, and Grade 8 receives a weekly GAINS course on self-advocacy and transition.

Short-term counseling and crisis intervention are not ongoing psychotherapy or psychiatric care. The public roster does not list a psychologist, psychiatrist, nurse coverage schedule, occupational therapist, or speech-language pathologist delivering regular treatment at Manhattan, so ask who provides any such service, how often, and at whose cost.

Once enrolled, Windward asks families to stop all outside tutoring so students hear one systematic instructional message. Its FAQ says articulation speech therapy may be the one outside service that continues.

The support page, meanwhile, says staff coordinate with outside providers.

Daily life and schedule

The school day, aftercare, and homework

Doors open at 8 a.m., arrival runs until about 8:25, and dismissal is 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 1:30 p.m. Friday. After-school activities generally end at 4:30.

Lower-school aftercare runs Monday through Thursday until 5:30 and includes light play, snack, social time, creative work, and homework. Lunch and school supplies are included in tuition; families send a nut-free morning snack.

Windward has no uniform, but it does require a dress code.

Homework is nightly. Families should expect reading, writing, and math practice, with additional content assignments from Grade 5 onward.

Except when a younger child reads aloud, Windward expects students to complete homework without parent help as a step toward independence.

Commute and transportation

Getting to 93rd Street

The Manhattan campus is at 212 East 93rd Street between Second and Third Avenues. The MTA neighborhood map places the Q train at 96th Street and Second Avenue nearby, and the M15 runs along First and Second Avenues.

Windward does not operate its own transportation. For NYC families, it lists Office of Pupil Transportation code 02038 and says Grades 1–6 may receive stop-to-school service if eligible.

Door-to-door service may be available when an IEP or IESP calls for it. Eligible Grades 7–8 receive transit support and may self-dismiss.

School language still says MetroCard while current NYCPS materials use OMNY cards.

Tuition, aid, and funding

$79,600 is the known price; reimbursement is not a payment plan

Manhattan tuition is $79,600 for 2026–27, compared with $76,600 at the Westchester campuses. The live page also lists the prior 2025–26 tuition as $75,980.

Lunch and supplies are included.

Windward says it awards more than $9 million in need-based aid each year and keeps admission need-blind. FACTS gives the school a needs analysis, but does not bind the award.

New families are encouraged to complete documents quickly; returning families reapply annually. Awards can rise or fall with income, family status, assets, and the number of children in tuition-charging schools.

The current aid page charges a $40 FACTS fee for a standard federal return, with more for certain business documents. In separated, divorced, or two-household families, custodial and noncustodial parents or guardians and current spouses must each file; the committee says it cannot be bound by one adult disclaiming responsibility.

An appeal is available. The page still gives December 1, 2025 as the returning-family deadline for 2026–27.

Windward is not state funded. NYC families sometimes seek public tuition funding after a unilateral private placement, but reimbursement is not automatic.

New York’s procedural safeguards say a court or hearing officer may order reimbursement when the district did not timely offer a free appropriate public education, the private placement is appropriate, and equitable considerations support the claim. Do not sign a contract assuming the DOE will pay.

An Individualized Education Services Program, or IESP, may provide some equitable services to a New York resident placed privately at family expense. It is not the same as tuition reimbursement.

For 2026–27, NYCPS set a June 1, 2026 parental notice deadline, with a limited later-identification rule. Windward’s CSE office can help families navigate district processes, but the district controls eligibility and services.

Admissions process

Contracts go to applicable families on a rolling basis from February

As of September 2, 2026, Windward’s live process begins with a profile, application, and admissions review. Selected applicants then complete diagnostic testing and a classroom visit, followed by a parent or guardian meeting about the screening results and recommendations.

An introductory call and information session are optional; a session lasts about two hours and includes a presentation, questions, and a campus tour. Contracts go to applicable families on a rolling basis from February until eligible seats are filled.

Students who do not receive seats remain on a waitlist.

The public application page does not label the academic year or publish a submission deadline, openings by grade, or current fees.

For a family applying now for 2027–28, February means February 2027 only by inference, so confirm the academic year and every date in the Veracross portal, and submit a complete file as early as you can without rushing the evaluation that defines your child.

Windward's remediation timeline, services and seats

Windward aims to return students to mainstream schools, so ask how many years it expects for your child, what services sit outside, and how many seats are planned.