Dorchester’s Neighborhood House Charter School — one of the first five charter schools established after the Education Reform Act passed in 1993—is now looking to expand to include a high school.

The school on Pope’s Hill currently has about 400 students in grades K1-8. It hopes to add 428 high school seats with their new proposal.
Kate Scott, the school’s executive director, said that there is “a real desire to expand to move up into high school years.”

NHCS primarily serves families in the greater Dorchester area. When students graduate from NHCS many apply to other charter schools in the area such as Boston Collegiate Charter School. Scott said that there is a healthy amount of competition for the approval to expand among other Charter Schools in Boston. Students at NHCS have tested well on the state PARCC assessment and have scored higher than the Boston Public School District and other K-8 schools across the state.

The NHCS board will make a formal decision on the request to expand on February 23.

“However, the actual internal recommendation will probably happen in the next week,” said Susan Tracey, president of The Strategy Group, which is advising the school in its plans.