Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School

Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School is a non-sectarian K-12 day school on Manhattan's Upper West Side, serving more than 1,000 students from pre-school through twelfth grade. Founded as a college prep program in the nineteenth century, CGPS now occupies a cluster of buildings near Central Park and Columbia University, drawing on the surrounding neighborhood for both its student body and much of its faculty.

Teaching here means working in a vertically integrated school where a single faculty community shapes a child's education from age three through college matriculation. Lower, middle, and upper school divisions share a campus footprint, so collaboration across grade bands happens in hallways and shared spaces rather than across town. Language offerings run deep, with Mandarin, French, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish all taught on site.

The financial picture is steady. CGPS reported roughly $84 million in revenue and $125 million in net assets in 2023, with fundraising up about 42 percent year over year. That kind of growth typically funds program expansion, facilities work, and competitive faculty compensation in a market where Manhattan independent school salaries sit among the highest in the country.

Hiring at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School spans classroom teachers across all five divisions, world language instructors, learning specialists, athletics and arts staff, admissions, advancement, and operations. Openings cluster ahead of the academic year but appear throughout it.

For educators who want a large, urban K-12 environment with stable resources and walkable access to the city's cultural institutions, CGPS is worth a close look.