In 2002, Mayor Mike Bloomberg won the right to control New York City public schools for seven years. The state law is due to expire on June 30, and unless the New York State Legislature acts, the mayor will lose much of his ability to direct the school system, including the all-important power to appoint the chancellor and to control votes on the Panel for Educational Policy. As the deadline looms, legislators are vetting different proposals while opponents of mayoral control continue to rally for changes to the existing system.

Prior to mayoral control, public schools were run by a seven-member Board of Education (BOE) typically composed of prominent New Yorkers, some of whom were professional educators and education activists. Each borough president appointed one BOE member, and the mayor appointed the remaining two. Under the current system, a Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) has 13 members, eight appointed by the mayor, and one by each borough president. The PEP members serve at the will of the mayor or the borough presidents who appointed them. The mayor also chooses the chancellor, and all superintendents of the 32 community school districts. There are also 32 local school boards, called Community District Education Councils (CECs) and citywide special education and high school education councils, which are elected by a school’s PTA officials.

The issue has mobilized education stakeholders to testify and rally in support of their point of view. While most educators and school advocates don’t want to return to 2002, many want to tighten the reins on the mayor’s power and restore parents’ role in policy making. What and how much should be controlled by the mayor depends on which mayoral control coalition you speak to, but there is consensus on the need for more parent voice and more transparency about achievement data and Department of Education finances. Below is a round-up of some of the most active advocates on the issue, with a sampling of their recommendations. You can read their full reports and agendas at their websites. (more…)

Last week, we asked you what you would cut from your school’s budget if you had to make the difficult decision to let something, or someone, go. The most respondents, 39 percent, said that they would cut non-teaching staff, such as office workers and school aides. Twenty-two percent said that they would cut afterschool tutoring, remediation, and test prep. Letting go of arts and other specialty teachers was the least popular option, with only seven percent of respondents choosing it. Click here to see the full results.

Under Mayor Bloomberg, every school is graded annually, but this week, we want you to grade the mayor. Since the mayoral control law sunsets on June 30, school governance is being vigorously debated. Many argue that Bloomberg has staked his legacy on education - how do you think he has performed?

It is extraordinary to me how much my family has in common with Rupert Issacson’s, the man who wrote a book called The Horse Boy about healing his autistic son, Rowan, by taking him to Mongolia to ride horses and visit shamans.

On the surface, our sons are worlds apart: Brooks has never traveled half way around the world, he was toilet-trained well before he was five, and he never had the relentless tantrums described in such painful detail in the book. But the raw sting of watching your child tailspin into sheer desperation was all too familiar:  “A fist closed about my heart…crushing it as if a kid were picking up a baby chick too roughly and squeezing the life from it.”

Familiar also is the fervent wish that simple games could lose their obsessive quality so that Rowan’s mom might be able to enjoy singing The Carpenters’ “Sing, sing a song…” once or twice with her son and then stop, without the ever-present “Sing! More sing!” which forces her to continue on and on, over and over again, for what seems like forever.

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Parents of Manhattan’s PS 9 students whose gifted & talented qualifying tests were lost are still waiting for results from the repeat round of tests, a delay that the Department of Education attributes to some students’ unavailability for re-testing.Tests were scored by hand here in New York at Tweed, but had to be sent to Pearson, the test company in Texas, DOE spokesperson Andy Jacob says, in order to convert raw scores into percentile scores. Why this conversion couldn’t be accomplished electronically isn’t clear — but what’s certain is testing results are late in getting out to waiting families. Jacob says parents will get news today, Thursday. We’ve asked if the application deadline will be changed to reflect the timing delay and will post details when they’re known.

Upper East Side families zoned for PS 151 will learn today at 12:30 of the school’s new site and planned opening in September — hot on the heels of Jeff Coplon’s damning kindergarten feature in New York magazine. Again, details to follow.

News confirmed: As expected, the Chancellor announced that PS 151 would reopen this fall in the former site of Our Lady of Good Counsel School on E. 91st Street. In the Department of Education’s official announcement, the principal of the school, Samantha Kaplan, said that the school’s curriculum would relate to “a neighborhood that is abundant with cultural institutions, historic landmarks and parks all of which provide authentic learning experiences.”

A small footnote at the bottom of the press release notes the the DOE has “reached a preliminary agreement with the Archdiocese of New York to lease P.S. 151’s new building on a short-term basis. The DOE is in negotiations with the Archdiocese to finalize terms.”

The most recent update from the Department of Education lists schools that are newly closed today and others that will reopen. It also itemizes certain specific programs — for disabled students, for example, or for kindergartners registered at one school who share a site with another school — which will close, while the schools that host them will remain open.

It’s not clear why decisions were made to close parts of specific buildings — and even less clear how flu viruses may be contained across arbitrary, human-imposed borders in a single physical structure. To this non-epidemiologist, closing part of a school seems baffling: the virus can’t discern which students it affects, or where they attend school, or which program is theirs. Viruses don’t ask questions; ask any parent with more than one child what happens when one gets sick.

If the contagion is sufficient to warrant protecting some of the students in the building, why not protect them all?

Until I was about twelve I wanted to be a teacher.  More recently I’ve felt otherwise, thinking that in order to create real change in education I needed to be in a position of greater power.  But I was reminded of the unbelievable impact that a single good teacher can make after reading the story of Rafe Esquith, a classroom teacher in a tough Los Angeles neigborhood.

His second book, “Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire” tells the stories of his years of teaching, intertwining inspiring anecdotes with education theory, psychological theory and lesson plans.  It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to become  a teacher, a parent or work with kids in any way.

Rafe Esquith is one of those rare teachers who honestly would “do it for free.”  And rest assured, he already  does a lot for free. He comes to school over an hour before the official day begins, only to be greeted by a huge group of students anxious to work on math problems. He stays late after school every day to show educational films, and to rehearse for the rock/Shakespeare production students put on at the end of the year. He takes kids on overnight trips during school vacations, takes former students to visit colleges during their breaks, and has students come in on Saturdays to prepare for their trips in order to get the most out of them. All students who come in for extra school or trips do it voluntarily, and no one is penalized for not participating.

It is not just the insane amount of effort that sets Rafe apart from other teachers, its also his philosophy and his ability to stick to it.  His four core ideas about teaching are: “Replace fear with trust,” “children depend on us, so be dependable,” “discipline must be logical,” and, “you are a role model.”  He also discusses the reasons why students do things (mainly out of fear or want of a reward), and encourages his students to strive for a “level 6: I have a personal code of behavior and I follow it (the Atticus Finch level).” For Rafe, it’s not just talk. Through 25 or so years of teaching, he has found a way to apply all these ideas into his teaching. His classroom is a place that is full of trust, honesty and commitment. He introduces his students to characters such as Harper Lee’s Atticus Finch so that they learn to strive for a truly moral existence. And  you can tell that he is successful a huge percent of the time:  He teaches his students for life.

Rafe is not a young radical who earns his students’ love by burning standardized tests.  (His students do well on tests, though Rafe offers his own analysis of the problems with testing in our system.)  He is, pure and simple, a teacher who pushes himself and his students to do more, mentally, physically and emotionally — and sees it pay off, year after year.

If I ran teacher training, I would definitely make this book required reading.

We’re hearing from middle school parents who’ve had happy news from a Manhattan citywide gifted and talented school — but, as of Monday, hadn’t yet had word regarding district G&Ts in their Brooklyn neighborhood.

The deadline to accept offers at citywide gifted and talented middle schools is tomorrow, but the decision is impossible to make with incomplete information — without knowing the local options. (Attending the citywide in Manhattan would involve a commute of at least an hour each way for one family in this situation.) So the day before a critical deadline, families don’t have all the information they need to make informed choices for their children.

Whether or how the Department of Education plans to respond to their own notification delays isn’t yet known — but if you’re a prospective middle-school parent still waiting for G&T placement news from your district schools, please let us know.

A close analysis in today’s Times confirms what seems to be basic logic: For the most part, principals with more experience fare better than younger, less-seasoned school leaders, even those groomed by the city’s Leadership Academy to take over, and often turn around, troubled or failing schools. The observation is particularly acute given the relative inexperience of New York City’s public school principals; nearly 80 percent have been school leaders for eight years or less. (For more on principal training, visit New Leaders for New Schools, a national leadership-training program, and read this Q&A with Leadership Academy head Sandra Stein.)

But even with budget control and other elements of autonomy, all principals do not control or direct their school’s enrollment, a critical management lapse, according to families of pre-K students and those currently waiting for middle school results (and placement offers) for district and citywide gifted and talented programs.

Principals’ job descriptions continue to expand: “You’re a teacher, you’re Judge Judy, you’re a mother, you’re a father, you’re a pastor, you’re a therapist, you’re a nurse, you’re a social worker,” Maxine Nodel, principal of the Millennium Art Academy in the Bronx, told the Times. “You’re a curriculum planner, you’re a data gatherer, you’re a budget scheduler, you’re a vision spreader.”

What you’re not, apparently, is a source of enrollment information for parents in your community. That power rests with the DOE — and parents are caught in the gap, waiting for information while the clock ticks toward DOE-imposed deadlines.

This morning, Chancellor Joel Klein welcomed students back to PS 19, in Corona, Queens.

Twenty schools reopened today; 17 are still closed but will open later this week. See the Department of Health website for official information on H1N1 management.

Last week, we asked if you had a plan for saving for college. The most respondents (35 percent) said that they would have to rely on scholarships or more moderately priced schools. Another 18 percent said “We’ve saved, but the tumultuous markets have taken a big bite out of our funds.” Almost 30 percent of respondents would like some help with their planning – 14 percent of them feel that they have no extra money to save and 13 percent said that they have tried to put a little aside but need guidance. A small fraction of respondents – 5 percent – will have family help with tuition bills, and 18 percent have been saving and feel that they are on the right track.

This week, we are wondering what you would cut from your child’s school if you were in charge of slimming down the 2009/2010 budget. Some schools will have to cut up to 5 percent of their budget, and principals will have to make some very difficult decisions. As always, we welcome your comments.

Sean Keaton, the controversial principal of PS 20 in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn, was arrested Thursday after allegedly knocking a kindergarten teacher off a chair, kicking him in the head, and stomping on him. The teacher, Robert Segerra, is the teachers’ union representative at PS 20, and, at the time of the assault, had been in Keaton’s office, discussing the case of a special education teacher who had been accused of using corporal punishment against a student.

“Every time I said I’m not hitting you, I got another hit in the head or another punch in the neck or another scrap or another drag me across the floor,” Segerra told WABC. (For Segerra’s full account of the incident, click here.)

Keaton was charged with misdemeanor assault and reassigned to administrative duties while the investigation is pending, according to the Department of Education.

Keaton has taught at the school since the 1990s and served as principal since 2005, but parents have been sharply divided over his leadership. While test scores have risen, enrollment has declined, and now only 27 percent of eligible kindergarten students in the zone are attending PS 20.

One of the three new citywide gifted and talented programs is scheduled to open as part of PS 20 next fall, which will be under the purview of the PS 20 principal. Parents whose students scored at the 97th percentile or higher on the gifted and talented exam were able to rank the PS 20 program on their forms, which were due on Tuesday. We are following up with the DOE to see if there will be an opportunity for parents to reconsider their choices after new leadership is announced.

The debate over Keaton’s administration turned particularly vehement on the New York Times Local Fort Greene/Clinton Hill blog this spring. Yesterday, the Local described the debate’s racial and class undertones: “The community conversation about him [Keaton] often seemed to break down along class lines, with new-to-the-neighborhood, more affluent parents finding him difficult to work with and working-class parents defending him. There was often a racial component to the debate as well (Mr. Keaton is black).” (more…)

May is one of those poignant and bittersweet months for 5th-grade parents, who are in the early stages of the difficult and lifelong parenting process called Letting Go.

The changes are small now. Ten and 11-year-olds may be more reluctant to hold hands with their parents, especially in public.  They may covet teen trappings — cell phones, instant messaging, or even video chats.

Parents sense that long-established elementary school relationships and habits are about to change, so naturally there is some anxiety about the future. And once again this year, that anxiety is compounded by the Department of Education’s failure to send out timely middle school notifications.

So while parents and teachers are busy planning yearbooks, end-of year concerts, and elementary school graduation ceremonies, they are still coming home to empty mailboxes. They still cannot tell their children where they will be going to school next year. And that is not okay.

Last year at this time, I had to comfort my now 6th-grader that news would be arriving soon, and that he’d be fine wherever he ended up. Yet like many parents around me, I couldn’t quite calm my own jumpy feelings every time I searched the mail. I hated not knowing.

The DOE vowed to fix the process this year, but without any specific reason, they have pushed back the date for notification again. Parents who are trying to figure out if they have to move – or forfeit deposits to private school – are particularly annoyed, as comments this week on Insideschools  have shown. Given that the supply of top-notch middle schools citywide nowhere near meets the demand for them, it’s understandable that parents want some answers.

The last few weeks of elementary school should be filled with sweet reminders of the beautiful and elusive nature of childhood. After all the bewildering touring, ranking, and interviewing the students did last fall to find a middle school, they deserve timely answers – and so do their parents.

The Department of Health and the Department of Education have announced that eight additional schools will close starting today, Friday May 22nd, in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The eight schools, which occupy six school buildings, together serve over 6200 children.

These schools will be closed, beginning today:

Break out the popcorn– it’s movie time in Advanced Placement classes around the city!

It’s common knowledge that after the AP tests, which take place in early May, AP classes become a total joke. At LaGuardia, stories are passed down about the dumbest, most irrelevant movies teachers have shown for the last month of school, or which AP teachers expect you to actually show up in class after the test. It would be a lie to say that some part of me does not enjoy this payoff for hard work, but I do think it reflects directly on the test-prep culture that we all have entered. Though APs are test-prep courses by nature, I’ve learned information and study skills that will be useful for life. And unlike most standardized tests and the SATs, I find the AP tests to be measures of real learning and understanding, not of a student’s ability to test well. Learning how to write essays or speak Spanish for the AP test are skills that I will need, and use, forever. But in these last few weeks of school, when all teaching and learning in AP classes ends abruptly, I wonder if my teachers feel the same way. If the AP skills are life skills, why do teachers stop teaching the day after the test?

It seems to me that when the focus of a year is a test, teachers do not push themselves to go beyond. A month of school is a lot of time to waste just because “we took the test.” We could still be learning: The AP Composition test is over, but I have hundreds of essays left to write in my life, not to mention the other ways I will to need to organize and present my thoughts. There are hundreds of good books left to read and analyze, and hundreds of countries I plan to visit where I will need my Spanish skills.

I think the time after the test should be prized teaching time. To me, it seems like every good teacher’s dream: with no test at the end, teachers can teach whatever they want , however they want, and at whatever pace the students need.

Students and teachers complain a lot about the limits of standardized testing, but why don’t we take advantage of the freedom that comes once the big test is over? I would encourage AP teachers and students alike to take advantage of this time of looseness to teach and learn in new, interesting and creative ways. It’s a luxury we can’t afford to squander.

Questions from parents prompted us to reach out to the Department of Education for more information on 1st and 2nd grade citywide gifted and talented programs based in Manhattan.

First, prospective NEST parents of rising 1st and 2nd graders, what you’ve heard on the tours is correct: The news is not optimistic. At present, there are no seats available in 1st or 2nd grade at NEST, although some may open in late spring or summer, if families move or opt for different schools. The DOE needs to keep an orderly process in place, according to spokesperson Andy Jacob, so that students can be fairly assigned to the school if and when seats open up.

Anderson, which is moving seven blocks south, to the MS 44 building, will open a new 1st grade class, with 27 seats, but has no open spots in 2nd grade. TAG has more room for new students: There are 30 1st grade seats and 12 2nd grade seats to be filled for this coming September.

Parents should note that there is no guarantee beyond kindergarten and 1st grade that children will be offered seats in either district or citywide G&T programs — and the guarantee only holds if families list every district G&T option available to their child, as well as citywide schools of interest, on the application. Accordingly, Jacob said, there will be no waitlists; they won’t be needed when all eligible kindergarten and 1st-grade children are seated. It’s not clear why families of 2nd graders don’t have a waitlist option, for midyear access if seats become available, but the current DOE policy does not include one.

As in general education enrollment, siblings take priority over non-siblings, a decision that makes sense for families, even as it seems to potentially limit access for first-born children. Basically, qualifying siblings who list their big-sib’s school first on their application have priority over non-sibling applicants. Within the sibling group, enrollment priority is determined by test score, and if the number of seats is less than the number of qualifying students, children are randomly assigned to the school.

If seats are still open after siblings are placed, Jacob explained, the same process repeats for non-siblings, with enrollment priority determined by test score. If experience is any guide, non-siblings need to have higher scores than siblings to earn an offer: Last year, siblings with scores in the 97th to 99th percentile were accepted at all three Manhattan citywide programs; no non-siblings with scores below 99 were accepted at NEST or Anderson, although some were placed at TAG.

When it comes to special education, it’s not hard to find fault with the NYC public school system. But my issue this week is the City’s private schools.

Last spring, my husband and I waited anxiously for callbacks from the “Ivy League” special education schools that we fell in love with during our September tours, where we saw small classes of kindergarteners with autism sweetly and successfully reading books, doing math and maneuvering their little bodies into yoga poses like cats and candles and tables. We checked our answering machine hourly, hoping that Brooks would get one of their three or four open spots — and that we would somehow figure out how to pay the tuition.

This spring, I’ve been watching families from Brooks’s old preschool go through the same process. I’m glad to report that those who’ve secured private school placements do seem to be having an easier time with DOE funding than our contemporaries did last year (simply put, if the DOE admits that they have no appropriate public education for your child, they need to bear part or all of the cost of an alternative private setting). Of course, overall, getting that funding is still a tremendously difficult and stressful endeavor. And one particular practice within private schools greatly disturbs me.

What I’m referring to is the ubiquitous non-refundable deposit to hold the spot, which is often at least $5,000. Did I mention that it’s non-refundable? In our experience, admissions directors were not completely unreasonable — you could often negotiate stretching the deadline date, but there was no negotiating the eventual delivery of that jaw-droppingly large check. (more…)

As predicted by Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden and others, continued H1N1 exposure in New York City means that more individuals are being affected by the virus. While in most cases, symptoms are mild and short-lived, the Department of Education, together with the Department of Health, has elected to close 21 schools where H1N1 clusters have been identified.

In addition, a few independent, parochial, and charter schools have also closed: the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, St Joseph’s Academy in Queens, Holy Family School in Flushing, and the three schools that comprise the South Bronx Charter school network.

Three public schools will close today for up to five days: PS 130 in lower Manhattan, PS 35 in Hollis, Queens, and the Merrick Academy Charter School in Jamaica. Together, the schools serve approximately 2,200 students. The DOE reports that 21 schools have been closed due to H1N1 with up to 15,000 students (and at least as many parents) affected.

Students who are missing school don’t need to miss homework, Chancellor Klein said yesterday. Deputy Chancellor of Teaching and Learning Marcia Lyles — who may soon exit the DOE for a new post in Delaware – and her staff have prepared grade-by-grade packets of worksheets and assignments to keep students on track, he said. The packets are optional, and it’s up to parents to judge their relevance to their child’s current schoolwork. (Generic math worksheets in the 8th-grade guide, for example, may be appropriate, too easy, or too hard, depending on each student’s math curriculum. The 3rd-grade guide runs to 86 pages, with daily schedules, vocabulary lists, suggested activities and a “dancing raisin” science experiment from the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco.) There are no resources available for high school students.

Prior to these closures, the city closed 15 public and private schools in Queens (IS 238, PS 16, Q255, IS 5, JHS 74, PS 107, MS 158, Our Lady of Lourdes, IS 25, World Journalism Preparatory, Q233, PS 209, P9, PS 19 and PS 32) and one in Brooklyn (IS 318). More closures may be imminent, although the Chancellor said a press briefing yesterday  that the mayor is hoping for the contagion-stanching benefits of the Memorial Day holiday, when kids won’t be as densely concentrated as they are at school.

Update:   Dr Marcia Lyles, Deputy Chancellor of Teaching and Learning, will leave the DOE, according to information released this afternoon by the Chancellor’s office.  Santiago Taveras, founding principal of two Bronx high schools, Banana Kelly and the Urban Assembly Academy for Careers in Sports, will serve as interim acting Deputy Chancellor.  He currently serves as a Senior Supervising Superintendant, where “he oversees the Department of Education’s high school and district superintendants.” 

Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob this evening confirmed that families of students applying to middle school for September 2009 will receive placement offers by mail “during the week of May 26.” 

When asked why the news was delayed — DOE’s middle schools calendar originally stated parents would get news in mid-May — Jacob replied, “We’re mailing the offers next week because they will be ready next week. ” 

The DOE website has been updated to reflect the revised timeline.

Today, Chancellor Joel Klein previewed budget cuts at the city’s schools in a message sent to all principals. The news is good or bad, depending on your point of view — and your school’s fiscal status, he said.

“In aggregate,” Klein wrote, “the total dollars in school budgets will be reduced by 3.8 percent.”

In specifics, which he described at a briefing today at Tweed, more than 40 percent of schools may experience cuts of 4.9 percent, while others, such as the approximately 80 schools with large Title I populations, might “get a slight bump” in funding, Klein said.

Schools that managed to save and “roll over” funds from Fiscal Year 09, which ends on June 30th, will experience less severe cuts than those who spent their budgets down, said Klein.

“To be clear: if you rolled over money, the good news is you will be able to spend that money. We are not cutting the money you rolled forward,” he wrote in his letter to principals. Schools were cautioned to save money from this year to plan for the next, although the rate and ability to save varies from school to school. The cut is designed to save approximately $318 million in the coming fiscal year, in addition to the $100 million in midyear cuts.

Principals will be responsible for making decisions about whether to cut programs — Saturday school, after school programming and professional development were three options the Chancellor mentioned — or to trim staff.

“Most schools will be able to find significant portions of this in OTPS [Other Than Personnel Services].” But school leaders are free to lay off staff, “if an aide or a para that they feel is more cuttable than a program,” Klein explained.

At LaGuardia High School, our student blogger writes that upper-level math courses will be snipped.

Specific budgets for each school will be presented to principals tomorrow, and according to the DOE, posted to the DOE website.

When Lydia Bellahcene’s son “E.E.,” who struggles with a reading disability, was picked from a lottery to attend Williamsburg Charter High School, she was elated. “I thought my son could be successful. He would be given the support he needed. I had no red light, yellow light to be cautious because they had an IEP team [a group of administrators who ensure special education students receive services].” Although her son worked with a special education reading instructor every day for 45 minutes beginning in 3rd grade at a regular Department of Education school, when he began 9th grade at Williamsburg Charter in 2007, the specialist was promised, but never appeared. As a result, he failed 9th-grade English, became depressed, and was forced to continue to wear the 9th-grade green uniform the following year, while his friends wore the gold 10th-grade Williamsburg Charter shirt, said Bellahcene.

Charter schools, which operate outside the city Department of Education and select students through a lottery, have become increasingly controversial as their numbers have grown. This fall an additional 24 charter schools are expected to open, bringing the total in New York City to more than 100 schools. As charter schools proliferate, and in many instances, post higher test scores than neighboring regular schools, some parents and advocates claim the schools are “creaming,” enrolling only the best students and ignoring disadvantaged populations.

“Those charter schools are not serving the main population,” said Aixa Rodriguez, a Spanish teacher who worked at International Leadership Charter School in the Bronx. She said students requiring extra services were pushed out. “They’re serving a boutique population…You’re not going to have a whole line of parents on welfare whose kids are PINS,” referring to the warrants parents place on run-away youth.

Charter school advocates disagree. “When somebody says a charter school is creaming, what they’re not telling you is there’s no way on God’s Earth you know who you’re getting,” said Jeffery Litt, superintendent of the Carl C. Icahn charter schools.

Charter schools claim they outperform neighborhood schools while enrolling the same student demographic. Opponents argue that charter schools only attract children whose parents are involved and invested in their education, since the parents had to seek out a charter school and fill out an application by the April 1 deadline. Additionally, because charter schools operate independently of the city DOE, opponents say there is no oversight to protect the most vulnerable students – those who don’t speak English or require special education services.

An analysis of student data involving some of the most challenging students to educate, students who are homeless, special education students, and English Language Learners (ELL), shows that charter schools don’t serve or enroll the same students as local public schools. Homeless students

In New York City, 51,316 public school students are homeless, and only 111 of them attend a charter school, according to Jennifer Pringle, director of NYS-TEACHS, a state-funded group that provides assistance to schools, social service providers, and families about the educational rights of homeless students.

“With many charter schools, you have an application process. It’s not just you can show up at the school on September 1st and register your child,” Pringle said, “and many families in crisis aren’t in a position to see that process through.” Although most city charter schools are located in low-income neighborhoods, 34 charter schools enroll no homeless students. In East New York, Brooklyn, a politically-forgotten neighborhood with decrepit buildings and the infamous Pink housing projects, nine homeless shelters are located near Achievement First East New York Charter School. The school does not enroll any homeless students.

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Recently, we sat down with James Merriman, the chief executive of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, to talk about the politics and policies of charter schools in New York City.

What is a simple definition of a charter school?

A charter school is a public school and, like all public schools, is tuition-free, non-sectarian, admits all comers, and is publicly funded. It differs from other public schools in how it is governed. A charter school is governed by an independent board of trustees, whereas traditional public schools are governed by an elected board, or in the case of New York City, the mayor. Charter schools are characterized by being free from a lot of burdensome regulations, and they have the autonomy to be able to figure out what works best for their particular student population.

Why do you believe that charter schools are good for public education?Chartering is a governance reform and not a pedagogical reform, so there is nothing about charters that say they are going to be good. But because of their autonomy, they allow great educators to single-mindedly organize themselves around improving student achievement and providing students a first rate education. These educators are able to create a school community that is, to the maximum extent possible, able to serve the students who are enrolled in the school.

And in New York City, we have been incredibly fortunate that the opportunity has drawn, overall, an incredible dedicated group of founders, leaders, and teachers, who accept that their only measure of success is how well their students are doing. For the larger system, these charter schools provide examples of what is possible, and the fact that those examples are outside of the traditional system means necessarily that people are forced to pay attention to them.

You keep mentioning autonomy – which is a buzzword in the Department of Education in general these days. Usually when you hear the word “autonomy,” it is quickly followed by a reference to accountability. Who makes sure that charter school leaders – especially down the road when the founders move on and new leadership takes the helm – are accountable?Accountability isn’t tied to a specific individual – it is tied to a school. As the founders move on, the accountability measures that the authorizers have set up remain in place.

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Dear Judy,

How are ELA scores typically given to parents and students? Do they come over the Acuity site or are they handed out in paper? And are they really released school by school or only at the end of the year?

Impatient Parents

Dear Impatient Parents,

Standardized test scores are produced by the New York State Education Department and are in a state database called nySTART. It is separate from the Acuity system, which deals with New York City interim assessments. The DOE has an overarching database called ARIS, which includes information from Acuity and other sources. According to DOE spokesperson Andy Jacob, schools will be distributing login information to ARIS Parent Link over the next several weeks. “By the end of school year,” he said, “parents will be able to log on to ARIS to view information about their child’s academic progress.” Meanwhile, you can log into Acuity for interim assessment results, but it won’t include the results of the state tests. If you are unsure how to log in, check with your school.

According to Grace Pepe, Director of Assessment Operations at the Department of Education, principals can access scores about a week before their official release date but the information is embargoed until after a press conference to announce the results. This year’s scores were announced May 7.

What happens next is up to your principal. Some principals will respond to individual parents’ requests for their children’s scores before the whole school gets to know. Other principals release all the scores immediately, by letter home, while some others save the information until final report cards are given out at the end of the term. Obviously, for kids whose promotion is in doubt or have a very low score, the principal should share the score with parents right away. By the way, the New York State Education Department says that results of the state math test will not be released until mid to late June.

If you want to find out why your child did not perform up to expectations, you can ask to see the “item analysis” for your child’s test. The principal has that information and can go over it with you. But if what you really want is to find out whether there was a mistake in the scoring, or if you wish to take a look at your child’s tests, you should ask the school principal for a parent request form to see a copy of the test and the answer sheet. You’ll need proof that you are the student’s parents, so you may either get the principal to attest to that or you can have the form notarized. In either case, the form goes to the Office of Accountability-Scan Center, 44-36 Vernon Boulevard, Room #206, L.I.C., N.Y. 11101, Attention: Grace Pepe. It will take some time, but the process should result in an appointment to see the tests.

Judy

 Have a school question for Judy?  Search archives | Contact Judy

Taking a page from the District 3 playbook, yesterday parent representatives of Manhattan’s District 2, joined by the United Federation of Teachers, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education and schools Chancellor Joel Klein, charging violations of state law by DOE reconfiguration of neighborhood schools and programs without Community Education Council consultation or approval.

State education law mandates CEC participation in decisions that affect local schools. Yet “the DOE fails consistently to consult with the CEC,” according to the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, District 2 CEC president Rebecca Daniels. “CEC members have an obligation to take action to right this wrong, to ensure that the voice of New York City public school parents is never silenced.”

The DOE backed down from the District 3 lawsuit in April, backpedaling on its plan to close traditional zoned public schools in Harlem and replace them with charters. The current suit lists a litany of DOE actions at elementary, middle, and high schools in the district; click here for more information.

Q: My daughter had a very stressful first two years of high school, and her grades suffered. She transferred to a terrific school which, however, did not take all the credits she earned at her previous school. While she can graduate from this second high school in two years, it’s been suggested that she take another semester and use this to improve her GPA. Her SAT scores are good, and she is planning to take several SAT Subject Tests to prove her ability in these areas. Aside from my daughter not liking the idea of staying in high school longer than four years, what do colleges think of this? If she were to wait until the following September to start college, it would be five years from the start of her school career. What are her options?

A: Many students have a rocky start to their high school years. Colleges see that all the time — and what they like to see is improvement. An upward grade trend lets them see that a student has adjusted, re-grouped, and moved on. So it’s great that your daughter has found a better situation and given herself a fresh start.

At this point, there are several things she can do to prove that she can be successful academically. Getting higher grades at this second school will be a significant factor. I hope she is also getting involved in the life of her new school by joining in extra-curricular activities. And while high test scores are desirable, of more significance will be her ability to indicate that she can handle academic challenges over a sustained period.

Is spending an additional half-year in high school the best way to do this? A number of private schools — boarding schools in particular — offer something called a “post-graduate program” or PG, through which a student can compensate for a weaker high school record via an extra academic year. Sometimes an extra year of maturing, in a new environment, can indeed indicate improvement. On the other hand, it doesn’t make the earlier lack of success disappear, and colleges realize that these PG programs are for the financially privileged. Perhaps other students, too, could show improvement with an extra year but few can afford it, especially at a boarding school.

I can certainly sympathize with your daughter’s desire to graduate from high school. My suggestion is that she do other things to prove her true academic abilities. She could take a couple of courses this summer at a local college, a branch of CUNY or SUNY. This would indicate her ability to handle college-level work. And when she applies to colleges, she should not try to ignore those earlier two years of high school but include a letter acknowledging them and then indicating how she has moved on to take control of her academic life and re-create herself as a successful student.

If your daughter does decide to stick around for another semester of high school, but isn’t looking forward to it, she could always make more exciting plans for the second semester of that year. I have previously written about the growing popularity of the “gap year,” and your daughter could organize a “gap semester” during the spring of her fifth year to compliment and expand upon her extra-curricular interests and give her something fun to look forward to. But, if she doesn’t want to, I don’t think she needs to postpone college.

 Have a question for Jane?  Search archives | Contact the College Counselor

Heads-up, pre-K families: The Department of Education announced today that it will email or snail-mail placement results to city parents late this week. Although they’re not saying precisely when communications will go out, “the end of this week” sounds pretty committal. Families who applied online will receive word by email and letter; others will receive word just by USPS.

If you choose to accept an offer, you’ll need to register between Tuesday, May 26 and Monday, June 8 at the school your child will attend. Families whose children would have gone to pre-K at PS 3 or PS 41, we’re asking where you’ll register (the schools or the new program site) and will report details. For all families, we’d suggest calling the specific school to confirm their registration hours, to minimize time away from work (and frustration).

Failure to register means giving up the offer of a pre-K seat for your child.

Questions, concerns, and comments on the pre-K process are invited by the DOE at ES_Enrollment@schools.nyc.gov. If you write in, please let us know whether and when there’s a response to your email; last year, communications shortfalls plagued the process, which we hope, for everyone’s sake, will not be the case this year.

Career educator Mitchell Weiner, who devoted his entire professional life to IS 238 in Hollis, Queens, passed away on Sunday — the city’s first loss to H1N1 virus, commonly called swine flu. Whether the school might have closed sooner, or the experimental treatments offered to Weiner, or underlying medical conditions contributed to his death, will be debated elsewhere. (Click here for a list of schools that are currently closed.) What seems most important, in human terms, is Weiner’s heartfelt dedication to the kids in his school. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting epitaph for this “unsung, yet absolutely dedicated ” leader (as he was described by principal’s union leader Ernest A. Logan) than the words of Byron Lopez. his former student, quoted in today’s Times. Lopez, who kept in touch with Mr. Weiner two decades after they shared a classroom, said: “He knew every kid’s name.”

This is the kind of personal connection and dedication students respond to, as seedlings thrive with a steady flow of water. This is the kind of devotion that makes a school into a true community. And this is the kind of loss that, despite the political pot well on the boil, makes clear the essence of public education in New York City: Outstanding professionals pouring their energy, creativity and hard work into children, their families, and their school, in the service of a pure humanitarian ideal. Education for all, with love, support, and direction on the side.

With sincere condolences to Mr. Weiner’s family, friends and the entire IS 238 community, we invite readers who knew him to contribute comments below — to help those of us who didn’t have the pleasure of his instruction, his legendary humor, or his inspiration, get a feel for a life’s outstanding, and unfinished, work.

Update:   Three more Queens schools will close beginning tomorrow, according to the City’s Department of Health:  the Q209 building in Whitestone (PS 209 and P9, a District 75 school), PS 19 in Corona, and PS 32 in Flushing.  The three schools together serve more than 3000 students.

Pre-K should be part of local, zoned schools citywide, said two-thirds of readers who responded to our poll last week, with full-day pre-K strongly favored over half-day options. Universal pre-K is now offered at schools and community-based organizations; while some full-day programs exist, many are half-day, which means that working parents often place their kids in full-day, private programs (with the steep tuition to match) — or pay for child-care to cover the gaps half-day programs leave unfilled.

While we’re on the subject of tuition, and in this season of college-acceptance letters, FAFSA financial aid packets, and big debates about education and funding, we’re wondering what our readers think about planning for higher education. Whether it’s 15 years down the parenting turnpike or around the proverbial corner, for parents of high-schoolers, college costs loom large in the wee-hours worry department.  Let us know what you think on this week’s poll.

Space for pre-kindergarten classes shut out of PS 3 and PS 11 in Greenwich Village because of kindergarten over-crowding will be available next fall at 27 Barrow Street, the home of the Barrow Street Nursery School, according to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Department of Education officials who have been working this week to find a home for the displaced students.

Speaking to an auditorium packed with parents at the District 2 Community Education Council meeting last night, John White, of the Department of Education, said that the siting is a temporary solution “that will allow the [kindergarten] waitlist to completely disappear.” There are 79 kindergarteners now on the waitlist for the shared PS3/41 zone, he said, and moving the pre-K classes will allow one new class at PS 41 and two new classes at PS 3. White also anticipates that many of the 63 zoned students who qualified for gifted & talented programs would choose that option, freeing up more space in the crowded neighborhood schools.

Regarding a new site for a new PS 151, White indicated that the Our Lady of Good Counsel school would be the likely site; a formal announcement is expected on Monday.

White also said that new sites will be found for two middle schools now sharing elementary-school buildings, Greenwich Village Middle School and the Clinton School for Writers and Artists, for the 2010-2011 school year.

Parents fired questions at White and DOE enrollment chief Elizabeth Sciabarra about kindergarten waitlists and challenging DOE statistics. A CEC member asked parents: “Are you happy with what you are hearing tonight?” Parents, some carrying placards, responded with a resounding “NO!” (more…)

How gerrymandered can an election get? Parents inquiring why the Community Education Council advisory vote results were not yet posted have discovered — once again — that the Department of Education has unilaterally decided to change the rules of CEC elections midstream.

Originally, the result of the parent advisory vote was to be posted publicly on the powertotheparents website in early May, according to that site’s home page. Instead, last week the DOE instructed the election vendor to withhold results of the parent advisory “straw poll” vote, which was intended to guide the real vote, until after the official selectors cast their votes, according to a Power to the Parents staffer.

The official CEC voting process is already convoluted: three PTA officials from each school each cast only two votes for candidates for the 12-member CECs. Deadlines for candidate sign-up, the straw poll, and the official voting have all been changed repeatedly this year at the DOE’s direction. In the latest change, the CEC voting deadline was extended to midnight tonight.

Still, I look forward to finding out who will be elected to my CEC for the coming two-year term. As the new mayoral control law is considered, it will be up to next year’s crew to promote parents’ voices in the system. Preventing the DOE from manipulating community elections is one of many reasons why parent advocates would like to see administration of the CECs be made independent from the DOE — perhaps placed under the Public Advocate’s office.

As part of the rewrite of mayoral control legislation, CEC3 supports a public November CEC election held alongside other public elections. The current system is devised, controlled, and constantly changed in a murky and undemocratic manner by DOE. “Power to the parents,” it’s not.

EDITOR’S UPDATE: Representatives of other CEC’s are also speaking out about issues surrounding the election. Here is a letter sent on May 19 from the District 31 CEC to Jacqui Lipson, the CEC administrative coordinator at the DOE, raising concerns similar to those Jennifer wrote about in this post:

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After days of scrambling and searching for about 60 missing gifted and talented program tests for students at PS 9 in Manhattan, Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob said yesterday that the test company, Pearson, found the mis-marked box — but that the tests everyone thought were there, weren’t.

“We’re going to retest the students whose tests we can’t locate,” Jacob said after a letter went out to PS 9 families explaining the process. Do-overs will begin this weekend at the DOE headquarters, Tweed Courthouse, and continue through Thursday at PS 9. Department of Education officials will hand-score the tests and have promised that families “will receive score reports by Tuesday, May 26″ — with applications due Friday, the 29th. Jacob also said that “turning in their applications later won’t affect their chances of being placed in a particular program.”

“There’s nothing we can do to fully make up for the inconvenience and frustration of this situation for the affected families,” said Jacob. “The best thing we can do is retest the students and get them their results as quickly as possible.”

The students will not repeat the full OLSAT exam that was offered in the fall, but will instead take a “breach form of OLSAT,” according to the DOE’s letter to parents, which is the “alternate form used in all retesting situations.”

Parents at PS 9 wonder why their kids have to retest at all. Natalie Redmond, whose daughter’s test was lost, asks why last year’s test scores can’t be used in lieu of a new test. Redmond points out that DOE will use old tests to place some children in G&T programs – if it’s “good enough for kids in the outer boroughs,” Redmond asks, why isn’t the option of using last year’s scores open to PS 9 parents as well?

Whether the missing-tests kids will gain a competitive edge by repeating a familiar test hasn’t been broached. It seems clear, though, that the DOE could mandate practices to prevent this kind of crisis: Why aren’t schools required to photocopy test papers before they’re sent? Seems as simple as a fail-safe can be.

Last week, a  number of LaGuardia juniors found out that their math tracks are being abruptly ended. As a junior in trigonometry this year, I was expected to take pre-calculus in the fall, and take the Math B Regents Exam in January.  Now, because of budget cuts, seniors will not be allowed to take pre-calc. To learn the semester of content and prepare for the Math B exam, tutoring will be offered over the summer.  This is not really an option for people (like me) who have summer jobs.  Also, the only  math classes being offered to seniors next year are Advanced Placement classes.  For the juniors are in pre-calc this year, the situation may not be much better. Calculus may be cut next year, too, giving these juniors no way to complete their math track.  A letter is being sent to all colleges explaining the sudden death of advanced, non-AP math at LaGuardia.

When I expressed my concern, the assistant principal of math told me, “Write to the Chancellor and Mayor and ask them to stop taking our money away in the middle of the year.” I told her I already had, and that was the end of the conversation. But this conversation is far from over. My school has been forced to make hard choices because of circumstances outside its control. LaGuardia has done its best to maintain its unique dual mission to provide students with both good arts and academic educations. But no school should have to make the choice to end a curriculum like advanced math mid-year, without preparation or prior warning.

If, as the Chancellor and the Mayor insist, cuts must be made, they should not come from the classroom and force schools to make decisions like this one. How can these leaders say they’re committed to rigor and higher standards in education, and then limit funding for motivated math students?

Perhaps the cuts could come from the testing budget. It seems that tests are multiplying faster than rabbits;  kids as young as kindergarten are now being tested. Perhaps the needed savings can come from the production and administration of school Progress Reports, which are often inaccurate representations of a school.

The pattern is scary.  Mid-year crunches are resulting in the loss of teachers and classes, which are the last things that ought to be taken away.  If “students” were a budget item, we’d probably be the next to go.

For parents of PS 9 students, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, who took the gifted and talented tests this year, the wait for results has been particularly tough, because their children didn’t receive test results — and the actual tests aren’t in the possession of the Department of Education.Now, according to DOE spokesman Andy Jacob, the mystery is unraveling: it seems that a mislabeled box, which held about 60 tests, was shipped to the company that’s contracted to score the tests in San Antonio, Texas. The box arrived, according to package-tracking records, but as “the test company didn’t realize that it contained materials that needed to be scored, … it was placed in storage” along with extra test materials and other non-scorables.

The search is now on at the test company, Pearson, to locate the mismarked box and score the tests pronto. Once they find the box, “they will be able to score the tests immediately,” said Jacob, who added, “we will hopefully be able to get results to families within a matter of days.” It’s impossible, of course, to say precisely how many days might elapse until the missing box is found, tests are scored, and results are known.

The DOE will likely relax the admissions timeline for affected families. Jacob said, “any of these students who qualify for gifted programs will not be at a disadvantage in the application process. We will make sure that their families have enough time to explore their options and complete their application.”

Let’s hope Pearson finds the box, and quickly, too. Updates to follow; stay tuned.

Update: It’s not good news: Pearson found the box in San Antonio. The tests aren’t there, and no one knows where they are. DOE plans to retest the children whose tests have gone missing; we’ll have details in the morning.

As the mayoral-control debate escalates here and in Albany, a parallel conversation is simmering locally, about the city’s recent rise in standardized test scores.

Two Daily News articles set a strong counterpoint: Last week, columnist Juan Gonzalez challenged the gains touted by the Department of Education, asserting that poor children lack the opportunity for achievement that many others have — and that charters, which enroll far fewer English language learners and special-needs students, benefit from their exclusionary policies. Gonzales concludes, “…when something looks too good to be true, it usually is. ”

Today, big jumps in reading scores are celebrated in the News — but a principal’s explanation of how her school improved test scores is chillingly revealing: “What really helped us was looking at our data and driving the instruction based on that,” Principal Lillian Catalano, a 23-year public school veteran, told the News. School officials “spent hours scouring” students’ work on previous assessments to figure out “where they needed help … on the statewide reading test,” the article explains.

Simply put, this principal and her faculty embraced the data — and upped their scores by ‘teaching to the test.’ They figured out what kids needed to know to do better, and they taught it. But teaching to the test necessarily takes time from other subjects; it limits what a school can offer, and what a teacher can teach. And it doesn’t mean kids are actually learning to think for themselves or master content outside the testing area. Historically, teaching to the test was universally considered a bad thing, but tables turn, and today, it’s lauded. Schools that do the best job of sussing out what the testers want gain the most praise and public recognition; progress reports, based largely on a school’s test scores, can determine a principal’s tenure and even a school’s survival.

It’s hard to argue with a principal who sees the importance of raising scores. The bigger question is what’s lost when the focus-field narrows — when data, scores, and testing outpace content in the classroom.

Last night, I was one of 50 parents of students with special needs at a meeting called by Garth Harries, the new Senior Coordinator for Special Education at the Department of Education. Held at PS 199 in Manhattan, the meeting was billed as an opportunity “to solicit informed and thoughtful input from parents as it relates to Special Education.”

The concerns voiced were not new: some untrained (and thus insensitive) paraprofessionals, untrained (and thus ineffective) general-ed teachers, CTT classes that are too large, under-served IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans), and schools misrepresenting parents’ rights, just to name a few. But there were also some bright spots: parents from the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Nest program (myself included) sung its praises and encouraged Harries to nurture and grow it, and a mom with a vision-challenged child reported her family’s very positive experience.

As was the case the last time I heard Mr. Harries speak, he began with a disclaimer: Although he has no background in special education, he is working very closely with those who do. No matter how many times he says this, it neither diminishes his insufficient qualifications nor inspires my confidence. He is the Senior Coordinator for Special Education, and he has no background in special education. His previous job at the DOE involved closing dozens of schools. The lack of logic here simply baffles me.

Even the way this meeting was arranged was unconventional: very short notice, with no public announcement, and the DOE reserved the right to handpick the participants. Regardless, many parents expressed their hopes that this was only the beginning of an open dialogue and wanted to know how and when and where it would continue.

To his credit, Mr. Harries did talk about the Arise Coalition and its recently published recommendations, and he also talked about the potential for good inclusion programs to help the general-ed population as much as the special-needs population. But for now, it is all just talk. Until Mr. Harries makes a systemic change that is directly responsible for helping an actual child, I remain skeptical.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has joined the search for new pre-K locations in Greenwich Village, after news leaked last week that the pre-K classes would be bumped from overcrowded PS 3 and PS 41. An emergency task force has been assembled and, according to an email from Quinn sent this morning, they have been busy scouting locations for the Department of Education. Last Wednesday, Quinn showed up briefly at the protest on the steps of City Hall and spoke with a little boy and several parents. Two days later she met with Chancellor Klein and formed the task force.

The full text of the Speaker’s email, and a second email from task force member Rebecca Daniels, after the jump:

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Parents of children who tested for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade seats in district and citywide gifted and talented programs this year have faced frustration and confusion as they await news of test scores — and, for parents at one Upper West Side school in Manhattan, for evidence that their children actually took the critical tests.

Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob confirms that “several parents at PS 9… have not received a score report even though their children took the admissions test.” He continues, “We are working with the school and the test company to locate the tests,” and adds, “We’ll obviously make sure that none of these students who took the test are at a disadvantage in the application process.” What he doesn’t detail is precisely how the students whose tests are AWOL will be evaluated; some parents have suggested using last year’s scores, others protest that using old tests will skew this year’s outcome (see below). To date, the DOE is silent on how it means to address any potential “disadvantage.”

We’ve also heard from many parents of children who were permitted to apply for citywide G&T programs based on last year’s scores — which contradicts what Jacob told us last week. In an email, he writes to correct “incomplete information” for students in the Bronx, Staten Island, and Queens — boroughs that, for the most part, did not have kindergarten-entry G&T programs last year. “The hardship of traveling to Manhattan may have dissuaded some families from applying,” says Jacob, which is why the DOE will permit eligible children to apply for citywide G&T programs based on last year’s scores. (Never mind that none of the new citywides will open in the Bronx or Staten Island.) So the bottom line seems to be, some students may apply for citywides on last year’s scores — provided they don’t live in Brooklyn or Manhattan.

The situation with PS 122 in Queens continues to evolve: (more…)

The city’s budget woes will force a ban on new teacher hiring, reports the Times (today and last week), the News, and others. The teacher’s union has high praise for the new strategy, which aims to place ‘excessed’ teachers, often languishing in DOE rubber rooms, back into classrooms citywide. Multi-million dollar savings are anticipated, based on projections by the New Teacher Project, which met with significant UFT derision only last year. (The worrisome projected attrition in the profession, highlighted in an April report, seems to have been forgotten.)

Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg have long beseeched the ‘best and brightest’ at American colleges and universities to consider teaching as a profession. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Barack Obama have often said the same, and consistently support efforts to elevate the status of teaching as a competitive, desirable career choice — as it is in many world cultures whose students outshine their U.S. counterparts.

What’s it to be? Can the city be pro-teacher and anti-hiring? Can city leaders credibly encourage talented young professionals and committed career-changers to consider teaching — and then say, ’sorry, not this year’? It appears the answer is, “Yes, they can — and yes, they have,” although the net result, for the city’s students, teachers, and schools, remains uncertain. Not to mention, a very large gamble.

Clarification:   Teachers who will be hired for the coming school year are mainly those who were assigned to the reserve pool of teachers whose schools have been closed, reconfigured, or otherwise restructured so that their jobs are no longer open.  Educators assigned to the “rubber rooms” face disciplinary evaluations before they may return to the classroom.  

Quick catch-up for parents looking for 1st-grade gifted and talented program information; we have answers from the Department of Education to some general questions (thank you, Andy Jacob), and look forward to details on a couple of specific questions tomorrow or early next week.

First, Jacob says, “Applications were mailed to all kindergarten and 1st-grade students, including those who qualified as entering kindergarteners in 1st-grade-entry districts last year.” If you haven’t yet received word from the DOE about your child’s application, contact the DOE’s Gifted and Talented program office at (212) 374-5165 or (212) 374-5972.

Second, parents have asked if their child’s kindergarten seat is at risk if they choose to apply for citywide G&T (provided their child tested this year and meets eligibility criteria, of course). Concerns about risking a seat are unwarranted, says Jacob. “Unless a child actually accepts another placement, she keeps her current placement.”

Third, we raised a number of questions that have to do with particular districts or particular schools: Regarding Queens’ District 30, the DOE plans to offer G&T programs in three schools come September: PS 150, PS 122 (both in District 30) and PS 217 on Roosevelt Island (District 2). (We are going back to DOE with questions about the commute.)

Readers raised questions about PS 122, which historically began G&T classes in 2nd grade, wondering whether beginning next year’s program in kindergarten would jeopardize 122’s current 1st-graders, some of whom might enter the school’s established G&T program next year. Jacob was unfamiliar with the specific situation, but promised to follow up with G&T staffers; we’ll stay on this.

In District 28, where parents had concerns about too few seats for the number of children who qualified for district G&T programs, Jacob says two additional schools are listed on the application — at PS 220 and PS 55.

Additionally, we have heard from two families of current G&T kindergarten students in Manhattan’s PS 9 who told us that scores for the tests their children took this year are missing. Despite thorough searching at DOE by G&T office workers, the parents say, there is no trace of the test results — or any record that the children actually sat for this year’s test. These parents rightly ask, what happened to the tests their children took? They also want to know what’s next if the tests are truly AWOL — will the DOE use eligibility scores from last year’s test? And finally, in a DOE whose professed hallmark is accountability and transparency, how can there be no paper trail — no physical record of who took which test when? Jacob will, we trust, offer answers to these questions soon.

In the interim, if your child sat for the G&T tests and you have not received notice of her or his scores from DOE, let us know, contact your parent coordinator, and call the DOE to report your concern first thing Monday morning. And if you’re among the families of PS 9 whose children’s tests seem to be missing, please be in touch, so we can try to track down what happened.

Last week, we asked what you thought the Department of Education should do if the swine flu continued to spread. Most voters agreed that the system should keep running, with 36 percent of voters advising that only children and teachers with symptoms should stay out of school and 30 percent of voters suggesting that individual schools with confirmed cases should be closed. Twenty-two percent of voters, however, thought that the whole school system should be shuttered until the threat passed. See the full poll results here.

This week we are wondering about pre-K. After the news leaked that the Department of Education might close pre-K programs at some overcrowded elementary schools, parents began debating whether pre-K in elementary schools is a right, privilege, or drain on elementary school resources. What do you think? Add your comments here.

With all the attention focused on kindergarten overcrowding, it’s important not to forget the middle school students who have yet to be matched with a high school they want to attend. It’s time for the Department of Education to stop boasting about how many more students got their first choice and imagine for a few minutes what it must feel like to be graduating next month and assigned to a high school you don’t want to go to — or still be scrambling to appeal a placement.

This is not an outcome a city, where less than half of high schoolers earn a diploma on time, can find acceptable. And the Department of Education simply has to find a way to place students like those detailed in this week’s Daily News story. Students like Ostap Paviliv, an honor student from Sheepshead Bay, or Max Hellerstein, a high scoring 8th-grader who got assigned to a fashion high school. What sense does that make? And what about Phoebe, middle-schooler from Manhattan who scored in the top 2 percent of all 7th-grade students and got exactly zero of her six first-round choices?

It’s outrageous that high-achieving students who have worked hard and fully expect to graduate and go on to college are in this limbo. The DOE’s response — that only 9 percent of 8th-graders did not get a match — is wholly inadequate. There needs to be a system in place that helps each and every one of these students find a proper placement.

Over the summer, some students with high school seats will move or perhaps choose parochial or private  schools instead.  High school seats will open at desirable, strong schools. Unmatched or mismatched students, who in some cases are near the top of their class, must be a DOE priority. It’s wrong to leave them stranded. These are kids and parents who believe in public education.  This city cannot and should not fail them.

Update: The scores for New York City schools and charter schools have been posted.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein celebrated the city’s gains on English Language Arts test scores in Washington, D.C. yesterday even as the State’s new Regents head, Merryl Tisch, characterized the same gains as “moderate” — a perfect object lesson in how the same set of numbers can be used to support different points of view.

The biggest news, according to the Department of Education’s Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott at yesterday’s press briefing, was an 11-point gain from 2007 to 2008 — the largest single-year gain since annual state testing of third through eighth-graders began in 2006. Rises in middle school scores were attributed by the DOE to its middle-school initiatives — in place for less than six months when the actual tests were taken. Officials also credited the abundance of data-driven analysis made available to schools, and the hard work of teachers, principals and the city’s parents.

Neither official could dismiss the role of test prep — which Bell-Ellwanger characterized as “test sophistication,” a term Walcott praised and adopted — in the rising test scores. “If they’re familiar with the [state learning] standards, they do better on the test,” said Bell-Ellwanger. “It’s about skills-building.” Walcott added. “Just because students know how to take the test — there’s nothing wrong with that. We all take tests in life. Now, more and more students, especially students of color, are becoming more sophisticated. We’re preparing them for the rest of their lives.” (Former DOE testing czar Robert Tobias, now an NYU professor, told the Daily News, “It’s kind of like how you get to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice.”)

Statewide trends showed a similar rise in overall scores, as did scores in other big cities. Scores in Buffalo outpaced scores in New York, and scale scores — the actual number that places a child at the bottom, middle, or top of the four proficiency levels — showed more modest progress. As ever, girls outpaced boys on the standardized exams and younger students scored higher than middle-schoolers (even with the rise in middle school scores). The storied gap between the races, which had loomed at over 30 percent in years past, has lessened over time, to a 26 percent gap between black and white eighth-graders and 27 percent between Hispanic and white eighth-graders.

It’s hard to know how to receive news that proficiency scores for students with special needs and those who are English Language Learners have “tripled” since 2002. On first hearing, that’s great news — but looking at the stats, only about a third of children in each subgroup earned scores that were proficient or better (level 3 or 4), news that’s much less encouraging than it might first appear.

This afternoon the Chancellor is back in town, after joining the Mayor and strange bedfellows Newt Gingrich and Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday for a meeting with President Barack Obama, to announce ELA scores for New York City’s charter schools. Stay tuned.

News has been scarce for families of kindergarteners who tested for 1st-grade gifted and talented programs. While the numbers are far smaller than those for kindergarten-entry G&T, families have questions — and deserve answers. Here’s what we’ve learned.

Not only were fewer rising 1st-graders tested than kids entering kindergarten, the 1st-grade numbers this year are smaller than they were in 2007: some 11,300 students took the test in 2008, compared with about 15,500 in 2007. Despite the drop, the number of students who qualified for district or citywide G&T programs was comparable: 1,454 in 2007 and 1,429 in 2008, which suggests a proportionally stronger outcome with fewer students tested. Have a look at the spreadsheet to see how children in your district fared.

Andy Jacob, the Department of Education’s press officer, says the difference in the overall number of students tested is due in part to the change in entry grade for programs. Last year, G&T programs began either in kindergarten or 1st grade, but this year all programs begin in kindergarten. Children who tested into district programs in areas where G&T started in 1st grade, didn’t have to retest this year, and will be ‘grandfathered’ into this year’s 1st-grade district G&T pool.

Children who qualified for a citywide G&T kindergarten program last year, but declined the offer of a seat, will not be ‘grandfathered’ into citywide applicant pools. Some families declined seats last year due to distance from the programs, which were all located in Manhattan. This year two new citwide programs in Brooklyn and one in Queens will open, providing more opportunities for children who tested this year.

In terms of qualifying 1st-graders, District 2 still leads the pack: 29 percent of students tested are eligible for gifted programs. Even though other districts tested hundreds more students, District 2 also had the most 1st-graders to clear the citywide bar. Bronx District 5, however, showed the biggest percentage gains. Last year 2 percent of students qualified for citywide G&T, compared to 11 percent this year — a jump from two to 12 students. And 32 District 5 children, up from 12, qualified for district G&T programs.

This afternoon at 1 p.m., the Department of Education will present results of the State English Language Arts exam for New York City public school students in grades 3 through 8.

These scores help to determine a school’s Progress Report score — and, in some cases, its survival.  Principals and teachers can be rewarded handsomely for large gains — but outcomes for fourth- and seventh-grade students are higher still, as the standardized scores children earn in those grades help determine middle- and high-school placement.

We’ll post details after the briefing.  

Solidarity was the buzzword at City Hall Wednesday afternoon, when parents, children, teachers, and elected officials pressed a range of complaints against the Department of Education’s kindergarten admissions policy. They chanted “build more schools” and “hey, hey DOE, G&T is not new seats.”

After learning that their children were assigned to waitlists at PS 3 and PS 41, parents got together at a Community Education Council meeting and formed a group called Kids Shut Out to share contact information, develop strategies, and connect with like-minded parent groups across the city.

Parents like Katie Fleischer, who has two sons on the PS 3/41 waitlist, showed up in force. “You start panicking,” she said. “I have twins. That is $60,000 a year for private school. I literally was in shock when I got that letter. They didn’t even send me a letter for my second son, just my first.”

The DOE’s decision on Tuesday to move the pre-K programs from PS 3 and PS 41 to make room for the kindergarten students was criticized by several of the politicians and parent leaders an attempt to undermine the rally. (more…)

This past gray and wet Sunday, our small family ventured out under our big umbrellas to try out a new local brunch place.

Finally, we are past the point of having to go to McDonald’s, which Brooks clearly prefers. These days, our preferences carry some weight, because our son is no longer the lost little boy who needs us to spend every waking moment figuring out how to help him.

For the first time ever, we don’t have to explain his challenges because they are no longer very apparent. We don’t have to explain that he’s smart; anyone who meets Brooks sees it for themselves. The kid that we used to have to imagine in our minds is finally emerging, and we keep pinching ourselves to make sure we’re not dreaming.

At school this week, for the first time, he ate in the cafeteria and liked it so much he didn’t want to leave. At home, more discoveries: Brooks and a friend had a full back-and-forth conversation — one that included asking for, and considering, the other child’s opinion.

He sold school raffle tickets at my office, he tells stories that last longer than our attention span, and the other day I caught him overflowing with joy when he watched Nemo and his dad reunite and swim to each other as fast as they could. Brooks gets it. And I can’t begin to describe how good it feels to watch him get it.

Brunch was nice. Brooks ordered off the kids’ menu, ate his scrambled eggs and toast, and with his good behavior, earned his chocolate ice cream for dessert. My husband and I sipped our coffees and watched the falling rain. Instead of going shopping, we decided to go home and continue our lazy day. Brooks was fine with the last-minute change of plans and said: “Look at it outside: it’s disgusting! Let’s go home.”

The forecast is rain all week long. I couldn’t care less.

As we await word from the Department of Education on first-grade G&T eligibility, a succinct, cogent analysis of kindergarten G&T testing, in a GothamSchools comments string, is well worth considering, especially set against DOE claims of gains in historically underserved communities. The author is Jennifer Jennings, an education blogger, grad student, and recent coauthor, with Leonie Haimson, of a report indicting the DOE for dubious high-school pushout practices.

Jennings notes that last year and this year, three districts (of 32 citywide) were the source of 40 percent of all students qualifying for gifted programs - districts 2 and 3 in Manhattan, and District 22 in Brooklyn.

Adding in districts 15, 20, and 21, all of Brooklyn, which are the next three largest contributors to the G&T student pool, 56 percent of all admissions, this year and last, went to students from just six districts.

So even though the numbers are up, the basic landscape of gifted education “has not changed in any meaningful way,” Jennings writes. She continues, “expressing the growth in number of seats in terms of percent changes is extremely misleading given that the poor districts had a tiny number of students participating to begin with.”

A Times analysis attempted to raise similar, if less pointed, questions, but DOE spokesman Andy Jacob said he couldn’t provide an official “definitive explanation.” Let’s hope that changes, and quickly, too.

[Ed Note: New details from DOE added in Update at end of post.]

The Department of Education has gathered and analyzed kindergarten waitlist data for Manhattan districts 2 and 3, according to a message sent by DOE spokesperson Andy Jacob at 5 p.m. today. Data on other districts are not yet complete, Jacob wrote, but will be available “within the next two weeks.”

There are fewer children waitlisted than has been reported, according to the DOE’s count, which shows a total of 273 students waitlisted at seven schools in districts 2 and 3 combined. For the numbers-hungry: 31 students are waitlisted at PS 166; 90 students are on a combined waitlist for PS 3 and PS 41 (which share a zone); and 152 students are waitlisted on the Upper East Side (25 at PS 6, 40 at PS 59, 30 at PS 183, and 57 at PS 290).

“Waitlists will disappear or be greatly reduced,” Jacob wrote, as gifted and talented program enrollment siphons off students, and as families choose “non-public school options for children zoned in schools with waitlists.”

At PS 166, “we expect the wait list…to disappear after students accept gifted placements in June,” he writes. In the West Village, 26 students zoned for PS 3 and PS 41 qualified for G&T programs (but it’s not known whether they will accept). There’s no official mention of the impending cut to pre-K at both schools — just an allusion to “details within the next few days.”

On the Upper East Side, “almost all students on a waitlist at these four schools [PS 6, PS 59, PS 183, and PS 290] will receive a placement in their zoned school by the end of next month,” according to the statement. As 182 students zoned for those four schools qualified for G&T, “waitlists at these schools will shrink or even disappear,” Jacob anticipates. (more…)

Thirty Bronx parents gathered in a small Riverdale office suite on Monday evening to discuss the gifted and talented admissions process, following the Department of Education announcement that 45 percent more students qualified for kindergarten “gifted” programs this year. The chatter quickly highlighted the logistical and moral challenges of where to place gifted programs in a socio-economically disparate district.

District 10 is home to Riverdale, a quiet, secluded neighborhood that borders the Hudson River and Westchester County. Residents live in comfortable apartments and large estates hidden by a canopy of tree-covered, lush green lawns. District 10 also includes neighborhoods such as Fordham, Kingsbridge, and Tremont, where there are few trees, public housing, and noisy, congested streets.

This year, District 10 parents can choose among three district-wide gifted programs: PS 24 in Riverdale, PS 7 in Kingsbridge, and PS 54 in Fordham. Some parents say PS 24 is the only logical choice, others disagree. (more…)

The students waitlisted for kindergarten at Manhattan schools PS 3 and PS 41 will be able to register at one of these schools for class this September — but the pre-K students promised seats for next year will not be able to attend the schools. PS 3 and PS 41 have been directed to close their pre-K classes to make room for more kindergarten students.

“We canceled our pre-K,” said a staff member at PS 41, who asked not to be named. “It was a decision made with the DOE…We had no choice. The space is so limited, and the kindergarten kids needed space. That’s the decision that was made.”

Principal Lisa Siegman of PS 3 said that she did not have any official confirmation. Unlike pre-K students, who stay in their classroom, kindergarten students move to the cafeteria, gym, and other specialty classrooms. Siegman expressed safety concerns, citing crowding, a complicated split-lunch schedule, and other logistical difficulties that may result from increasing the number of kindergarten classes.

PS 41 began to make calls to parents of pre-K students, who now have to scramble for pre-K seats in nearby public schools or find scarce (and costly) spots at private pre-Ks. “We got word, and we got on the phone,” the PS 41 staffer said. “We would love to have some solution or options for our families.”

DOE sources say they plan to release more news in the next few hours with “very specific details about the wait lists in Districts 2 and 3.”  Stay tuned for updates.

Previous reports at insideschools.org and The New York Times highlighted the shortage of kindergarten seats at high-profile Manhattan schools. However, an informal Insideschools survey completed by principals across the city indicates that schools outside of Manhattan face similar challenges. Many popular schools in Brooklyn and Queens have waitlists for their kindergarten class, filled with children who live outside of the school zone.

Several of the three dozen principals we heard from said that the new kindergarten process, which allowed parents to apply to an unlimited number of schools, had caused “anxiety” and promised more school choice than it could deliver. (Many respondents elected to remain anonymous in their comments, even as they shared data and opinions with Insideschools.)

Although some schools have well-documented crunches , like PS 3, PS 41 and schools located on the Upper East Side, several other Manhattan schools we heard from, such as PS 63 in the East Village, PS 199 on the Upper West Side, and PS 112 in East Harlem, reported no kindergarten waitlist. (more…)