Your independent guide to NYC public schools

Dear Judy,

I know that kids are required to go to school a certain amount of hours and days. Can you tell me how many hours of school are required and if they are different at different grades?

Mary

Dear Mary,

Your question opens a complex set of issues – bound up in state law and regulations, allocation of state aid and New York City's own variations, developed with the United Federation of Teachers and codified in their contract.

Students in New York state are required to attend school from age six. (In NYC the age is five, except that parents can choose to opt out of kindergarten and start their six year olds in 1st grade instead.)

When figuring out the length of the school day and hours of instruction, keep in mind that state laws define minimum hours.  Increased number of days and hours are allowed, provided that the union agrees. Charter schools are not bound by these rules, indeed most charters have extended instruction time, and many non-charter public schools do as well.

Fourteen-year-old Marc Brandon Gross, is what's called a “2E,” or twice-exceptional, child: he is a talented singer, dancer and actor who can memorize a script in two days that would take most people two weeks to learn, says his mother Maria Gross. But Marc has trouble communicating and socializing because he is on the autism spectrum.

Marc is thriving as a freshman Talent Unlimited High School -- a sign that children with special needs can be successfully integrated into the city's selective high schools. “They bend over backwards to make sure his needs are met,” says Gross.

While Marc should be a poster child for the Department of Education's new push to enroll more special needs children at the city's selective high schools, his mother is angry that the city is bending the rules for admission to schools like his. Marc passed the demanding audition for the musical theater program last year, but some of the students admitted this year did not.

“That's not right. It's not fair, especially not fair to my kid” who played by the rules, Gross says. At Talent Unlimited, more than 45 students (including 13 special needs students) were admitted who either did not audition or didn't meet the school's audition standards. 

Gross contacted Insideschools to tell Marc's story after hearing that the city placed more than 1,300 students in 71 of the city’s selective high schools as part of a double-pronged effort to match more students to their round one high school picks and to ensure that schools meet the city’s new special education quotas.

Marc has speech and language disabilities as well as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The school offers intensive support: he is in team-teaching classes with two teachers, one of whom is certified in special education. He gets extra help in math and English. The school also provides after-school academic tutoring. The guidance counselor arranged a special peer support group to help Marc work on his socializing skills.

Marc's family expected him to attend high school at School for Language and Communication Development (SLCD), the school for special needs children where he went from kindergarten through 8th grade. But a guidance counselor at SLCD suggested he try out for a public performing arts high schools. 

Just like thousands of other aspiring performing artists, Marc practiced for weeks and attended rounds of auditions to try out for four of the city’s audition schools: Talent Unlimited, Frank Sinatra, Professional Performing Arts School and LaGuardia. All four schools require auditions for entrance but do not have academic screens. Yet, this year DOE officials said the city assigned students to both Talent Unlimited and Frank Sinatra based on test scores, rather than artistic ability. 

Competition at the city's performing arts schools is fierce; 1,500 students typically audition for 125 seats at Talent Unlimited.

Gross is proud to say her son went through the “appropriate channels of auditioning,” and was awarded a seat. And now Gross is concerned that the admission of dozens of students who did not meet Talent Unlimited’s audition standards – or did not even try out – will compromise the integrity of the program.

Because of his IEP, Marc still struggles academically, Gross says, but he is excited to get up and go to school everyday. "My kid loves the school because everyone is at his level. They can sing, they can dance, and they can act." 

Watch video of Marc performing at Talent Unlimited, courtesy of his sister Lauren Gross:

On April 6 and 7, 8th and 9th graders who did not get a match in the first round of high school admissions -- or are unhappy with the school they were assigned to-- may attend the Round 2 Fair (pdf) at Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus in Manhattan from 11 am to 2 pm. Families will meet representatives from the 20 or so new high schools opening in September, plus established schools that still have openings.

Some of the new schools are also holding open houses before (and, in some cases, after) the April 12 application deadline; either in their assigned buildings or at different venues. Here's a listing of the open houses we know about so far. We'll add to it as we get new dates. (Remember that dates may change so confirm with the school's website, or by phone, before heading out.)

If you’re unhappy with your neighborhood school, you may want to enter a lottery for a charter school. The deadline is April 1--so hurry. In most cases you can submit an application online. Get an application on the New York City Charter School Center website, on the individual schools' websites or at the school. (Some charter schools are open this week, even though the public schools are on Spring break.)

But which school? Here are tips for making your choice.

For the third year in a row, Baruch College High School had more applicants than any other school in the city, according to the Department of Education.

Nearly 7,500 8th graders applied for 120 seats at Baruch, a selective high school in Gramercy Park that only accepts District 2 students. It had 1,000 more kids apply than in 2012. Two-thirds of Baruch students are Asian. The high school has a 100 percent graduation rate and solid college prep.

Pace High School in Chinatown and Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side were the second and third most popular choices.

Pace, which opened in 2004, accepts students citywide and does not screen its applicants. It had 6,040 students apply for 108 seats. About nine in 10 students graduated from Pace in 2012, and it does well with special education students. The student body is mostly African American and Hispanic. Of the top five most sought-after programs, Pace is the only unscreened school.

Eleanor Roosevelt, a selective school on the Upper East Side with a nearly perfect 2012 graduation rate, received 5,733 applicantsfor 125 seats. ELRO gives preference to students from District 2 and a majority of its students are white. It has a low poverty rate compared to other schools in the city: fewer than 1 in 5 students qualify for free lunch.

Townsend Harris in Queens ranked fourth, with 5,471 applicants for 270 seats, and Beacon High School was 5th, with 5,469 applicants for 330 seats.

Because the DOE released a list of the top 20 high school programs, Midwood High School in Brooklyn appeared twice. Its selective humanities program was the 8th most popular, with 4,361 applicants. And 4,343 kids ranked Midwood's selective medical science institute, making that the 10th most sought-after program.

Every school on the DOE's top ten list last year appeared on the top 20 list this year, and many of those schools were top schools the year before, in 2011. 

Thirteen of the city's most popular programs are selective high schools, which usually have high graduation rates because they weed out applicants who performed poorly in middle school. And five of the new small high schools opened under Mayor Bloomberg were among the 20 most popular.

One of those new small schools, the perennially popular Food and Finance barely made the "most popular" cut this year. Its unscreened culinary arts program had 1,000 fewer applicants this year than last, dropping it from the 10th most popular program to the 19th most popular with 3,600 8th graders applying for the school's 100 seats. 

Download the DOE's list of top 20 schools here [PDF]. These 20 high school programs received the most applications out of all the 400-plus high schools (and countless programs) in the city excluding the nine specialized high schools. About 28,000 kids took the Specialized High School Admissions Test for a shot at the exam schools, which offered seats to 5,229 incoming freshman for the 2013-14 school year. 

The top 20 list includes the number of 8th graders who listed the schools anywhere on their applications – it doesn't indicate how many students ranked the schools first. The DOE did not release the number of applicants for any other school.

Here are some recommendations for high schools that still have room—either new schools opening in the fall or established schools that haven’t filled their 9^th grade seats, according to the Department of Education "Round 2 program list."

Bronx

Westchester Square Academy, housed in Lehman High School, has seats in its new honors program. Founded in 2011 by the former assistant principal of Brooklyn Latin, Westchester Square has lots of good word of mouth.

For strong students, the Macy’s honors program at Dewitt Clinton High School still has seats. Although there are some concerns about safety and discipline in the building, the smaller honors program has challenging academics.

Bronx Design and Construction Academy is a new school that's off to a good start.

Bronx Latin has high expectations and a classical education.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Bronx Guild and Bronx Compass offer progressive, non-traditional education.

Bronx Collaborative High School, a new school housed in Dewitt Clinton High School, is modeled after the popular Institute for Collaborative Education (ICE) in Manhattan. Brett Schneider, former ICE assistant principal, is the new principal.

Brooklyn

Abraham Lincoln High School has a good photography program that still has seats. Overall, the school is better than its reputation and a good place for kids who can handle the huge size.

Acceptance letters for high school went out today, and 90 percent of students got one of their choices. But if you are one of the 7,225 8th graders who didn’t get matched to a high school (or if you’re unhappy with your match) it’s time to consider one of the 16 new schools opening in the fall of 2013—or one of the established schools that still has space.

You can meet representatives from these schools at the second-round high school fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6^th and Aprll 7^th at the Martin Luther King Educational Campus at 65^th and Amsterdam in Manhattan.

Some of the schools will also have their own open houses. We've also compiled some recommendations for high schools that still have room.

If you’re choosing a high school, you want to know: Is the school safe? Do kids like their teachers? Do I have to wear a uniform? Will the school prepare me for college?

Now, the answers are easy to find on Insideschools.org, a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.

Our new feature, called Insidestats, has comprehensive data on 422 public high schools. You’ll be able to see at a glance how big the classes are, whether lots of kids skip school, and how many graduate on time. You can see whether they enter 9th grade ready to do high school—or have lots of catching up to do. And you’ll see whether they have demanding college prep classes--or only a bare-bones curriculum. You can watch our webinar demonstrating how to use the site.

A couple of years ago, we criticized the Department of Education’s school Progress Reports for oversimplifying the strengths and weaknesses of each school with a single “A” to “F” grade.

With Insidestats, we hope to offer a more nuanced picture, because different schools are good at different things. Some schools take high-achieving kids and push them to ever greater heights. But others do a particularly good job with kids who need special education or English as a Second Language. Insidestats shows you the difference.

Take the Bronx High School of Science. Everyone knows it’s a terrific school where just about everyone graduates on time and goes on to college. It has top students and tons of very advanced classes, and kids do well in them. But maybe you didn’t know that it has larger-than-average class size, or that one-third of the students grumble about their teachers. As for kids who need special education or English as a Second Language—well, Bronx Science just doesn’t have any.

Food and Finance High School in Manhattan is a different story. Most of the students have math and reading skills that are below grade level when they enter. Very few students take a college prep curriculum, and the curriculum is thin, as you can see on Insidestats. But the school doesn’t let kids drop out. Eventually, 93 percent graduate—even though it may take them six years. And look at the special education numbers. Nearly 20 percent of students receive special education services, and 85 percent of these graduate after six years. That’s way better than the city wide average.

Insidestats helps you see whether a school is right for you—depending on what you are like and what you need. It was made possible with grants from the Donors Education Collaborative and New York Community Trust. The design was done by Hill+Knowlton Strategies. General support for Insideschools comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the David L. Klein Foundation, Belvedere Trust and our readers.

Q: My son just received an impressive-looking envelope inviting him to participate in the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. They make it sound like going will be a great thing for him to put on college applications, but will it really count that much? Will it open doors for him? If this is truly a great opportunity, I don't want him to miss out – but it's really expensive! What do you suggest?

A: Would participating in this program be exciting for your son? Probably so. Will participating add a line to his resume that will make a real impact on his college applications? The company organizing the program would like you to think so, but the real answer is: no.

Want to find out how to apply for college financial aid? Trying to decide whether a community college is a better option than a four year school? Is there a free college counseling program in your neighborhood or borough?  NYC College Line, a website that officially launched Wednesday,  tackles these questions and more.

Funded by the Gates Foundation, NYC College Line provides resources to help New York City students get into and stay in college. It's a collaborative project between CUNY's Graduate NYC!, the City University of New York, the NYC Department of Education, and the Options Center of Goddard Riverside.The goal of the Graduate NYC! College Readiness & Success initiative is to double the number” of CUNY graduates by 2020. 

“We want students not just to get into college, but to be successful there," said schools chancellor Dennis Walcott in a press release. "NYC College Line will help us achieve both of those goals. It’s a win-win – for students, educators, and this city.”

Many public high schools have too few college counselors to meet the needs of seniors applying to college, and so NYC College Line may help breach the gap. It allows students to get quick answers to many typical questions. In addition to the resources listed online, users can log on and ask questions directly of experts and find out about upcoming events such as financial aid workshops or college fairs. There are also online training sessions for professionals.

Read more about the launch here and check out the new website here.