In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the future of our public schools in the wake of  Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection. It turns out that many of you – 32% — are angry: you feel our kids were pawns in a costly campaign and wish the money had gone to schools instead.

Fifteen percent have confidence that the mayor  has done a lot to make the schools better and that he can keep up the momentum. Fifteen percent are determined to get our kids the best education possible regardless of who’s in charge, and 18% are worried things will get worse. Only 10% said they were optimistic that the schools will improve, and just 7% were disappointed that Thompson didn’t win.

This week, we’d like to know how your parent-teacher conferences went. Vote now! You’ll find this week’s poll near the upper left hand side of this page, and you can share your comments here.

Dec. 4 is the date when high school applications are due to school guidance counselors. If you’re like the average New York City public middle school parent, you have spent the fall accompanying your 8th grader to school tours and open houses, you’ve perused the thick high school directory and you’ve bookmarked Insideschools’ noteworthy high school profiles and ref+erred to them regularly. And if you’re like the average 8th grader, you’ve been agonizing with your friends about where you’ll end up next year. But now you must sit down and make some decisions.

Our advice: Be very careful drawing up your list of high school choices. You will be assigned to a high school based on how you rank your schools and how the schools rank you. You may list up to 12 choices, but you will receive only one offer. If you have taken the exam for the specialized high schools or auditioned for LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts, you may have a choice between one of those schools, should you be accepted, and your list of 12. There are also a few charter schools to consider which have a separate application and lottery. Apply only to schools you are willing to attend. If you get assigned to a school you hate but have listed it on your application, it will be very hard to get placed in a different school. (more…)

Last week, our student blogger Toni wrote about the City Hall protest against the DOE bake sale ban.

Channel 11 and Gotham Schools covered the event. In addition to assertions that this ban takes away a vital fundraising source in this era of steep budget cuts, one student made this simple argument:  “cookies are good for the soul.”

How is your school dealing with the ban?

On Nov. 12, the Panel for Educational Policy approved changes to the Department of Education’s promotion standards, imposing stricter passing guidelines for students in grades 4 and 6. Changing the retention policies for students in grades 3-8, and ending “social promotion”, has been a hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg’s education agenda.

The panel approved the policy with little comment or dissension, although two members voted against it. This was in stark contrast to the outcry that followed the 2004 passage of the 3rd grade retention policy. Now all students in grades 3-8 (who take the state standardized reading and math tests) will be held back if they fail to score at least a 2 on a 4-point scale.

All other proposed new policies,  previewed earlier this month on Insideschools, were likewise approved. These included new procedures for selecting principals and other supervisors, and the creation of a new Chancellor’s Regulation which lays out the requirements for public review before a school is closed or there are changes in building utilization.

Public comments on the proposed changes and the new regulation are posted on the Department of Education website;  meanwhile education advocate Leonie Haimson writes on the NYC Education News  Yahoo group that the DOE “appears to have taken almost no suggestions for improvement.”

Nov. 3 is election day, and some of our visitors may have noticed campaign ads appearing on Insideschools.org today. These ads are being delivered automatically via Google’s ad network, and the revenue we receive from these Google ads helps defray the costs of producing Insideschools.org. We neither endorse political candidates nor do we solicit campaign advertising. But we do encourage you to vote!

Both Mayor Mike Bloomberg and his Democratic opponent Bill Thompson have been touting their education experience: Bloomberg running on his record of eight years as mayor controlling the schools; Thompson, on his years as head of the Board of Education.

We’re wondering what the parents of NYC public school students are thinking. Who are you going to vote for?

Polling places, most of which are located inside schools, are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you’re not sure of your assigned polling location, you can search here, call 1.866.VOTE.NYC, or e-mail your complete home address to vote@boe.nyc.ny.us with the borough in which you reside in the subject line.

If you want to attend a post-mortem on the day after election day, consider attending a panel discussion, “What’s Next for our Public Schools?” sponsored by a group called Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century and moderated by New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina. On the panel: Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents; Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT; Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Harlem Success Academy; and Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. For details, see our Insideschools calendar.

If you’re still looking for a pre-Kindergarten program for your 4-year-old, the Department of Education wants you! According to the Daily News there are some 5400 open seats, so many that the DOE is advertising them on Craigslist.

What’s the catch? Many of the programs are half-day sessions, either morning or afternoon,which are inconvenient for working parents. But there are more than 900 full-day options as well, many of them in desirable schools. Be aware that some schools have just one open seat, whereas others have a few dozen.

If your child is turning four by Dec. 31, 2009, he or she is eligible. The DOE is asking parents to register by Oct. 30 because the city risks losing millions of dollars in state funding if they don’t fill the seats by Oct. 31. Openings will be filled on a “first-come, first-serve” basis,” according to the DOE.

Bear in mind, even if your child is accepted into a pre-K program this year, there is no guarantee that he or she will be able to attend the same school in kindergarten. You’ll have to apply again; priority is given to students living in the zone, and those with siblings already attending the school.

For a list of registration requirements, and schools and community organizations with available seats, check the DOE’s page on pre-kindergarten admissions.

As the high school application season heats up for 8th-graders and their families this weekend, the Department of Education is sponsoring fairs in all five boroughs. While not exactly relaxing, these fairs are much smaller than the citywide fair (held at Brooklyn Tech last month).

Students, who meet 8th or 9th-grade promotional standards, and who have not applied for high schools yet, can walk among the tables more calmly and speak to representatives from high schools in their borough. This might be the time to ask the specific questions you might not be able to ask on a school tour or at an open house.

And, it’s a good idea to tour the schools you are interested in before applying. Many schools will have flyers advertising their tour schedules, so you can collect those as well at the fair.

Check out the fair in your borough — and let us know how it goes. All fairs run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. In the Bronx, go to the Roosevelt High School building; in Brooklyn, Murrow High School; in Manhattan, the Martin Luther King building; in Queens, Frances Lewis, and on Staten Island, New Dorp High School.

If you still have questions, you can attend one of the DOE’s upcoming evening high school information sessions, running through Nov. 12.

Parents of 5th-graders: Mark your calendars. The Department of Education posted the timeline for middle schools admissions for fall 2010 and the process is starting this month, six weeks earlier than last year.

This month there are middle school fairs in most districts - beginning on Oct. 13 - offering parents the opportunity to meet with school representatives. This is particularly important for districts that do not have zoned middle schools where 5th-graders have to fill out an application, ranking prospective schools. In other districts, students mostly attend their zoned, neighborhood school, although in every district, there are now unzoned or “choice” schools that require an application.

Even Staten Island, which historically has had almost no middle school choice, now has magnet (choice) programs in three middle schools, IS 61, IS 27, and IS 63, as well as a new middle school, the Staten Island School of Civic Leadership, open to students borough-wide.

Also available on the DOE’s website are links to middle school directories and other information which details options for families in all districts. (more…)

If you’ve got an 8th-grader looking for a high school — or a 9th-grader looking to change high schools — you may want to join the throngs at the citywide high school fair this weekend at Brooklyn Tech High School in Fort Greene.

Yes, there will be a crowd, but it’s a good opportunity to meet representatives from all high schools — including students — and ask your admissions questions. You can also collect information about upcoming school tours and open houses.

If you are new to the high school admissions process, you will benefit from attending workshops and talks offered by Department of Education enrollment officials throughout the day. It’s a good chance to pin them down on specific topics.

The fair is on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. See you there!

Is your 4-year-old gifted? Talented? If so, now is the time to start thinking about having him or her tested for the public school gifted and talented programs. This week the Department of Education posted the admissions timeline, as well as an updated list of schools that currently have G&T programs.

Test information and parent handbooks for incoming kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-graders will be online as of Oct. 7, according to the DOE. Materials will be available in elementary schools the week of Oct. 13. You must register for the test by Nov. 7. There is a different process for children in older grades.

The DOE will hold information sessions to explain G&T programs and the admissions process in each borough; the first is in the Bronx on Oct. 14, and the last will be in Manhattan on Oct. 22. See the DOE’s website for details.

In last week’s poll, we asked if you would be attending the first PA/PTA meeting of the school year. Most parents — 66% — voted yes.

Several respondents said that back-to-school night segued into the inaugural meeting. A Queens parent said that the first PA meeting is “crucial to attend” for information about changes for the upcoming year. Another parent disagreed, calling the PTA “useless,” and added, “They didn’t even serve coffee.”

Twenty-two percent of parents said they would not go to the meeting. Two parents voiced their frustration that the PA at their schools “is led by a clique of parents with their own agenda.”

Eight percent of parents received no notice of a meeting and 2% have no parent organization at their school.  Chancellor’s Regulation A-660 mandates that all schools have either a PA or PTA, and that the association send out notification to families about meetings in a timely fashion. (more…)

Insideschools student blogger Toni Bruno writes to tell us of the third annual Social Justice Park Party, tomorrow, Sept. 19, hosted by Transform America. Toni will be attending, representing the NYC Student Union, which will be joining other education advocacy groups.The goal of the event is to improve communication between education advocates, both adults and students, and to find ways they can work together.

Transform America describes the party as “a gathering of organizations to promote social justice, recruit activists, and advance our campaign for better education in NYC.” In addition to recruitment and networking, there will be music, dance and food.Toni writes: “You do not need to be a member of an organization to attend, you can just come have a good time while supporting the causes of education reform and social justice.”

The party is from 1-6 p.m. at St. Nicholas Park Plaza on 135 Street in Harlem. For more information or a map of St. Nicholas park, visit Transform America’s website.

Students are not the only ones wrangling with mathematics this year. Yesterday, The New York Times reported how principals have cut costs to meet their 5% slimmer school budgets, after the budget cuts announced last spring.

According to the Times, principals across the city made most cuts by eliminating teaching positions and reducing spending on equipment, supplies, and books. For one Brooklyn principal at PS 273, the loss of four teachers bumped class size from 21 students to 29.

Today’s Daily News reports on overcrowding in other city classrooms — including  40 students jammed into  one room at PS 102 in the Bronx. Leonie Haimson, of Class Size Matters, has published a Q&A with details about class size limits, according to the UFT contract: 25 in kindergarten, up to 28 in grades 1-3, and 32 in grades 4-6.  Beyond those numbers, teachers can “grieve” (complain) to the Department of Education. (more…)

Today The New York Times reports that 7th-graders who correctly answered only 44% of the questions on state math exams were rewarded with a passing grade. After similar reports published this summer, this latest analysis doesn’t come as a surprise.

According to the Times, the threshold for passing was 60% in 2006, but now kids can get by with fewer correct answers on the math exam in every grade. And a passing grade (Level 3 or 4) isn’t required for promotion; a student only needs a Level 2 to move up. The Times says that the number of right answers needed to earn a 2 has dropped so low that on some tests, “a student could randomly guess and still stand a good chance of moving on to the next grade.”

And don’t forget, in August, the Daily News found that the number of right answers needed to earn a 2 on the 6th-grade reading test had “sunk so low” that a student could guess on the multiple choice section and leave the rest of the test blank. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why the number of 6th-graders who scored a Level 1 dropped from 10% in ‘06 to 0.2% this year.

While some state officials defend the tests and cutoff scores, State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch, assured the Times that the Board understands the faults in its current system. “We are painfully aware of the fact that our tests do not align with the national tests,” she said. “We need to align new standards with a new set of assessments that are rigorous and dependable.”

At noon today, President Obama will address the nation’s school children. After much ballyhooing from conservatives concerned about the tenor of the speech, The Times reports that it will be a “pep talk” for students,  urging them  to “study hard” and “respect their teachers.”

The speech will be  broadcast live at noon today from a high school in Virgina and is posted on the White House  website.

Listen in, and let us know what you think. We’re wondering how many New York City public schools — which open tomorrow - will be sharing the talk  with their students.

Wondering where the city’s 2009 candidates for mayor, public advocate and comptroller stand on education? Well, Advocates for Children of New York has the scoop. Yesterday, they published the results of a candidate survey about issues in our city schools.

“Education is a critical factor in this election, and we voters need to know where the candidates stand,” said Kim Sweet, AFC’s Executive Director, in a press release. “The results of this survey give New Yorkers important information as they prepare to cast their votes.” (more…)

Looking for something to do with the kids this weekend? Consider attending the Department of Education’s Back to School Kickoff in Central Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the bandshell area near 72nd Street and 5th Avenue. There will be games, face-painting, and other activities for families. Staten Island’s PS 22 chorus, which has gained national attention, will also perform!

Plus there will be many representatives from the DOE who can answer your questions about the upcoming school year, including Chancellor Klein who is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m.

Got questions about your child with special needs? Look for a representative from Insideschools’ parent organization, Advocates for Children of New York ,who will join with colleagues from Resources for Children with Special Needs to distribute information and answer questions.

If you go to Saturday’s fair, let us know what you learned!

For 30 years, the federal government has funded free meals for students during the summer months. How many meals are served in New York City, the largest  school system in the country? Statistics are not yet available for this summer’s program, which ends on Aug. 28, but last summer, the city served up more than 7.25 million at a cost of about $21 million. Given the economic downturn, it will be no surprise if this year’s numbers top 2008’s.

In addition to breakfast and lunch served at city schools, youngsters between the ages of 5 and 18, can get a free meal at some  of  the city’s pools, parks, housing projects, food kitchens, and libraries - more than 1,000 locations in all. This summer the city even added a second lunch session at some pools, so that midday meals are served from 11  a.m. to 1:15 p.m. , and again from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. (more…)

Just when financially-strapped parents increasingly rely on free after school care for their children,  many programs have  become a casualty of school budget cuts. A venerable  department store, new to Manhattan, has stepped into the breach to help provide funding for families in need of after school programs.

If you shop at the new JCPenney store at the Manhattan Mall in Herald Square between now and Aug. 16,  you’ll be invited to “round up” the total cost of your purchase to the next dollar, with the proceeds going to support local after school programs.   All donations collected at the store will go to the Children’s Aid Society of New York, which will also receive a $5,000 grant from the JCPenney Afterschool Fund to help the charity provide children in need with access to its after school programs. (more…)

If you have a rising high school freshman  or sophomore and  moved to the city after Oct. 31, 2008, you still have the chance to apply to some of the city’s most sought-after schools. You teen can register now to take the specialized high school exam, or audition for LaGuardia High School for the Arts, for entrance in September.

The nine specialized high schools are highly selective: eight of them base admissions on the results of an exam while LaGuardia requires an audition to one of its six arts programs.  There is at least one specialized high school in each of five boroughs, and you may register for either an audition or the exam (or both!) at any of the Department of Education’s borough enrollment offices. The exam will be given on Monday, Aug. 31, and auditions for LaGuardia will be held on Friday, Sept. 4. The last day to register is Aug. 27.

There are also high school  seats available for rising juniors at another selective school:  Bard High School Early College II in Queens, which offers students the opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma and a two-year degree from Bard College. Bard requires applicants to take an entrance assessment and schedule an in-person interview. To find out more, call (212) 995-8479 ext. 2043, (212) 995-8479 ext. 2041, or (845) 546-0364.

Is your high school still accepting students for September 2009? Let us know whom to contact below!

In our last poll, we wanted to know if you supported the City Council’s resolution to add Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha to the public school holiday calendar. Thanks for your comments!

Should your child need to  miss school for a holiday, make sure to request, in writing, that your child be excused before the date of observance. The school principal will have the final say (see Chancellor’s Regulations A-210 and A-630).

On Monday, the Department of Education and the Health Department reported that the data from students’ annual fitness assessment shows that physically fit students tend to perform better on academic tests than their out-of-shape peers. How much better? On average, the report says, kids who did the best on the fitness test outscored those who did the worst by 36 percentile points on standardized academic exams. Additionally, the report found that 21 percent of  New York City students in Kindergarten-8th grade are obese; 18 percent more are overweight.This week, we’d like to know what you think of your school’s physical education program. Vote now, and add your comments below!

UPDATE: See the full report here. 

More than 80,000 8th and 9th graders have opened thin envelopes with news about where they had been accepted to high school. There was good news for 86 percent of the applicants - they matched with one of their top five choices from a list of 12. Another five percent were accepted at schools they ranked 6th or below on the high school application. That still left 7,455 students without a match and scrambling to figure out what to do next. Students who were not accepted anywhere must fill out a new application, choosing up to 12 schools from a list of schools that still have seats to fill. Those students are invited to attend a fair from 6-9 p.m. on March 31 at Martin Luther King Jr Educational Complex in Manhattan, where they can meet with school admissions counselors and school representatives.

Applications are due back to guidance counselors by Thursday, April 3; students should be notified where they have been accepted by April 30.

(more…)

Immigrant parents want to participate in their children’s school, but too often experience barriers that make it difficult to do so, according to a 52-page report released today by Advocates for Children of New York.

“There is a common misconception that immigrant parents are not interested in getting involved in school activities, but 80% of immigrant parents we surveyed said they would like to be more involved in their children’s schools,” said Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, a staff attorney in the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project at Advocates for Children, who was quoted in a press release about the report. “The DOE has to address what keeps these parents out of schools and lead a citywide effort to make schools more inclusive of immigrant communities.”

According to the report, Our Children, Our Schools: A Blueprint for Creating Partnerships Between Immigrant Families and New York City Public Schools, parents don’t know how to get involved and are made to feel unwelcome by school personnel. Immigrant parents say their concerns are often not addressed by administrators even when they make the effort to reach out to someone at the school. A few parents say they are active and involved because school staff speak their language and make efforts to include them in school activities.

The report, which surveyed 82 immigrant parents whose children attend New York City public schools and the staff at 16 community organizations, offers 48 recommendations on how to make schools more welcoming. Representatives from these community groups and public school immigrant parents attended a press conference held today by Advocates for Children to share their personal experiences, attesting to the barriers that the report documents.Parents who spoke at the press conference emphasized the need for schools to create parent identification cards for immigrant parents who do not have state-issued ID, one of the recommendations in the report. They acknowledged the need for school security but not to the extent that parents are effectively barred from entering their children’s schools.

The report suggests that all school employees be trained on how to create a welcoming environment for non-English speaking parents who are new to the education system. Additionally at the school level, the report advises that schools educate parents about parent associations and school leadership teams, as well as record phone messages in different languages. On a broader scale, the report advocates for the creation of an Immigrant Family Resource Center in each borough for parents who need assistance communicating with their school or resolving a problem.

The report stresses the importance of collaboration with community organizations that already serve as trusted resources for immigrant families. It suggests that the Department of Education would do well to tap into the knowledge of these organizations in developing resources for parents and in conducting well-planned outreach. As an example, the report notes that turnout for the DOE’s Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy Native Language Forums, which strive to inform parents about school-related issues in eight languages, significantly improved when community organizations were involved in an advisory committee to plan the meetings.

Advocates for Children Executive Director Kim Sweet said, “We’re really pleased with the content of this report, and we believe that it will have a significant impact on forming equal partnerships with immigrant families in the schools.”

-Catherine Man, additional reporting by Cristin Strining, March 18, 2009

This fall 24 charter schools are expected to open across New York City, bringing the total number of city charter schools to more than 100. Although classes don’t begin until next August or September, parents must submit an application by April 1. If schools receive more applications than there are places available - and they almost always do - they must hold lotteries to select their students.

Some schools belong to existing charter school networks; others are organized around specific themes. A few are single sex. Many schools promote uniforms and a back-to- basics curriculum, while others say they will use more progressive teaching approaches. Most of the new schools still don’t know where they will be located although the majority will be in Brooklyn.

Here’s a rundown on what Insideschools.org has learned about the new schools.

Established school networks

Many of the new charter schools are joining established networks of schools that share a similar philosophy and academic model.

• KIPP NYC College Prep High School in Manhattan joins a national group of 66 schools and will be the first KIPP school in New York to have grades 9-12. Only students who attend a KIPP middle school can apply to the high school. KIPP Academy Charter School in the Bronx, currently a middle school, is now opening admissions to younger students and will expand to include elementary school grades.
• Achievement First (AF) will continue to expand its network of Brooklyn charter schools. Current 5th-graders at AF East New York Elementary School will make up the 6th grade class at AF East New York Middle School, a new 6-8 school opening in September. Likewise, AF Crown Heights Middle School’s 8th-graders will become the first class at AF Crown Heights High School the second high school within the AF network.
• The non-profit group Uncommon Schools is opening three more schools in Brooklyn, each of which replicates an existing school model:Brownsville Collegiate Charter School, modeled after Williamsburg Collegiate;Leadership Preparatory Brownsville Charter School, modeled after Leadership Prep Charter School of Bedford-Stuyvesant;Excellence Charter School for Girls, sister school to Excellence Charter, an all-boys school.
• The Foundation for a Greater Opportunity, founded by Carl C. Icahn, is slated to open a fourth charter school in the Bronx named after the philanthropist. Like the three older schools, Carl C. Icahn Charter School 4 is likely to open as an elementary school.
• The Brooklyn Scholars Charter School is managed by National Heritage Academies. NHA provides education programs to 57 charter schools in six different states, including the Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School. The school will open with 196 students in grades K-4.

Three other schools based on existing models in New York include the first siblings of Brooklyn Ascend Charter School in Brownsville, Explore Charter School in Flatbush and the single-sex, Girls Preparatory Charter School on the Lower East Side.

• Brownsville Ascend Charter School will open with kindergarten and 1st grade students, and ultimately serve students in grades K-12.
• Also in Brooklyn, Explore Charter School 2 will open with kindergartners, first- and second-graders, and serve grades K- 8.
• Girls Prep 2 will enroll girls for kindergarten and 1st grade in the Bronx, and plans to expand to the 8th grade.

Themed schools

A few of the charters stand out for their themes.

• The Hebrew Language Academy will concentrate on Hebrew language and culture.
• The Ethical Community Charter School (TECCS) promises students a strong ethics curriculum that will promote community service and social justice.
• Growing Up Green, the only new charter in Queens, will infuse environmentally-friendly thinking into all aspects of instruction.
• Academic Leadership, a K-5 school, plans to teach “character education and develop ethical and responsible citizens,” according to its charter application.

Secondary schools

Among this year’s crop of schools, secondary schools that span middle and high school grades are a popular model.

• Two 6-12 schools will be located in District 15: Summit Academy in Red Hook and Brooklyn Prospect in Sunset Park. Brooklyn Prospect will follow the International Baccalaureate diploma program, while Summit Academy will concentrate on improving students’ basic skills with 100 minutes each of English and math daily.
• The first charter in South Brooklyn, Coney Island Prep, is a 5-12 school.
• In Flatbush, Fahari Academy focuses on the basics, and will offer its students an increasingly progressive approach to learning as they grow and mature from grade 5 through 12.
• Equality Charter School is a 6-12 charter in the Bronx.
• The Equity Project Charter School in Washington Heights will test whether high teacher salaries improve student performance. Teachers earn a $125,000 annual salary with the potential to gain additional yearly bonuses.

High schools

In addition to KIPP and Achievement First, the Believe High School Network is also starting two charter high schools this fall. Believe North Side Charter High School and Believe South Side Charter High School will open in the same building in Williamsburg.

How to apply

Anybody living in New York may apply to a charter school but priority in admissions is given to students living in the district where the school is located. A few schools also reserve seats for students who are at risk of failing. To get an application, call the school or check its website. You may be able to download the application online, or you may have to go to an open house to pick one up. Either way, schools must consider any applications received by April 1. Many charter schools are hosting information sessions. Check the schools’ websites for updated information.

See our charter school primer for more information about charter schools.