http://insideschools.org/blog Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:20:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In October, Governor Paterson proposed $686 million in school budget cuts. Democratic Senate Leader John Sampson stated yesterday that these cuts "are not going to happen." The official decision is still pending, but the vote is in process and may be settled as early as Monday evening. Paterson's budget office projects ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/20/mid-year-school-budget-cuts-looming/ 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 ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/20/poll-how-did-your-parent-teacher-conference-go/ A notice went out in the Principal's Weekly last week inviting schools from all over the city to participate in the Green Cup Challenge, a national student-driven energy challenge. Please talk to your principal or interested teachers if you think they might enjoy having an energy scavenger hunt for four ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/20/doe-to-host-green-cup-challenge-event/ A new batch of future-kindergartners will be "turning 5" soon, and the Department of Education is preparing for their arrival. The kindergarten admissions season is set to begin Feb. 1 for children who will turn five in 2010. The pre-K admissions season will open a month later, on March ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/19/pre-k-turning-5-fairs-scheduled/ Q: How can I possibly make my application special when colleges are getting thousands of them? How can mine be different and get their attention? A: How can you make your application stand out? It's a challenge, especially when you are using the Common Application, which makes every application ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/17/ask-the-college-counselor-how-can-my-application-stand-out/ 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 ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/17/hs-applications-due-dec-4-how-to-rank-the-schools/ Nearly half -- 45% -- of all New York City public high schools are "A" schools, according to their grades on progress reports released today by the Department of Education. An additional 30% of the more than 300 high schools graded received a "B." The high school grades ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/16/doe-releases-high-school-grades-75-score-a-or-b/ 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 ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/16/students-protest-bake-sale-ban-with-cookies-and-cupcakes/ When someone asked me what high schools I might be thinking about for my 7th-grader recently, my answer came swiftly and might have sounded a bit snippy. "I’m not thinking about it at all," I said, which of course, isn’t true, much as I’d like it to be, since it feels ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/16/high-school-hustle-high-school-hustle-year-after-year-the-school-search-goes-on%e2%80%a6and-on/ 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 ... http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/11/13/panel-approves-promotion-policy-with-little-fanfare/