While thousands of fifth graders will hand in their middle school applications on Friday, approximately 2,000 sixth graders will sit for the Hunter High School admissions exam. A recent Times article showed how seriously some of those students have been preparing for the exam: taking up coffee, reading the dictionary, and spending weekends and holidays at costly Asian-inspired test-prep boot camps. Meanwhile, another section of the venerable newspaper urges parents of 5 year-olds who are sitting for gifted and talented testing to “stay sane.” Sage advise but, as Liz Belkin wrote in a blog entry about the Obama girls first day at a new school, many (otherwise sane) parents still find it hard to drop their children off and then go home, wait, and hope for the best.

Imminent budget cuts to the city’s schools will hamstring some programs, and simply erase others, like after-school activities and non-academic enrichments, depending on how individual principals parse out the cuts. But even in this arid economic climate, creative New York City teachers find ways to make less into much, much more — provided they have the institutional support to think outside the ‘box’ of convention, and access to resources to help them realize their plans.

Take, for example, Jon Goldman’s four English classes and 14-student advisory at Beacon High School in Manhattan. Goldman, a Shakespeare maven and fencing aficionado, developed an unusual classroom experiment, which launched with Principal Ruth Lacey’s okay in September.

The theory is simple: A ‘green’ classroom, where all work is accomplished online, on screen, and entirely without paper, thanks to a powerful, portable school computer, a SmartBoard, wireless access, inexpensive flash drives for students to ‘carry’ assignments and projects back and forth, and a staggeringly tech-literate student body (only one of Goldman’s 139 students this year lacked computer access at home; another who had a computer but no internet found ample ‘net resources at school, in libraries and internet cafes, and at the homes of relatives and friends). Books, readings, and other classroom materials are provided on line and via the school’s internet portal; so far, essays, tests, and homework have been assigned and returned electronically.

So far, Goldman’s noted a more interactive, engaged classroom experience. Kids are doing as well or better without paper, he says, even with the challenges of glitch-fixing. And in a note to Insideschools, he added, “I’ve not used a single handout or xeroxed paper, or printed anything out other than college recommendations that had to be submitted in hard copy.” No copies, no printouts, no paper, no waste: It’s hard to imagine, for any parent who’s rummaged through the crumbly recesses of their kid’s backpack searching for a trip-permission slip — or a progress report. From multiple sets of 75-page reading packets to 250-page novels, everything that was on paper in 2007-08 is on the screen in 2008-09. Goldman was assigned a ream of copy paper in September — recently noted as a hot commodity – and estimates he’s used fewer than 100 sheets, largely for college recommendations and, as required by Beacon procedure, for attendance reports.

Goldman’s solution may not work as easily in schools that aren’t as tech-steeped as Beacon, which began its life as an outgrowth of the Computer School, and which serves a predominantly middle-class student body The flash drives cost about $10 — less than a movie ticket and a Coke — with subsidies available for students who need them. Notably, Goldman (whose wife works for Advocates for Children, Insideschools’ parent organization) turned to Teacher’s Choice and to generous parents to fund his proposal, which he estimates has saved “tens of thousands of sheets of paper, and thousands of dollars” since its inception.

It seems probable that, in this vast city, other teachers are taking new angles on using classroom resources. If you know someone who’s saving money, saving trees, saving stress, or saving time by creative classroom strategies, let us know. (With critical mass, the discussion can move to Insideschools’ forums, for ongoing dialog and inspiration.)

Before New Years Eve celebrations begin, we wanted to point out a New York Times story that you may have missed while away from your computers during last week’s holiday rush. The premier high school for the arts in the city (and perhaps nation), Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, chose to postpone its annual musical due to budget cuts and now may have to cancel the performance altogether. Now this is no ordinary high school musical - the budget is reported to have been somewhere between $45,000 and $70,000 for just three or four performances - and in a school with approximately 2,500 talented students, only a tiny fraction of those who audition are even able to participate. It seems that with all that talent, the show could still go on with fewer bells and whistles and a much smaller price tag. But regardless (and despite far greater tragedies related to school budget cuts), the symbolism of the city’s flagship arts high school struggling to afford its flagship production is worth noting as we enter a new year and contemplate education funding in the 2009 economy.

A story in today’s Times heralded the season of middle school admissions mania, since - according to the newly standardized timeline - the application deadline has been moved up this year to Jan. 9. Parents in the thick of decision-making can search through the thousands of school profiles on Insideschools and find articles and blog posts outlining the process. If you want to talk to other parents also wading through applications, head to our discussion forums. To hear about one family’s experience with the process last year, read all of Liz Willen’s columns called Middle School Muddle. Good luck - there are a lot of excellent middle schools out there!

Calling all students, teachers and administrators:

On the evening of Thursday, February 12th, members of the NYC Student Union are launching our citywide Student Government Project. This is an evening for students, teachers, and administrators from public schools to come learn about organizing and implementing effective student governments in their schools. It is also a day to begin communication between student governments and between the NYC Student Union and individual governments.

During the meeting, we will collaborate on revising the Student Union’s student government model and help create plans for improving or implementing successful student governments in different types of schools. Participants in schools with successful student governments will share their experiences and give suggestions to students trying to start their own. Students, teachers, and administrators will leave with helpful ideas, plans, tools, and support for the improvement or creation of student governments in their schools.

The meeting will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the UFT Building (50 Broadway between Exchange Street and Morris Street). For directions, check www.nycstudents.org. If you have any questions email Emily, Darien or myself.

Happy Holidays to all!

As the holidays descend in earnest, the time seems ripe to thank our readers for their continued support and steady comments — and to thank the many creative, outspoken voices who add their particular 2c to the Insideschools online community.   

Thank you, Marni Goltsman and Toni Bruno, Liz Willen and Jennifer Freeman, for your heartfelt prose over these past months.  Your insights have enriched us all - and as 2009 unfurls, we look forward to hearing more of your unique spins on public education in New York City.  (Such a simple phrase!  Such a complicated reality!)

We’ll be blogging on a rather reduced schedule for the next week or so, but will ramp up our reporting once the new year swings into gear.  In the interim, thanks in advance to Lindsey Whitton Christ, who readers will likely hear from while our generous and much-appreciated regulars take a well-earned break.   

With every good wish for the holiday season and beyond, we send you our very best.

Merideth Kolodner writes today about a population many prefer to overlook — the thousands of pregnant teens who are, by rights, entitled to be enrolled in high school — citing a new report by the New York Civil Liberties Union (linked here).

The DOE’s “P Schools” (p=pregnancy) were recently phased out, after 40+ years of difficulty.  P schools, created in the 1960s, were designed as safe havens for girls who couldn’t attend their regular schools once their pregnancies became visible.   Intentions were good, but problems were rife:  Unpredictable enrollment (new students arrived any time the decision was made that they should move, and other teens left once they gave birth) and pitifully limited academic progress meant that many girls earned less than a semester’s credit over the year they were expected to attend P school. 

Particularly troubling, on  a micro scale, is the tone of some of the comments that follow Kolodner’s story, showcasing a profoundly callow absence of empathy.   The young mothers giving birth, and their children, deserve better, both from individuals and from the city’s schools.

Last Thursday in District 3, the Department of Education and parents attempted haltingly to hold a conversation about what schools should replace the closing MS44 and PS241. I say “attempted” because parents mostly wanted to vent —about how small gains at those schools were not recognized, and about the challenges the schools faced, like the 35% population of PS 241 students who were both special needs kids and English Language Learners, mostly recent immigrants from Africa.  DOE officials John White and Martine Guerrier wanted parents to limit their comments to what they valued about the old schools and what they hoped to see in a new school.

Regarding MS44, speakers emphasized a desire for diversity: the new school should be general ed, serving students from the entire academic spectrum. In fact, several parents expressed the opinion that education in the district overall might improve if all middle schools in the district took a portion of the lowest performing students.

For most of the meeting DOE officials declined to share their own vision of possible schools to replace PS241 and MS44, but by the end of the night, Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy head Martine Guerrier promised to bring to the next meeting a couple of examples of the kinds of schools that DOE thinks might fit in the community, as a basis for discussion.

I met the mother of a second grader at PS241 who was wondering how to get her daughter the best possible education in the face of a closing school. Who did she have to know? What tricks or special favors could be wrangled on her behalf?

Her daughter got top grades on her tests, the mom told me. Sounds like she would be an asset to any school, I said. You don’t need to ask for favors–let the schools you want her to attend know that you have a great student and your family wants  to be part of their school community.  No need to ask for favors—they should be honored to take her in.

The mom’s face lit up like the Christmas star. “No one ever told me such a positive way of looking at my goals,” she said. With an attitude like that and the will to be her child’s advocate, she was already more than halfway there.

Sunday morning talking-wonk fans may want to tune in to Face the Nation this week, when Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is slated to appear as a guest, on CBS at 10:30 AM.  

Parents of prospective kindergarteners, take  note:  The admissions process will begin in January 2009. For details, read the whole story here.

Parents new to the process might also want to have a look at our guide to elementary school enrollment ; there’s a lot to learn, and not just for the tots.

While the economic and policy debates swirl like the eddying snow – and school cuts loom on the near horizon — the Times today showcases a teacher of English, part of the Teach for America corps.  It’s a warm and flattering profile, but the most pressing question isn’t posed:  It’s  not clear whether Ms. Grant  will continue to work as a teacher or move on to achieve other career goals after her TFA stint ends– a widespread objection voiced by education researchers and plenty of principals, too, that the well-intentioned program recruits young talent, sponsors their certification (and their Masters degrees) and then, loses the new teachers’ skills to career pursuits beyond the schoolhouse door.  New York magazine offers its own gallery of classroom leaders, whose after-school activities include break-dancing, standup comedy and a glam rock tribute band. 

Let no one doubt the diversity of the adults who teach our children, or the myriad contributions these creative, multitalented professionals bring to school each and every day.

A worried, back-to-the-1970s fatalism seems the mode du jour: ACS may fall deeper into debt or lose funding, doubts about funding for class-size reduction, and a bleak overall analysis that predicts regression over progress in city schools fill the daily papers.

Against this black canvas, the DOE announced yesterday $7 million for new programs for English language learners — 148,000 students citywide who, in addition to learning math, science and literature, have to (eventually) master English as well. Grants of up to $100,000 will be distributed to 110 city schools; funders include the DOE, the New York City Council, the UFT, and the New York Immigration Coalition Task Force.

All city schools are mandated to support students learning the language, although in practice, efforts vary widely, and outcomes are mixed . Overall, nearly as many ELL students drop out of high school as graduate — 28.9% vs. 30.8%, in 2007 — while former ELL students graduate at rates higher than citywide averages — 70.9% in 2007, vs. 60% citywide — and far fewer, less than 10%, drop out.

It may be just a tiny glimmer, but it’s a welcome glint of hope, just the same.

It isn’t easy getting information from a 13-year-old, which is one reason I’m at least mildly curious about the interviews my son had as part of the torturous high school application process.

“So how did it go?’’ I asked, after he at least managed to find the high schools in question on his own and arrive on time. “I don’t know,’’ came his non-committal reply.

As a New York City public school parent and veteran of pre-school hysteria, I’ve been down this road before. Ten years ago, I remember dressing him in little checkered overalls and tiny red shoes for his first “interview,’’ at one of the highly competitive pre-schools in our neighborhood. I crossed my fingers and hoped his potty training would hold up, and that he would not grab another child’s toy or start screaming. After successfully steering a plastic fire truck on a gym floor, he was accepted into a lovely church nursery school and spent three joyous years playing Lego, learning letters, and building sand castles.

Segue to elementary school at PS 150 in Tribeca, where all fifth-graders got preparation for answering middle school interview questions. He managed to get through that okay as well.

But high school interviews are different. The stakes are far higher now as the most selective and coveted schools rank their top candidates in a process that has included everything from separate exams to portfolio and report card reviews and recommendation letters.

“So what did you talk about?’’ I persisted. “Nothing much,’’ he replied. I can only hope he was a bit more articulate to whoever was sitting across from him and taking notes at the time.

“We talked about a lot of stuff,’’ I finally got. A little probing revealed some fairly creative and interesting questions on the parts of the reviewers, who have typically included teachers, former students, parent coordinators, and school officials. Some interviews were more like a conversation, with book questions and a discussion of popular movie like “Twilight’’ and shows like “South Park.’’

One question caught my attention. “If you could design the perfect high school, what would it have?’’ It wasn’t asked of me, but I’ve decided to take a crack anyway. I’ll have to keep the answer within both public school and New York City limitations. (Forget about outdoor space, athletic fields, a campus, and class sizes under 20.)

How about a challenging curriculum and a rich menu of performing opportunities in the arts, including music and drama, along with classes (preferably) or clubs in studio arts, photography, and video?

Why not add well-equipped science labs along with community service options, field trips, and opportunities? Oh, I would really appreciate an exciting choice of after school activities, an array of sports teams (both competitive and intramural) and a caring, kind cadre of teachers and administrators who know most kids by name. Advanced placement and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs are highly appreciated as well, as are guidance counselors who understand the college application process in and out but are also sensitive enough to elicit responses from simple questions like: “How did it go?’’ What about schools that offer excellent, challenging English language studies for new speakers — over and above the International High Schools — and strong learning options across all city high schools for kids with special needs?

An eighth-grader enduring the maddening admissions process and trying to get a top public school education in New York City might be afraid to answer that question.

And I can’t say I blame them.

I have a relentless, age-old problem that has become especially acute since I gave birth to my son: too much to do, too little time.

Prioritizing my to-do list goes something like this: first comes parenting, always, without exception; then job-related items; and finally, the hodge-podge mixture of “everything else,” which covers being a friend, daughter, sister, neighbor, citizen, cook, seamstress, plumber and whatever else I’m forgetting, in whatever order works for that particular day. Oh yeah, and wife.

And no matter how much time I devote to my ever-present task list, check marks indicating “done” are occasional at best, while incomplete items multiply and linger. And I shouldn’t be complaining—my husband kicks in at least 50%, we only have one child (albeit one with special needs), and we’re lucky that we’re both employed “in this economy.” And nobody likes a whiner. And yet…

So I had this crazy idea. Two words: “parental assistant.” In the hands of some brainy MBA, I think this new job title could become more ubiquitous on Craig’s List than “weekend barista.” Not a nanny or babysitter who takes care of the kids and the house when the parents are out, but, rather, someone who’s there when the parents are home so that we can actually get something done without the guilt of encouraging our children to watch “Nemo” for the umpteenth time “so Mommy can do some work.” And the beauty of this idea is that it could also jump start our ailing economy. A whole slew of highly educated and accomplished folks lost their jobs last month—how about if the middle-class families of America put them back to work?

I don’t know about you, but I’d be willing to dip into the cookie jar fund for a former Wall Street trader to come over a few days a week to help me restructure my credit card debt and also teach Brooks the ins and outs of Monopoly Junior. And I think at least one of the big three auto CEO’s will be available soon…

President-Elect Obama: would you consider making this a part of your public works program?

I warned you that this was a crazy idea. Maybe it will get easier as Brooks gets older, although parents with older kids have told me it doesn’t. Different, not easier. I think the best we can hope for is that the extra vacation days this holiday season will give us enough breathing space to approach 2009 with renewed vigor.

Which reminds me: I need to order New Year’s cards.

Governor Paterson’s bleak budget preview proposes slicing hundreds of millions of dollars slated for education — cuts that will inevitably affect the lives New York City’s students and teachers in the classrooms.

While City Council leadership and union heads gird their loins for budget negotiations, no one maintains that cuts won’t come. Shortfalls in after-school and supplies budgets are the tip of one wave. For those with a little cash to spare — and generous impulses for New York City’s stalwart educators, visit DonorsChoose, where teachers’ wish lists for budget-friendly projects find the funders they need to flourish.

Dear Mr. Duncan,

Congratulations on your new position as Secretary of Education!  My name is Toni, and I’m a New York City high-school student.

I hope you didn’t just stop reading this letter.

I hope that sometime in your busy next four years,  you decide to pause for a second and lend an ear to us. The students. Maybe read our blogs. Consider having student advisors. Look up from the policies you’re signing, ones that will change our lives more than anyone else’s.  Ask us what we think.

Whenever a new education policy comes out, newspapers are filled with the reactions of parents, teachers, administrators and unions. Ironically enough, no one seems particularly interested in the student perspective. You might consider including students in decision-making during the next four (or eight) years. Maybe you’ll have an advisory board or some kind of representative student council from around the country. Surprisingly, we have valuable opinions on what makes a good learning environment,  a good teacher and a good school. We understand the value of arts education, and the difference between good tests and ones that are a waste of our learning time.

This year, high school students, myself included, turned out in tens of  thousands to elect our new president. We are thrilled about his victory. He is in charge of bringing the change we need to this country. And now you are in charge of bringing the change we need to our schools. We the students have lots of ideas. All you have to do is ask.

Thank you and good luck,

Toni Bruno

Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, head of that city’s 400,000-student public school system, enjoys a reputation as an aggressive reformer who’s not allergic to compromise and collaboration — no bull in the education china shop, but a proven leader with broad support from diverse education camps, and someone with deeply knit connections to Obama and his Chicago circle. Notably, Duncan served within the Chicago schools for years before being tapped to lead them, unlike other Education Secretary possibles Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who entered school leadership as outsiders. Stories in the Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Sun Times broadly profile Duncan’s career, which includes being the longest-serving big-city schools chief in the country, no small potatoes, and a stint playing pro-basketball in Australia. (One has to wonder about impromptu Cabinet meetings on the half-court.)

Duncan has the support of outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings as well, which contributes to his long (6′5″) reach across administrations and party boundaries. Prime on his plate is revising No Child Left Behind, Bush’s signature education reform, with the staggering economy for a side dish: Read the two-page ad published in today’s New York Times, signed by the big brass of the Carnegie Foundation and dozens of public-college and -university leaders, virtual hat in hand, respectfully begging for 5 percent of the national bailout funds for public higher ed. institutions — which, for all the private-college hoopla, educate about 80 percent of American college students. (We’ll post a link to the statement when Carnegie makes it available; the Times doesn’t link to ads.) And don’t miss Governor Paterson’s proposal to expand student loans – whether the motivation is intra-state competitiveness, as he suggests, or a basic obligation to support our own kids as they earn the degrees we’ve begged them to focus on all their young lives, more funds means more college for more kids — even if it means a debt-burdened future along with a sheepskin.

Finally, watch this space for our student blogger Toni’s open letter to Arne Duncan, which we will post later today: As a high school student facing college and an eventual Grown Up Life, she’s got plenty to say.

Beginning this evening and continuing through the week, DOE representatives will host Middle School Choice Information Sessions,  to help parents and students manage the middle school application process. 

Workshops are brief, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm;  click here for information on middle schools in your borough and have your questions ready.   (For a firsthand view, take a look at Liz Willen’s Middle School Muddle, which chronicles her younger son’s search last year for a Manhattan middle school.)

A small story in today’s Times describes a possible merger of state colleges in Georgia that might not ordinarily make the news — save for the critical fact that two of the colleges, Savannah State and Albany State University, are  historically black schools, and two other colleges, Armstrong Atlantic State and Darton College, historically white. 

While the state’s economics may be driving the potential collaboration, as proponents say, the situation itself forces questions that belong to a pre-Brown v. Board of Ed era:  Is it possible that publicly funded institutions of higher learning are officially sanctioned as segregated?   Do all-black schools foster higher achievement, as supporters say, or does institutional, academic separation of communities that share a single state cultivate increasing division and misunderstanding?  Can separate be equal?

In fact, these questions deserve consideration closer to home, right here in New York City:  Look at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn — 1% white, according to DOE stats –  or at  Tottenville High School in Staten Island, which is 2% black.   In a city that celebrates diversity, and where many city schools function as civic hothouses for a complex ethnic mix of kids and cultures, extremes of racial isolation persist.  (But they don’t make the national news.)

In a story that’s not made many headlines at all, Education Week reports on a new rule by the US Department of Education that permits parents of students with special needs to opt out of classes and programs designed to support their kids, in favor of mainstream, general education.  It’s not clear why parents would elect to let go of educational options that can range from special classes and in-class supports to extra time (and quiet) on exams, and it stirs up disturbing echoes of what’s been mentioned anecdotally by more than a few high-school principals:  Families of students with special needs often feel a strong stigma when their child is classified with an individualized education program, or IEP.  The perceived stigma seems to increase as children mature, principals say. Some parents even reject the opportunity to have their child assessed for special needs, because the social concerns — what will people think, what will they say — are so strong. 

The conflicts this new rule exposes are thorny and nuanced:  Of course, parents should have every right to determine their child’s education.  And of course, and guaranteed by the Individuals with Disablilites Education Act, every child with any kind of special need deserves to be educated in the most appropriate, effective setting.  But where do the rights of the child override the rights of the parents?  Should parents be permitted to make educational decisions that will clearly hamper their child’s progress?  Who’s “the decider” here — schools? parents? psychologists and education evaluators? When does a child have her or his own voice? And can that young voice, somehow, be part of the conversation? 

Some semi-heartening news this week: American students seem to be improving in math, according to the world’s largest survey of math and science achievement, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss). Since the 1990s, Asian countries like Singapore and Japan, have dominated international reviews of math and science skills, which can predict a nation’s future economic and scientific health. But despite noticeable improvements in American math scores this year (U.S. 4th graders outscored 23 other countries and tied with students from the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany and Denmark), the same 4th grade mathematicians lagged behind students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, England and Latvia. And American science performance continues flat, with no improvements since the survey was last published four years ago. Science teachers are unsurprised: No Child Left Behind and local policies emphasize math and English performance, leading to diminishing classroom hours devoted to other subjects. In conversations about school performance in the city, science is rarely mentioned.

The Timss survey took a focused look at how 4th and 8th graders in two American states compared to their international peers. Students from Massachusetts and Minnesota outscored students from almost every other nation on both the science and math assessments, which officials from each state attributed to their respective education reform efforts. But while only students from Singapore and Taiwan topped students from Massachusetts in 8th grade science, the Timss study doesn’t uncover the nuances behind the numbers, like how particular schools, neighborhood, or demographics performed. Researchers from Massachusetts and New York’s own Eduwonkette are careful to remind that achievement gaps still persist, even within the high achieving super-states. Deeper analysis of these results will help drive substantiative conversations on curriculum emphasis, educational values, and performance.

The DOE has announced that they will close (or phase out) more schools this June. Below is the current list, with links to our reviews and the most accurate information we have on what will happen to current students . Controversy over how the decisions were made - and how they were announced - continues to swirl.

Closing schools:

Brooklyn

1. PS/IS 72 (D19) will phase out the upper grades and be replaced by separate elementary and middle schools.
2. PS 27 (D15) In September 2009, the elementary school will be replaced by a new school. The middle school will be phased out. High school students must transfer to other schools to graduate.
3. PS 150 (D23) will be phased out.

Bronx

4. MS 399 (D10) will be phased out.
5. PS 90 (D90) will be replaced by two new elementary schools. In September 2009, the new schools will serve grades K-2.
6. PS 198 (D12) will phase out the upper grades, and in September 2009, students in the lower grades will enroll in a new school in the same location.
7. PS 2 (D9) will phase out the upper grades and, in September 2009, students in the lower grades will enroll in a new school in the same location.

Manhattan

8. MS 44 (D3) will be phased out, and in September 2009, new students will enroll in a new school in the same location.
9. MS 321 (D6) will be phased out.
10. PS 194 (D5) will phase out the upper grades, and in September 2009, students in the lower grades will enroll in a new school in the same location.

Queens

11. PS 225 (D27) will be split into separate elementary and middle schools. In September 2009, the middle school will open with a 6th grade, and the elementary school will open with PK-3.

Last week I forgot to bring a lunch to school and found myself standing in front of the vending machines in the LaGuardia High School cafeteria. I expected to find a small, reasonably healthy snack to get me through the afternoon, but when I looked, what I found was chips, cookies, Pop Tarts, pretzels and Rice Krispies Treats. The one healthy drink - a bottle of water- was sold out.

Although the evidence that child obesity affects school performance is limited, nutrition clearly affects academic performance. Anyone who’s taken a test on a morning they’ve missed breakfast will tell you so. Poor nutritional status and hunger interfere with cognitive function and are associated with lower academic achievement. While school health classes encourage balanced and nutritious diets, the vending machines’ crunchy, sweet and salty contents completely contradict this message.

Schools are concerned that if they change vending machine selections to be more healthy, they will lose money. However, in many cases where healthier options were given to kids, there was no decrease in sales. I also know from talking to kids in my school that there are a lot of people, especially girls, who would be grateful for healthier choices in the vending machines.

Being overweight is really difficult. A lot of kids today are interested in eating well, and it’s important that schools encourage this, not just in the classroom, but in the lunchroom, too.

Editor’s Note: DOE has, in recent years, revamped its vending offerings to more healthful choices — some may remember the days when soda pop and high-fat chips were de rigeur in every city school — but snacks still rule at lunchtime, often in lieu of ‘real’ food. All school cafeterias are supposed to have fresh fruit (and salad!) on hand daily, for healthier alternatives to lower-fat snacks, but getting kids to take the fruit is as much a challenge as leading the proverbial (sated) horse to water…

When it comes to mainstreaming your autistic child, is there a better litmus test than soccer?

If my son can enjoy the social component of being part of a team, if he can muster the athletic coordination it takes to pass and kick the ball, if he can appropriately process the echoing sounds of kids running and coaches yelling and balls bouncing in a large gymnasium, then doesn’t that mean all those sleepless nights of worrying will finally be over?

That is why for the past ten Sunday mornings, my husband has taken Brooks to the Y for a friendly, neighborhood soccer class, and that is also why we don’t listen when the last thing Brooks says before they walk out the door, every time without exception, is “But I don’t want to go to soccer.”

The reason we don’t listen is that Brooks has a long history of not wanting to do things: he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t want to feed himself, he didn’t want to be in the same room with other kids. And my husband and I have a long history of gently prodding him into the unwanted experience and then continuing the exposure until he starts to enjoy it. The hundreds of hours I have spent dragging him to Gymboree classes and bookstore readings and kids’ concerts have definitely paid off. So it seems like a no-brainer that my husband and I should keep doing what works.

But there are two problems with this approach. The first is a new problem: Brooks is getting older. It’s one thing to ignore a toddler’s protests—it’s quite another when a increasingly verbal 5-year-old describes to you exactly what he doesn’t like, and asks you point-blank why he has to do it. And the second is a an old problem that’s been around ever since he was diagnosed: How far can we push him without sacrificing his self-esteem? If this is simply too challenging for him at the moment, which may very well be the case, then why are we torturing him by having him face his deficits in front of us and his peers week after week? Should we instead be taking a break from soccer and working on something else? Or should we design a more appropriate intervention, like having his physical therapist work on ball skills with him one-on-one?

Brooks definitely benefited from this particular soccer program: see his grin when he accepted the trophy? And he was able to participate in and enjoy the practice drills. We learned long ago never to underestimate what Brooks would do for chocolate, but even the promise of S’mores ice cream did not motivate him to join in to the short games that ended each class. The unpredictable nature of all those kids running wild forced Brooks to the sidelines where he could manage only to observe while chewing on the neck of his shirt (a self-stimulatory behavior that he uses to cope with stress).

I wish we had the luxury of being able to concede that Brooks is simply one of those kids who isn’t into sports and that it has nothing to do with autism. Although this is a possible scenario, given Brooks’s history, it’s unlikely. Because of autism’s pervasive nature, and because intervention needs to come sooner rather than later to be most effective, our feeling is that it’s too dangerous for us to categorize any challenge as a typical one, even though it may well be.

As much as my husband and I would love to proclaim: “Brooks plays soccer!,” with all its delicious connotations about how far he’s come, the truth is that we’re not there yet. And we’ve decided not to continue the class into next term. He’s going to have to deal with team sports at some point, but he doesn’t have to do it now, not when he’s only 5 and he’s just moved to a new apartment and he’s just started kindergarten in a new school. We take these things case by case: we’ve made our decision, and we’re okay with it.

I say that now, but in the mail yesterday there was a brochure for a kids’ basketball league. Which I know will inevitably lead my husband or me animatedly asking Brooks: “How fun would it be to meet a whole bunch of new friends and play basketball?” Here we go again…

In a good economy, college grads go to work; in a bad economy, they go to grad school. So goes the long-held thinking — but it seems that the current crop of incipient grads has other ideas, if GRE (for Graduate Record Examination) applications are any guide. Early projections anticipated over 675,000 potential applicants would sit for the exam; those numbers have been revised steeply downward, to about 621,000, with the drop attributed (no surprise here) to the effect of the tanking economy on grad-student funding like grants and loans — and on the teaching assistantships that often support students working on advanced degrees. (The Times reports that grad school test-takers increased steadily from 2005 to 2007, from 539,000 in ‘05 to 633,000 students last year.)

The drop underscores last week’s dire reports on skyrocketing college costs – if fewer people go to grad school, and fewer students attend college, the costs of the economic downturn will have enormous, lasting social and cultural repercussions. Into this fray comes the Gates Foundation, which will turn a nearly $70 million focus on improving college and post-secondary outcomes for poor kids, via grants to improve post-secondary education and scholarship programs at colleges in four states, including two New York schools. The Gates Foundation, long the economic engine behind small-school creation and high school reform here in New York City, says its commitment to high schools will continue, although largely in teaching and curriculum reform, according to the Times (and perhaps less in actual new-school creation or direct funding for efforts like the principal-grooming Leadership Academy).

On a local level, UFT and AFT president Randi Weingarten says she’s in the ring for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, should Clinton be approved as Secretary of State. But in the meantime, she’s teaching a model lesson today at RFK High School in Queens, on the life and legacy of Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, in a social-justice curriculum element intended for citywide use.

On the hyper-local level, Insideschools founder Clara Hemphill and her daughter Allison Snyder are the focus of a profile by Jennifer Medina that’s small consolation for the parents of this year’s 80,000+ eighth-graders applying for high-school seats — if some cool comfort: the cumbersome, daunting high-school search is hard for everybody. Are DOE enrollment planners paying attention?

At a time of escalating economic contraction — and when the City Council, which not so long ago fought potential education budget cuts to the penny, now proposes $ 75 million in DOE trims – parents and educators understandably wonder what will become of non-academic but vital arts education in the city’s schools.

The DOE’s 2007 Arts in Schools report documented shortfalls even in comparatively ‘flush’ times:  Nearly a third of schools lacked certified art teachers (compared with 20% in 2006); spending for supplies and equipment was reduced by nearly $7 million; and more than 90% of grade-schoolers (and more than 50% of middle-schoolers) didn’t get the arts education that’s explicitly mandated by state law. 

Tomorrow evening, the Center for Arts Education invites concerned city parents to learn more about arts education funding in the city’s schools; particulars are here.  

This week was filled with bad news for schools and students, but on the same day that the DOE announced it would close three schools, nine other city schools were lauded in US News as among the nation’s best. The news magazine also interviewed Chancellor Klein, who has just wrapped up his tour Down Under, sponsored by Australia’s education ministry. The Chancellor had plenty to deal with upon his return: one of his deputy chancellors had to be reminded of the department’s ethics code; Brooklyn residents are concerned that the city will use eminent domain laws to gain property for a new school; and the DOE had apparently advised principals to “keep the [school] surveys away from toxic person(s)” who might rate the schools unfavorably.

The Times editorial board argue that bad teachers need to be “ushered” out of the system, but one school leader can’t praise her teachers enough; Pamela Taranto, the principal of Brooklyn International, who received the highest grade among all the principals in the city on the progress reports, said she will spend some of her hefty bonus on taking her teachers out to dinner. Another city principal, of John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, plans to remake his school into a “Digital Academy,” hoping that it will improve the school’s lackluster academic reputation. The settlement of a lawsuit challenging policies at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn brought by Insideschools’ parent organization, Advocates for Children, grants students who had been pushed out of school options. But many high school dropouts are finding they don’t have as many options anymore as the waiting lists grow for GED and literacy programs. And many of the students at Newcomers High School in Queens gave thanks for the opportunities of immigration while empathizing with the pilgrims’ struggles — a good lesson for all.

Kelsey Lafer is a junior at Beacon High School in Manhattan. She will blog about embarking on the college search and admissions process. For more information on applying to college, see our “Ask the college counselor” section. 

One year from now, I may be anxiously awaiting an early-decision college admissions letter or putting the finishing touches on a pile of applications, and I am excited (yet nervous!) when I think about all I have to do and decide during the next 12 months. I’ve already met with college admissions officers at my high school, spoken with seniors about the process, and surfed a range of online college-related forums. In my research, I’ve found that every person seems to tell you something different about the college admissions process. But I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to find the best school for me — the one that best fits my needs. And along the way, I’ll share what I learn on this blog. Since I am now in the research phase of my college application process, I have been spending a lot of time online. One useful website, CollegeConfidential.com, hosts discussions about the college admissions process.You can ask questions and get responses from other high school students, those already in college, or even from parents. While browsing the site, I found a few discussions about SAT essay examples that helped me with my own test prep. But I try to avoid some of the other threads – particularly the one called “chance me,” where students have posted their resumes so that others can predict whether or not the poster will get into their choice schools. The people who post resumes are often incredibly impressive, making it seem that they are fishing more for praise than advice.

Another helpful site, Unigo.com, has profiles on thousands of schools, written by both the website staff and the general public. The site includes school summaries, reviews, photographs, videos, student ratings, and handy facts, such as number of students attending and tuition for each college. The goal of Unigo, which I first heard about through a New York Times Magazine article, is to provide the same information that massive college guide books offer, but for free. I actually found this site more useful and trustworthy than any book. The student reviews seem honest and detailed. Some are even fun to read, with students making fun of well-known stereotypes of their schools.

So what’s my next step? Figuring out how to process all of this information to identify a list of schools right for me!

While working with DOE to develop last month’s resolution, District 3 CEC members heard that MS44 was on a list of schools under consideration for closure, but that no final decision had yet been made. Members of the Community Education Council toured the MS44 building just a few weeks ago, to see for themselves whether there was enough space for the Anderson School to share the building with both the Computer School and MS44.

Phasing out and eventually closing MS44 and opening another middle school in its place has no direct bearing on overcrowding in District 3, though it would help if the seats in the school were filled (MS44 was officially listed at 56% capacity in 2007).  But should the DOE have told the community sooner, and included the community in its decision? That would have been a positive addition to the District 3 discussions.

I have been advocating to the DOE that they develop a “middle way” of communicating — somewhere between “we do not see a need at this time” and “we made that decision yesterday.” Discussing decisions that are still in process can be messy, to be sure. But if the decision process is sound, more engagement with the community can lead to a more robust DOE, stronger community organizations, and a more positive collaboration between the city and its constituents.

Speaking of strong community organizations, State Assemblymember Danny O’Donnell sent an odd letter last week to a dozen elected officials lambasting the DOE for letting the important topics covered in last month’s resolution be addressed by CEC3, rather than handled solely by DOE fiat. The letter was notable because O’Donnell is one of the few New York City members of the state legislature’s education committee, which is directly in charge of the legislation on mayoral control coming up for renewal next spring. If O’Donnell has a problem with strong community processes, I have a problem with that.

News that the DOE will close three schools arrived with a thud; the schools will close in June, and open, reconfigured (or reimagined entirely) in September. The schools on the present chopping block include CES 90 in the Bronx, MS44 in Manhattan, and PS 225 in Queens, a pre-K-8 school that will split into two schools, elementary and middle, in its next incarnation.

Once again, the DOE’s decision to close public schools combined stealth and executive fiat — the first harbinger was UFT president Randi Weingarten’s email that arrived in journalists’ ‘in’ boxes. Communities will be given a chance to participate in discussions about the new schools, news reports say, but were offered no voice in the decision to close their ailing schools. In particular, the phase-out of MS44 on the Upper West Side came as a blindsided blow, especially to District 3 residents, whose CEC recently approved the DOE’s plan to relocate The Anderson School in the MS44 building. (Can it be possible that DOE didn’t know they would close the school when they proposed the resiting? Can it be possible that DOE knew but didn’t tell the CEC, or the community, of their plans to shutter the ailing school? Does the sun continue to rise in the east?)

Chancellor Joel Klein, speaking to a journalists’ group earlier this fall, reflected on the Bloomberg-Klein era to date with obvious pride in the rate and scale of school change. As for regrets, he said “there are some things we should have done differently. We should have figured out more effective ways to communicate with and engage the city. Things we did were effective, but were misunderstood.”

No misunderstanding today, Chancellor. DOE decides, taxpayers and parents don’t: Score zero for communication and community engagement. And the early holiday cheer is only beginning: Additional school closures are expected to be announced next week.

Last week, a woman posted a comment on this blog asking us to “move beyond descriptive stats [on the achievement gap] and focus on what makes some kids resilient (both in public and independent/parochial schools) where others fail.” She said that although she had been raised by a single parent in Harlem public housing, she had “beat the odds” and she wanted to know “how can we make our schools, families and communities stronger!”

Her question is a perfect springboard into the first Insideschools’ book club choice, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, by Paul Tough. During the next two weeks, we encourage you to read the book, and send in your questions and comments.  Then, we’ll interview the author, interspersing our questions with yours. You can find the book in your local library or buy it through our website, where some of the profits will be donated to Insideschools.

Paul Tough, who writes about education for the New York Times Magazine, tackles hefty social science quandaries – like what causes poverty and how it can be alleviated — within the narrative of Geoffrey Canada’s dramatic, ongoing struggle to change the lives of Harlem’s children. Canada, who grew up in the South Bronx, has devoted his professional life to figuring out how to tackle poverty by transforming a neighborhood rather than “saving” a few individuals. Canada’s solution, which has been endorsed by President-elect Barack Obama, is to create what he describes as a “conveyor belt” of interrelated programs and services to carry as many children as possible from conception to college, “contaminating” an entire neighborhood with a higher set of expectations.

After five years of reporting, Tough describes Canada’s venture – the Harlem Children’s Zone – through the stories of the people who work for and are served by the project, which includes two charter schools. Tough also explains the research behind anti-poverty efforts, relating it to the sometimes nail-biting, sometimes heartbreaking, yet surprisingly hopeful story of Canada’s work.

For more information about the book, the author, and the Harlem Children’s Zone, read the New York Times review, the Washington Post Review, visit their website, and look on our facebook page.

Read the book, and join the discussion! And remember to email me your questions for Paul Tough or post them here on the blog.

Remember this pint-sized Upper West Sider with a reviewer’s notebook and a $25 budget for his weeknight supper?  Looks like a movie deal is in the works… all the way to the bank (or chic banquette, perhaps?).

A troika of bad-news education stories in today’s Times: An administrator possibly worried about her next job is suspected of changing test scores on a Regents exam (her current, six-figure-plus position, at a Bronx school that scored an A for ‘progress,’ is being cut in budget rollbacks) and has been ousted after nearly three decades in the city’s schools. (The Post basically indicts her here.) The 36-year-old founding principal of the teacher’s union’s flagship charter school, the UFT Secondary Charter School in East New York, has made an exit, by mutual consent, if reports are to be believed. And in Pembroke Pines, Florida, a 7-year-old is facing possible expulsion for pulling a butter knife on a first-grader — in washroom stickup, for $1 in lunch money. Incredibly, the incident, which left the 6-year-old with a nosebleed, went unremarked until parents complained — raising questions about what, exactly, school personnel were doing when a bleeding child was discovered. The child ‘perp’ may be placed in another school, according to Broward County schools spokesman Keith Browery. “We don’t expel to the street.”

As an antidote to the gloom, consider what a few extraordinary kids have to say, via the “Be A Champion” essay context, which named 100 winning essays among 350 entries from special-needs students across the city — and included a celebration featuring New York Jet Tony Richardson, DOE reps, and Lime Connect, which together sponsored the contest. One Bronx boy writes:

“I am a very energetic 12-year-old amputee. At birth,…I was diagnosed with Amniotic Band Syndrome which resulted in my left leg being amputated below my knee, three days after my birth. As much as I can remember, I have never experienced any difficulties achieving my goals. … I am a champion because I never allow my disability to prevent me from fitting in. … Last summer I received the First Place medal for running [with my amputee support group]. I taught myself to swim. … I mastered rock-climbing and bike-riding. Sometimes, I even forget I am wearing a prosthesis.”

A high-school girl in Queens has a different outlook: “I feel everyone is a champion in my eyes. If you put your all into something you want badly, you need to fight. … At one point in my life, I was a champion. Then I let myself down by giving up. I stopped being good in school and doing all my work. … I even stopped going to school. Now I’m back in school and will go on to college. … I have the power and courage to do what I need to do to get what I need. I always let people tell me I will never be anything in life. I’m proving them wrong by doing the right thing. … My word for all the champions out there: don’t let anyone stop you from finishing, or trying to make your goals in life.”

Heartfelt advice, and welcome perspective in a too-cynical world.

When my son Brooks was first diagnosed with autism at 18-months-old, there was nothing remotely funny about it. Without exception, it was probably the single most painful experience my husband and I have ever had.

But as time passed and as we began to settle into our new identities, I believe that our sense of humor saved us. Fortunately, my husband is one of the funniest people I know (and I know a lot of funny people). And I’m lucky enough to have inherited a modicum of my dad’s sense of humor, so laughter is a highly valued commodity in our family.

But as I already mentioned, and at the risk of stating the obvious: Autism isn’t funny.

Or is it? For us, the humor crept in slowly. While we were waiting at the 92nd St. Y to hear notable autistic savant Temple Grandin speak, we were discussing Brooks’s recent habit of repeating whatever is said to him. The technical term for repeating instead of responding is echolalia, and we were plenty disturbed by it. After analyzing and then re-analyzing whether Brooks was using it in a good way and what strategies we might employ to limit it, my husband said: “How many echolaliacs does it take to change a light bulb?” I smiled and said I didn’t know. He responded: “How many echolaliacs does it take to change a light bulb?”

Humor has also helped us cushion the blows that hit autism parents every few months: the new set of reports from therapists, full of cold, hard numbers that document the percentage of delay your child has. You never want to read these. Any excuse will do: you’re too tired; you can’t find your glasses; you need new glasses. One day when I ran out of excuses, I read that Brooks, who was 3, had the expressive language skills of a one-and-a-half year old. I felt sick: “Our son is behind half of his life!” My husband countered: “So when he’s 80, he’ll feel like he’s 40.”

Before long, I found myself sharing our new-found habit of laughing at ourselves with other families. Brooks got his occupational therapy at a local sensory gym where the waiting room teemed with dedicated parents who eagerly shared their success stories, but just as often commiserated on their disappointments. One day, a little boy was having a big meltdown while his mom waited quietly on the bench with the patience of a saint. We all heard the boy screaming and saw him kicking. We all knew that he perceived this simple end of his session as life-threatening. It was torture for him to experience, and it was torture for us to watch. I turned to the mom and said: “You know, I truly believe that our kids will be fine—we’ll be the ones that need to get institutionalized.” I think the mom actually laughed, and I know that she appreciated the sentiment.

Many years ago, when I held my dad’s hand as they wheeled him into the operating room for quadruple bypass surgery, he said: “This is just like E.R.” Only now, as I’m writing this, do I realize that he was the one who showed me how to lean on laughter to stave off tragedy. Did he know back then that he was giving me the key to raising his grandson?

Comedy legend Bob Hope once said: “I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something bearable, even hopeful.” Then again, he also said: “Kids are wonderful, but I like mine barbecued.”

Both the Times and the Washington Post  today offer dire news for college-bound families, based on Measuring Up, the annual report  from the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education (complete report/pdf here).

Escalating costs outstrip family incomes — average family income’s risen by 150% since the ’80s, while college fees have nearly tripled that rate, increasing by 439%.  In some cases, tuition represents three-fourths of a household’s annual income — and students with the cash to pay (thanks to parents, grandparents, dwindling loans, and college funding) are less prepared for the rigors of higher ed.  

Less preparation translates, no surprise, to lower diploma-completion rates:  In an international ranking of nations whose adults hold associates and more advanced degrees, US adults aged 35-64 years old rank second, behind Canada.  But for gen-Xers of 25-34, US ranking drops to tenth — a steep plummet, and if expert predictions materialize as true, a harbinger of academic achievement, or lack of it, yet to come.

Look for more on this theme next week, when the College Board is expected to release its study of access to higher ed.

Pennies For Peace is a fundraising campaign run by Greg Mortenson, co-founder of the  Central Asia Institute.  Mortensen sees education as the main road to world peace, cross-cultural understanding and the overall improvement of our global community.  I think it’s a project that all schools could and should be participating in, as a way to engage their students in politics and international issues while supporting a good cause.

Students are asked to contribute only pennies — no nickels, dimes, quarters, or dollars — so everyone can find a way to participate. The pennies go toward schools being built in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a project Mortensen describes in his book Three Cups of Tea. On the group’s website, Mortenson writes that “Pennies for Peace teaches children the rewards of sharing and working together to bring hope and educational opportunities to children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A penny in the United States is virtually worthless, but in Pakistan and Afghanistan a penny buys a pencil and opens the door to literacy.”

It’s too easy, in this city of plenty, to walk past a penny in the street.  To make your pennies count and start Pennies for Peace in your school, visit their website.

Editor’s Note:  For one measly little coin, the penny sure gets around: Over 70% of the city’s public schools also sponsor annual Penny Harvests, to raise funds for local, domestic and global projects that each school community determines.   

With thanks to Andy Jacob of DOE for the information below, here are answers to some questions from readers about the kindergarten admissions process, both general-ed and gifted and talented.

Siblings. For nonzoned schools like Midtown West, the Tribeca Learning Center and the Manhattan School for Children, the DOE policy of sibling preference holds — but as there’s no school zone per se, there can be no preferential enrollment for in-zone siblings. (’No zone’ means no in-zone, no out-of-zone, just no zone.) So whether the admission is by lottery or another method, first priority is to siblings within the designated district, then to siblings from outside the district, and then, to in-district children without siblings in the school. (Out-of-district nonsiblings are last in this particular line.) Citywide general-education schools give priority to siblings without regard for zone or district.

Gifted and Talented programs. There’s no news yet on new sites for proposed citywide gifted and talented schools in Brooklyn and Queens. Obviously, DOE siting decisions have to be made before admissions offers are extended — but that’s months out. (We’ll keep asking.)

Some have asked how gifted and talented programs are placed at specific schools. While a school can volunteer for G+T classes, DOE more often looks at capacity and geography — which schools have space, and where are those schools in relation to the students who’ve met g+t qualifications. A school’s desire to host a program is less of a driving force than “demand for the program among qualifying students,” according to Jacob.

A few parents of kindergarteners who declined seats at citywide gifted and talented programs in favor of zoned schools have asked whether their kids need to retake the tests to be re-considered for citywide g+t placements. The answer is, yes. Families who declined an offer for a citywide program do have to test again this year. Testing begins in January, but don’t plan on it unless you’ve put in a request for testing: The deadline for requests for testing submission was November 19th.