Your independent guide to NYC public schools

I'm happy to report that what loomed large for my son at school a few weeks ago had nothing to do with the mandatory standardized 3rd grade ELA and math tests, and everything to do with LearningSpring's annual talent show.

To our relief, the tests were given the appropriately small amount of attention they deserve. They don't drive the school curriculum, and their results will be refreshingly meaningless. We already know that my son is academically well-below grade level. He will get practice taking tests—not a bad thing—and no teacher will be fired because he didn't score high enough. But I understand that our school's common sense attitude is atypical in NYC public schools, and I support and admire Anne Stone and Jeff Nichols for taking a stance against these tests that take so much away from and contribute so little to our kids' education.

What Brooks got out of the talent show cannot be measured by a test. He shared his love of music with the whole student body, and he experienced the teamwork of the school coming together to create a performance for their friends and families. Although the teachers and therapists were guiding them, we knew from the way Brooks had talked about rehearsals that this was their show. And from the moment the two upper grade masters of ceremonies warmly welcomed the parents, my husband and I became enchanted.

Some highly sought after high schools won't have to enroll more special education students this fall, even as others work to boost their numbers and meet city-mandated targets.

Bard, Baruch and Eleanor Roosevelt, all in Manhattan, are among 27 high schools that are exempt from enrolling a mandated number of special needs students in their 9th grade classes this fall. City officials said the schools will be asked to meet targets in the fall of 2013.

The schools given exemptions fall into three categories: the city's 14 International schools that serve new immigrants; seven schools that require auditions; and six hyper-competitive academically screened schools. (An additional nine specialized high schools, governed by state law, are also exempt.)

District 20 leaders are bracing for a flood of parents at Wednesday's Community Education Council meeting who want the city to exempt IS 187 Christa McAuliffe from next year's special education requirements, which will force the school to admit more kids with special needs.

Other parents say allowing more special ed kids into the school isn't the problem. These parents want the city to re-open the application process to special needs students at the all-gifted Brooklyn middle school, since so few knew it was an option.

Many parents of special education students – including those with kids at IS 187 - say they had no idea that their beloved school was a possibility. While a small number of special education students do attend the school, it has not enrolled students who require special classes and more intensive services.

When I first learned that some parents at IS 187/Christa McAuliffe were gathering signatures to fight an increased percentage of special education students enrolling at their school, I was reminded of an event from my childhood.

When I was 9 or 10 -- about the same age as my son Brooks is now -- neighbors came around with a petition to stop the construction of an apartment development for people with physical disabilities. I have a distinct memory of my dad's immediate disdain for the folks at the door who were far more concerned with their property values than with anyone else's hardships. That was way before he became the grandfather of an autistic child, or for that matter, had any personal relationship with anyone who might benefit from the new housing. It was simply a human knee-jerk reaction—he knew right from wrong, and this was wrong.

I'm having the same reaction to the campaigning Christa McAuliffe parents.

And it's not just me—if you read the 46-and-counting comments on Meredith Kolodner's post, you'll find similar outrage. But you'll also find that these parents are being defended for reasons that make a lot of sense.

Some parents at a top middle school are fighting to stop special education students from “taking seats” from students whose test scores may be higher.

The parents at Brooklyn’s IS 187/Christa McAuliffe, where students must ace standardized exams to be admitted, fear that combining special and general education students in the same classrooms will reduce the level of education. “No parent is going to want their kid in those classes,” said IS 187 PTA co-vice president Virginia Cantone. “The truth of the matter is that the wide spectrum of challenges is too great for any of the children to learn, it’s too great of a difference.”

The parents have been petitioning, emailing elected officials and plan to leaflet elementary schools in southern Brooklyn’s District 20 to convince other parents to join their drive to get Christa McAuliffe exempted from the new special education requirements.

The city’s planned special education reforms mean that nearly all city schools--including most selective programs--must admit the same proportion of special education students, ending a practice in which some schools got huge numbers of special needs children and others got almost none. The specialized high schools and the five city-wide gifted and talented schools are exempt, and some Christa McAuliffe parents think they should be too. IS 187 is the most sought-after school in District 20. Students are admitted based on their state reading and math scores and their scores on a separate test known as OLSAT.

Christa McAuliffe parents don't object to special needs children who meet the school's entrance requirements--as 19 current students have done. These children are high achieving but may have other special needs such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Asperger's syndrone. Neither do the parents object to the 30 very disabled children who attend the school but who are segregated in what are called "self-contained" classrooms. The parents say they would not mind having more of these students since they “don’t mix in the same classrooms.” Rather, the parents are objecting to setting aside seats for special needs children who may not have scored as high on the exams as the rest of the students in the school.  

At most of the selective high schools, seats are being held for special education students who must meet the same criteria as the general education students (mostly by scoring a Level 3 or Level 4 on state exams). In McAuliffe’s case, there will be two pools of students created-–one for students with disabilities and one for general education students. The highest scorers in each pool will be admitted. The school has been told they need to admit about 25 special education students into next year’s 6th grade class.

“There will be children who will be crushed who could have gotten into Christa McAuliffe who will have to be in a regular general education class at another school instead,” said Cantone.

Advocates noted that many students with disabilities were also gifted.

“There is a broad spectrum with children with disabilities and many more of them should have access to quality programs,” said Maggie Moroff of Advocates for Children.  “With the appropriate support and services, there’s no reason those children shouldn’t be able to achieve at the same level as their more typically developing peers.” She expressed concern, however, that the DOE may not have made adequate plans to give disabled children the support they need in classes for the gifted.

A handful of schools, such at NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies, have successfully integrated high-achieving special needs children in mainstream classes. These schools have spent years planning and refining their practice so, for example, a math whiz who is also dyslexic gets the help he needs in reading while taking advanced math classes.

The upset parents at IS 187 have gone on an email campaign, delivered petitions to local politicians and are hoping to bring like-minded parents to the next month’s Community Education Council. The District 20 CEC has not taken a position on the issue.

Education Department officials said they were working with the principal and the school community to help them understand the changes but do not plan on exempting the school.

Advocates who support the reforms said they were disturbed but not surprised by the parent response.

“This is a warning sign for us all,” said Jean Mizutani, program director at Resources for Children with Special Needs. “There will be a backlash. I think it’s going to be a challenge for everyone.”

A change in special education enrollment will likely have some already overcrowded schools coping with a large influx of kindergarten students in the fall.

In past years, most special education students were placed in schools that had space or offered the kinds of classes that could serve them. This year, in an effort to allow more special education students to attend their local schools, most will be enrolled at their community school.

The problem is that some schools that had big kindergarten wait lists last year also had a very low percentage of special needs students, compared with nearby schools. That means the new plan for sending more special education children to their zoned schools could bring even more kindergarteners to the doors of packed schools this fall.

Our friends and colleagues at Advocates for Children are putting out a call to action to protect early intervention programs for young children. Early Intervention provides evaluations and services to infants and toddler who have developmental delays or disabilities and their families. 

Governor Cuomo's 2012-2013 Executive budget proposal would restructure Early Intervention, linking those services to health insurance coverage. In a statement, Advocates says:"While we support the goal of requiring private health insurance comopanies to contribute to the cost of EI, we are concerned about parts of the proposal."

Among other things, the proposal calls for a representative from an insurance company to be on the team that develops a child's Individualized Family Service Plan. It would also require the child to be evaluated and served by evaluators and service providers within the child's insurance network. 

Advocates for Children is calling on concerned parents to call or e-mail their state legislators to express their concerns that these changes would would make it harder to access high-quality EI services.

See the Advocates for Children website for more information. A sample email letter is after the jump.

If you're one of the 7,391 8th graders who didn't get assigned to a high school--or who was assigned to a school you don't want to attend--there are still some good schools with space available. We've updated the list below since our visit to the weekend high school fair at Martin Luther King Jr. complex. And, we've added a list of schools that MAY have slots for incoming 10th graders. Some are highly sought-after schools that may have very limited seats.

If you want to apply to these schools, fill out an application by March 15. Contact your guidance counselor for details. You'll get the Round Two results by the end of April.

Some of the schools listed on the list for incoming 9th graders only have available seats for students who receive special education services. That's because of a new Department of Education policy that sets aside a certain number of seats at every school for special ed pupils, either those entitled to classes with two teachers (called collaborative team teaching or integrated co-teaching) or to special small classes (called self-contained.)

Ninth-graders applying for 10th grade have a different list of schools to choose from and, according to the DOE, all programs listed are open to general and special education students. NOTE: There are many popular and selective schools on the list but it is unclear how many seats -- if any -- are available. Our advice: apply anyway, if it's on the list, you've at least got a shot.

Picks for incoming 10th graders

Manhattan: Art and Design High School, Beacon High School, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franck McCourt, Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, N.Y.C. Lab School for Collaborative Studies, NEST +M, NYCiSchool, Talent Unlimited, Fashion Industries and Young Women's Leadership School,

Queens: Aviation Career & Technical Education High School, Bard High School Early College II; Cardozo High School (dance and zoned program); Forest Hill High School zoned program; Frank Sinatra; John Bowne (agriculture and selective science research); Long Island City (culinary Insitute, Opera Institute & various others); Scholars' Academy and William Bryant (math/science enrichment).

Bronx: Bronx Early College Academy for Teaching & Learning (BECA); Celia Cruz High School of Music (concert band, chorus, strings; Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community Research; Marble Hill High School for INternational Studies, The Cinema School and WINGS Academy (dance).

Brooklyn: Murrow (bilingual programs and fine and visual arts); Fort Hamilton (honors academy, instrumental and vocal music); Westinghouse Career and Technical Education (information technology and design systems); Medgar Evers College Prep; STAR Academy at Erasmus and Transit Tech (various programs).

Staten Island: Curtis, New Dorp and Port Richmond all have openings in zoned and selective programs.

Picks for incoming 9th graders

Manhattan

Academy for Software Engineering is a new school that's scheduled to open in the fall at Washington Irving High School. It doesn't have a track record, but it has a formidable group of high-tech partners.

Harvest Collegiate is a new school opening in the Legacy building 14th Street that promises lots of class discussions, hands-on activities and trips around the city.. It has a well-developed website, a clear vision and an experienced principal.

New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math High School on the Lower East Side has a demanding curriculum and a high graduation rate. Students who have already tested need not test again. New applicants will be given the opportunity to take the test.

School of the Future, a popular 6-12 school, has spaces for both general education and special education students.

Talent Unlimited is an audition school with seats in musical theatre, drama and instrumental music. two other arts schools, Fashion Industries and Art and Design, also have some seats and were at the fair.

Some very selective and popular schools have seats for special education students, including Bard Early High School Early College, Baruch College Campus High School, Beacon High School, Columbia Secondary School, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Frank McCourt High School, High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies, Millennium High School and NYCiSchool. Students who receive special education services and who also meet the other admissions criteria for these schools are eligible to apply.

Brooklyn

Fort Hamilton High School has seats in its honors, music and vocal programs.

Midwood High School has seats in its Liberal Arts and Science Institute, the school's zoned program. The selective academies there only have slots for special education students.

Millennium Brooklyn is new but promising and has seats for both general and special education students.

Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, a popular school that takes kids from all over District 15, is expanding to add a high school. They anticipate having 25-35 openings for 9th grade and will have representatives at the Round 2 fair.

Benjamin Banneker has seats in its pre-engineering program.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School has seats. (Note: the school may replace half its staff if the mayor goes through with his plan to reorganize it.)

Transit Tech teaches students to be subway mechanics.

Some very selective and popular schools have seats for special education students, including Murrow, Medgar Evers and the screened programs at Midwood. Students who receive special education services and who also meet the other admissions criteria may apply.

Queens

Some popular (and overcrowded) zoned schools have seats: Benjamin Cardozo, Forest Hills and Francis Lewis high schools. Zoned students have preference, but other students may apply as well.

Bayside has seats only in the music program.

Francis Lewis also has seats in its highly selective math and science program.

[Although Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, an audition school, appears on the DOE's list, as having seats in its film, fine arts and drama programs, the school says it does not have openings.]

John Bowne is opening an additional section of its highly-regarded selective science program (not on the Round 2 list). There may also be a few seats in the popular agricultural program for kids who really want to learn about animal husbandry and farming.

Some selective schools have seats for special education students who meet the admissions criteria: Baccalaureate Schoool for Global Education, Bard High School Early College II and the DaVinci program at Cardozo. 

Bronx

Bronx Career and College Prep High School has high expectations.

Millennium Art Academy in the Stevenson building has strong leadership.

Holcombe Rucker has a welcoming atmosphere.

Westchester Academy is founded by a former assistant principal at Brooklyn Latin, one of the specialized high schools. She plans to bring many ideas from that school to a broader range of students at Westchester Academy.

Another new school, the High School for Energy and Technology, will be a good bet for students who like to work with their hands and are attracted to the engineering field.

The Macy Honors program at Dewitt Clinton has some strong students and is the most successful program in a large school.

The following schools have seats for special education students who meet the other admissions criteria: Marble Hill High School for International Studies, the Cinema School and Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy.

Staten Island

All of the zoned school on Staten Island still have seats.

[Updated March 13, 2012]

"Special needs children need not apply."

There was no sign hanging on the main office at PS 289 in Bedford-Stuyvesant last week, but there may as well have been.

Essence Louis says she was told Friday that she couldn't register her son Michael for kindergarten because next year the school won't have the kind of class he needs.

"I'm already dealing with a special needs child," said the distraught mom of two. "I love this child, but then to go to a school that's supposed to be helping you and to get there and get turned away, it makes you upset."

Michael's problem was not supposed to happen this year.

It's not just elite high schools that are being told to increase the number of special education students. The Education Department is also directing selective middle schools to take more students with special needs.

At a meeting on Tuesday, staffers from several top-performing middle schools in southern Brooklyn were told to prepare for a significant increase in next year's sixth grade class. The schools must enroll a similar number of special education students as other schools in their districts.

Among the schools that need to make a dramatic shift is the Christa McAuliffe School in Bensonhurst, where 3% of the students have special needs compared with an average of 13% at all middle schools in the district. Also included are Bay Academy in Sheepshead Bay and Mark Twain in Coney Island, where fewer than 4% of the students have special needs, compared with 16% at middle schools districtwide.