We’re happy to announce the launch of the all new InsideSchools website, chock-full of new features for parents of children in pre-kindergarten through high school. The site, designed and built by the Brooklyn creative agency Radish Lab, packs an astonishing amount of information into an attractive and easy-to-navigate website you can read on your cellphone. Whether you are new to New York City, or a veteran of the school system, we invite you to explore our site.

For the first time on our site, you can find your zoned school by typing in your address. You can also search for schools by district or neighborhood—a useful feature if you are moving to a new neighborhood and don't have an address, or if you are planning to commute to a school outside your neighborhood. And we have posted zone maps for the schools that have attendance zones—so you can see where you need to live if you want your child to attend a particular school.

Our favorite schools are tagged as "Staff picks." We also have a new category "Up-and-coming" for schools that we think are moving in the right direction.

We've enhanced one of the most popular features—Free Programs—where we list 217 free and low cost enrichment programs. You can sort by the age of your child, your borough, your interest (sports, art, science and more) and the hours you're looking for, be it after school, summer or year-round.

InsideTools is a handy guide to frequently asked questions such as "How to I apply to a gifted program?" "How do I transfer schools?" and "What documents do I need to register?"

We have all new profile pages for the city's 3,300 public schools, charters and pre-k programs with 65 different statistics drawn from nine different official city and state sources. This data, listed under "school stats" for each school, answers important questions such as:
How many teachers say they would recommend this school to other families?

  • How many teachers trust the principal?
  • Are middle school children prepared for high school?
  • Is the building overcrowded?
  • Does the school have teachers for art, music and drama?
  • How many high students graduate with test scores high enough to enroll at CUNY without remedial help?

Plus, of course, our signature school reviews and slideshows, based on our visits to hundreds of schools.

InsideSchools, a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, was founded in 2002. The redesign was made possible by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and the Tortora-Sillcox Foundation. We also receive support from the New York Community Trust, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Deutsch Bank, the David L. Klein Foundation and readers like you.

We welcome your feedback. Tell us what’s working, what needs work, and what features you’d like to see in the future. Write to us at info@InsideSchools.org.