A week after a quirky, nonsensical tale on the 8th grade ELA test stumped students and resulted in the New York State discounting questions from the exam, two faulty problems have surfaced on this week's state math tests. In his weekly letter to principals, Chancellor Dennis Walcott advised...
Anne Stone is Associate Professor of Music at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Jeff Nichols is Associate Professor of Music at Queens College and the Graduate Center. They live in Manhattan with their sons Aaron and Gabriel. As a result of their 3rd-grader's experiences with a test-driven curriculum,...
My family's turn to provide afternoon snacks for my daughter’s 1st-grade class comes up next week, and I'm anxiously awaiting the backlash. When you make dietary choices for 23 New York City kids, only one of whom is yours, some other parent will often take exception. It's easy to frame the...
A whopping 1,603 incoming kindergartners scored in the 99th percentile on this year's gifted and talented assessments. Out of 14,239 test-takers, 11 percent scored in the top one percent. You'd think this was Lake Wobegon! The tests are supposedly designed so that one out of every hundred...
Dear Judy, My teenagers want to work this summer – if they can find jobs. Any ideas about how they can find work when there is so much unemployment? Mother of Teens Dear Mother of Teens. Teens are a vulnerable group when it comes to summer jobs. They have to plan and be very aggressive in the...
The City will open 54 new schools in the fall, including 24 charters, Mayor Bloomberg and Education Chancellor Walcott announced in a press conference on Tuesday. Bloomberg is now just 50 schools away from his goal: 1800 New York City public schools before he leaves office in 2013. Way back in...
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...
Gifted and talented results letters weresent to families last week, and since then our inbox has been full of G&T queries from parents of prospective kindergartners who must apply by April 20. Here are four questions that we answered. My 4-year-old is a smart guy. His teacher says he is...
The good news for this year's gifted and talented kindergarten test-takers? More kids scored high enough to qualify for a citywide G&T program. The bad news? Eligible students have about a 1 in 7 chance of scoring one of those citywide seats. Of the 14,249 children who tested for the city's...
Parents have started receiving the results of the 2012 tests for entrance to elementary school gifted and talented programs. Score reports were sent by email and regular mail on April 10, according to the Department of Education. Along with the results, families receive an application listing...
It's spring break so why are so many kids showing up at school this week? Test prep, that's why! Schools have sidelined regular lessons and ramped up test prep this year as the stakes for improved scores on state exams continue to rise. Some schools brought in test prep companies and 25 schools...
Q: My son applied to 7 colleges and was accepted at 3, waitlisted at one. He is now in a dilemma because he can't decide where to enroll, and he has to commit himself by May 1. Naturally, the school he likes best is the one where he is on the waiting list! We have visited only one of the other...
Parents of children who turn four in 2012 have a few more days to apply for public school pre-kindergarten programs for next September. The Education Department extended the application deadline from April 5 to April 10. Online applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on April 10. Parents...
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...
Dear Judy, Our son used to be an A student but now he is getting Ds and Cs. He is a freshman in high school. The teachers tell me he does not do his homework. Sometimes he does it but forgets to hand it in. We can't figure out why he is no longer interested in school and we are getting...
April is National Poetry Month. It's also the month many New York elementary schools hold benefit auctions to raise money. Inspired by both events, I composed a poem (much in the tradition of Robert Service, my late father's most beloved balladeer) designed to stir the soul of any parent who ever...
State-mandated standardized tests for students in grades 3-8 begin on the Tuesday right after spring break. There are three days of reading (ELA) tests: April 17, 18 and 19 and three days of math the next week: April 25, 26 and 27. Have the teachers been spending lots of time preparing kids for...
A group of parents have launched a petition drive to try and reverse the increasing importance of standardized exams in city schools. In particular, they are opposed to a new law that could get teachers fired if their students' state test scores don't increase sufficiently. "Parents want their...
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...
Two dozen new charter schools will be opening next fall, adding to the 136 charters now operating in New York City. Applications for most schools are due by April 1, although several have later dates. Parents may apply online using a common application for some of them. Check the New York City...
Kindergarten registration begins today and the early word is that some Manhattan and Brooklyn schools have waitlists for kindergarten, although they are somewhat shorter than last year. The waitlist phenomenon occurs every spring after the first round of applications. Long lists tend to shrink...
Kindergarten registration begins March 26 after families learn this week where their children got accepted. Schools sent out notification letters via email and regular mail by March 23. While the majority of public school children attend their zoned elementary schools, other families apply to...
UPDATE: On April 2, Chancellor Walcott announced a reprieve for seven of the 33 schools that were slated for closure and "turnaround." These schools will remain open: In Manhattan, Harlem Renaissance; in Brooklyn: Brooklyn School for Global Studies, William E. Grady Career and Technical High...
Sparks flew at the Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative Studies on Monday night as the chief academic officer defended the city's heavy reliance on standardized exams to judge schools, principals and teachers. Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky was under fire all night from the...
Dear Judy My 16 year old 10th grade daughter received a safety transfer from her very dangerous high school. How do I go about finding a new high school for her? Confused and anxious Dear Confused and Anxious. Transfers are hard to get so your daughter’s experience in an unsafe school must...
Nearly a dozen new middle schools will open in the Bronx and Brooklyn next fall. New school applications are available now from elementary school guidance counselors in districts 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 23 and 32. Students who apply to a new school may get an offer from two schools --...
"THAT'S IT!" It was the final straw, or rather, the final Skittle. I stood frozen in front of the principal's white board—it's the first thing you see when you arrive at my son's elementary school. The principal writes an inspiring message on it every day. A point of etiquette. A new vocabulary...
In an effort to prevent the sexual abuse of children, my daughter’s elementary school now requires parents to wear little white nametags when we visit classrooms. I’m pleased to report that Operation Nametag has been a success: No charges of child abuse have been filed since it went into...
I thought I was courting disaster when I took my four-year-old to Brooklyn's two-hour long pre-k information session Monday night after a full day at pre-school. But with the assistance of an extra large slice of pizza and a cupcake-making app, we made it through without meltdown. There are...
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....
Some Manhattan parents are scrambling to stop a plan to move 150 Harlem Success Academy 5th-graders into a building on the Upper West Side. Critics fear the plan could make the Success Academy students, most of whom live in Central and East Harlem, eligible to attend Upper West Side middle...
The first day of school for students next fall will be Thursday, Sept. 6, according to the Department of Education calendar now online. Classroom teachers begin two days early, on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Pre-K and kindergarten students begin with shortened school days. The first full day for...
I transferred from a public high school to a rigorous college prep school in my sophomore year. At my new school, I took Advanced Placement Calculus AB, AP World History, and Honors English. But I did poorly, getting a 3.2 GPA. Now, as a junior, I have a 4.2 GPA and am taking 3 more AP courses....
Students who are lucky enough to have actual high school choices can attend open houses this week, where they’ll have a chance to weigh commutes, clubs, classes, homework and social life. Students who haven’t been matched, will be concentrating on where they might get accepted in Round 2. Others...
At the March 3-4 Round 2 high school fair we collected information about open houses and auditions for some schools that still have space. This is an incomplete list. Best to contact the schools' parent coordinators or website to confirm and find out about others. If you have information about...
If you're an 8th grader who hasn't received an offer at any of your high school choices, take a deep breath. It will be a busy two weeks before the second round applications are due on March 15. Try to visit schools that interest you and that still have seats. Many are offering open houses and...
Anyone who regularly reads Department of Education documents knows better than to expect fine literature. Many DOE memos and letters are so full of the bureaucratic nonsense known as “eduspeak” that they make an IRS 1040 form look like “Huckleberry Finn.” But a letter recently sent home with my...
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...
Wondering what to do if you, or your 8th-grader, did not get assigned a high school in the first round? Want to find out your options? Need suggestions for a great high school that has room? Join Insideschools.org’s Clara Hemphill, Jacqueline Wayans and Pamela Wheaton for a Twitter chat on high...
Baruch College High School topped the list of most sought-after high schools for the second year in a row. Baruch – a selective district 2 high school with a 98% graduation rate and only 438 students – received 6,465 applicants for about 104 seats. Last year, Baruch received 7,606 applicants....
Nearly half of the 77,137 8th-graders who applied to high school last fall were matched with their first choice school, but 10 percent got no match at all, the Department of Education announced today. The results are nearly identical to last year's main admissions round when 90 percent of...
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....
March 8 2018 UPDATE: High school letters go out this week. Read and comment about the 2018 high school admissions results here. February 2012: This week all 8th-graders in the city, and 9th-graders who want to change schools, will find out where they have been accepted to high school. The...
Vasilios Biniarls is a math teacher at a Queens middle school program for gifted students, The Academy at PS 122. He wrote to Insideschools after his name was published in the press as a "Below Average" teacher. Here's his view. Insideschools will not be publishing or linking to the Teacher Data...
Parents applying to kindergarten for fall 2012 still have questions as the pre-registration period draws to a close on March 2. Here are a few more questions that parents asked at our kindergarten workshop this month. 1. If you apply to a school not in your zone or district before the deadline,...
Applications for public school pre-kindergarten will be available March 5 online and at elementary schools and Education Department enrollment offices. Families must submit applications by April 5. Applications for programs located in community based organizations are separate and are now...
The latest serving of data-driven mania from the city Education Department will likely produce screaming headlines about the city's "worst teachers." This virtual wall of shame (and fame) will live online for years to come. But does it actually help parents to find the best schools and teachers?...
"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...
Dear Judy, My son has been physically attacked several times in elementary school – I call it bullying—but the classroom teacher is no help when it happens and the rest of the staff has not been helpful either. What can I do to help my son? Frantic mother in Queens Dear Frantic Mother in...
If you saw my recent post on the arts, it won't surprise you that my husband and I felt strongly about getting Brooks piano lessons from an early age. Of course, we had to immediately rule out the neighborhood flyers with tear-off phone numbers—our little boy with big challenges would need a...
I attended two presentations last week at my daughter’s Upper West Side elementary school. The first featured the chancellor in charge of New York City schools, who was on hand to absorb parents’ rage after a paraprofessional at the school was arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with a...
