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...
Kindergarten applications are due March 2, and any child born in 2007 may enroll in public school kindergarten. That means that some kids will still be only four years old when school starts. That cut-off date differs from many private schools and some city charter schools which expect children...
A prep program for high-achieving, low-income middle school students aimed at bettering their chance for acceptance to one of the city's specialized high schools is open to both 6th and 7th graders this year. Previously the Specialized High School Institute (SHSI) 16-month prep course began only...
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...
Boys and Girls High School is a failing school by many standards. The New York City Department of Education gave it a grade of “F” on its 2011 Progress Report. Only 45.7% of students graduate in four years and just 19.7% of them enroll in college. Out of those, 4.2% of students are considered...
Q: My niece is a US citizen by birth, but grew up and attended school outside the country. Now she is graduating from high school and wants to go to college in the U.S. I need to know how to fill out the financial aid forms, using whose income and tax returns – or does she apply on her own?...
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says kindergarten should be mandatory for all 5-year-olds. In her State of the City address Quinn, who co-sponsored the Insideschools' event on applying to public elementary school this week, said she is working with the state legislature to get a law passed...
Ed Note : Parents of prospective pre-K and kindergarten students had lots of questions at the Feb. 8 Insideschools forum at the New School. There wasn’t time to answer each one individually, so we grouped together similar questions and Judy will answer them. Here, she tackles questions about...
If you missed our forum on "How to apply to public elementary school," you can watch it below. (Please bear with us for the 30 second ad before the video starts). If you'd like to see more events like this, please email our co-sponsor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. If you prefer words...
Kindergarten options in Brooklyn are as diverse as the borough itself. In the largest districts, schools are packed and most families attend their neighborhood schools. Others have room for students from out of zone, and even out of district. Charters crowd central Brooklyn but have little...
The elementary schools in the Bronx have been improving in recent years, but many still have a long way to go. Some Bronx parents still prefer to take their children to school in Manhattan. Here are some options for parents who are dissatisfied with their neighborhood schools but who want to stay...
Most children in Queens attend their neighborhood elementary schools, and there isn’t a lot of room for shopping around. However, if you are dissatisfied with your zoned school, here are some possibilities. PS 85, Judge Charles Vallone School, in Astoria has a gifted program with a science focus...
The nominating committee for Helicopter Parent of the Year should take note: I recently sent a letter to a 1st grade teacher asking whether my daughter’s homework was too perfect. Let me explain. Four days a week, my 1st-grader comes home from school with a one-page worksheet in her backpack....
The Department of Education has not updated its zone maps to reflect zoning changes on the Upper East Side, lower Manhattan and the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, so parents who call 311 to find out the name of their neighborhood school to register their kindergartners may get inaccurate...
Our Feb. 7 Insideschools event "Applying to Kindergarten" is fully booked. All RSVPs are now going on a waitlist. Everyone who is on the waitlist is welcome to come at 8 p.m. for a Q&A session. And, we'll be live-streaming the event on Insideschools.org. If you would like Insideschools to...
We’ve heard a lot of scary stories about kindergarten waitlists at very popular schools, but what about good schools that aren’t hopelessly oversubscribed? Insideschools has compiled a list of Manhattan schools that accept children from outside their immediate neighborhoods. We’ll be posting...
For some parents, applying to kindergarten has become a second job. They are zoned for schools that are failing, overcrowded or unsafe. They make phone calls, search websites and seek advice in hurried conversations at pre-school pick-up or on playgrounds to find out what schools are good and...
On February 9, the Panel for Education Policy will meet to vote on the future of the 25 schools up for phase-out and closure. Hearings are held at the schools; in some cases parents and students are protesting outside the schools prior to the meetings. Protests generally begin at 5 p.m.; hearings...
Dear Judy, I have a son in a private school and I would like him to apply to public middle schools. I have been told that he will need to take the public school New York state exam in the spring of 4th grade year in order to apply to public middle schools. Is this the correct procedure? Is it...
In the midst of the kindergarten application season, the Department of Education has posted its first-ever directory of all public elementary schools in the city. The listing indicates which are zoned schools, which are unzoned, and which have gifted and talented, dual language or magnet...
A research study released last week found that teens at new small high schools in New York City are more likely to graduate than their peers at other, larger schools. Under the Mayor's watch, the Department of Education has shuttered many large schools and continues to push for small schools as...
Physical education programs in New York City public schools are woefully inadequate. An October audit by the City Comptroller's office showed that few schools meet the state standards, which call for daily PE for grades K-3; three times a week for grades 4-6, and 90 minutes a week for older...
Teens who attend a new small high school have a better chance of graduating than their peers at larger, established schools, according to a study released yesterday by the research firm MDRC. The study compares students who were accepted by lottery to one of 105 new schools to those who applied...
I have a modest proposal for the state and city officials responsible for placing Regents exams a week after finals: Could you please flip the schedule and schedule Regents before finals? While not all city high school students take Regents exams in January, there are no classes at all in most...
There is an inherent irony in this artistic mecca we call New York City when it comes to the Education Department's arts education policies. Insideschool's own Judy Baum reported that although there is no lack of good arts education programs, "46% of elementary schools do not meet the state...
Parents of kids with lopsided abilities despair of finding the right educational fit: for the math whiz who has dyslexia; the child with a photographic memory who can’t sit still; the ace test-taker who struggles to get along with her peers. These kids are Twice Exceptional, often abbreviated as...
Q: I applied to seven colleges, regular decision. There are three that I really hope I get into. The others are fine, but I’m not that excited about them. My counselor thinks I have a pretty good chance at most of them – but not the top three. And those are the ones where I most want to get...
Parents who unwittingly lead young children into addiction often can pinpoint that horrible moment when they’ve hit rock bottom. My moment came Thursday when my 6-year-old daughter, home from 1st grade with a cold, sat on the sofa watching a DVD of the idiotic musical “Carousel.” Sometime after...
After decades of focusing on Regents exams and graduation rates, in 2011 for the first time the Education Department evaluated each high school on "college readiness" - that is, how many of its graduates were actually prepared to do college work. The score on each school's Progress Report didn't...
Warning to anyone who is awaiting results of the latest round of high school admissions: It's not going to be over soon. You may wonder what that means. After all, if you've done the required homework, you've probably taken numerous tours of New York City High schools, endured tryout anxiety...
New York City public high schools with academic requirements for entry offer a rigorous education, but admission is supposed to be based on performance, not on income. So why do so few low-income students manage to get in? A look at two dozen of the city's most elite high schools -- those that...
Dear Judy, My child scored in the 90th percentile on the G&T test last year, but didn't get offered a seat anywhere. What's the deal? Gifted Mom Dear Gifted Mom, When dealing with the Department of Education, guarantees can be murky. Read the fine print and adhere to the rules: Score in...
Insideschools aims to provide up-to-date data on New York City public schools. We rely on official statistics and information from the New York City Department of Education(DOE) and the New York State Education Department(NYSED), which monitor most public schools. While some data was provided by...
Mayor Bloomberg recommends that you visit a school before enrolling in kindergarten. So why won't some schools let parents in? "We recommend that you call schools of interest to schedule a time for a visit," states the kindergarten admissions page of the city's Elementary School Directory. Good...
Financial mismanagement and low performance have likely doomed a handful of charter schools. The city announced Monday it would move to close Peninsula Preparatory Academy in Far Rockaway, Queens and Williamsburg Charter High School in Brooklyn. Peninsula students would be assigned to local...
The Department of Education set dates for another round of school closing hearings. On February 9th, the Panel for Education Policy will meet to vote on the future of the 25 schools up for closure. Here are the dates for the next two weeks: Thursday, Jan. 12 : Middle School for the Arts,...
Dear Judy, My child scored in the 90th percentile on the G&T test, but didn't get offered a seat anywhere. What's the deal? Gifted Mom Dear Gifted Mom, When dealing with the Department of Education, guarantees can be murky. Read the fine print and adhere to the rules: Score in the 90th...
Q: My daughter is a sophomore in high school. We've just begun the process of researching the college admission and selection process. Aside from providing very basic information, her school college counselors don't meet with parents or students until junior year. My daughter is a good, but not...
Rachel Monahan of the N.Y. Daily News reports: While Mayor Bloomberg has touted gains for the poorest students, middle-income kids' test scores have failed to improve during his administration. Eighth-grade reading scores for this group dropped dramatically compared to their peers in other large...
Dear Parent, Thank you for agreeing to chaperone our upcoming field trip. It's safe to assume you are a first-time volunteer, since all parents who chaperoned previous field trips have informed us (sometimes via their attorneys) that they will never do so again. Therefore, you ought to know some...
Teachers, women's groups and elected officials will rally Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 10) to demand that the Education Department remove a Bronx principal who made lewd remarks to staff members. The DOE reprimanded John Chase, principal of Bronxdale High School, and ordered him to undergo...
When I was a kid in elementary school, I dreaded lunchtime when a nasty girl in my class would relentlessly make fun of my hand-me-down clothes, tell your-mom’s-so-ugly jokes, and threaten bodily harm. I looked forward to middle school to escape, but my tormentor followed me there. What was...
Dear Judy, How does the DOE decide to start a dual language program? Are they proposed by interested parents? ELL Mom. Dear ELL Mom, Parents do have a big role in establishing dual language programs: the Department of Education is obligated to start one if at least 12 parents of English...
Classroom Visitation Checklist - Autism Spectrum Disorders By Bonnie Sayers The best time to visit a potential classroom for your child on the Autism Spectrum is when school is in session. This should be done several months before school gets out so you can find a suitable placement for your...
I got a letter the other day from a parent whose daughter had missed more than 30 days of school. “Please excuse my child for these absences because of asthma, colds and the weather,” the note said. The weather? So, if the day was cold, then her daughter wasn’t learning. If it was raining – no...
Close to half of city elementary schools do not meet state standards for arts instruction, even as the number of certified arts teachers in the schools has grown, according to the 2010-11 fifth annual Arts in the Schools Report released just before the holidays. The Center for Arts Education...
The Education Department is taking some steps to address the city's annual pile of nightmare stories about kindergarten enrollment. But the underlying issue of too many kids for the number of seats in some neighborhoods will persist. First up, the DOE may close "non-mandatory" programs at...
