Today would have been the first day of Spring Break for NYC schools. Instead, we attempt to continue with business as usual. During a global pandemic. As a dad, I’m struggling. When I shared news...

At InsideSchools we’ve been busy providing support to parents, teachers and students during these hectic and challenging times. In case you missed them, here’s a round-up of posts we published in...

Earlier this week, we launched Extra Help with InsideSchools, a podcast series devoted to helping families and teachers in New York City navigate the move to citywide online learning and...

Applying to kindergarten in New York City can be daunting. What’s the difference between a district and a zone? A program and a school? It may surprise many to learn you can apply to up to 12...

As our spaces feel smaller and distance learning begins to lose any sheen of novelty it may have had, it is uplifting to see buds give way to blossoms and blooms in the city. It also occurred to...

I was coaching a middle school team of teachers last year when I observed a 7th grade math class. The teacher, whose name for the life of me I can’t locate in my notes, was remarkable. Her...

On a recent episode of the podcast, Extra Help with InsideSchools I shared some suggestions for managing students’ ELA (English language arts) instruction online and at home. One of my key...

Every morning in my public elementary school classroom (many years ago now), I greeted each child by name as they entered the room. And at the end of the day, each student had a job to do, such as...

The Department of Education recently released the results from the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). Each year, we hear how few Black students get into Stuyvesant (only 10 this...

For those of you at home with younger kids, here’s a recommendation for a lovely interlude of drawing, Monday - Friday mornings at 10 a.m. Wendy MacNaughton, who drew the illustrations for the...

We love this video by Mark Rober that turns the scary topic of germs into a fun experiment for kids. It will show your kids how quickly glow-in-the-dark “germs” can spread around a classroom—from...

We’re all feeling in a state of flux as schools are closed and the New York City Department of Education (DOE) takes on the herculean task of providing online instruction to roughly one million...

Everywhere you look right now, you see stories of parents trying to figure out how to manage their child’s online learning. I’m one of those parents, too, and can share a glimpse into the reality...

MARCH 20, 2020 UPDATE: New York State has cancelled the standardized math and ELA exams for grades 3-8 for the 2019-20 school year. Parents of children in grades 3 to 8 who took standardized...

One of the first things we look for when we visit classrooms around the city is the daily schedule. It’s often posted on the wall near the door. In an elementary school classroom, it outlines how...

With schools closed until at least April 20, you are surely wondering how your students or children will possibly stay engaged and keep learning for weeks, if not months at home. Anyone who’s had...

Allow me to take off the InsideSchools editorial hat for a second. I’m just Tom, the father of a 10-year-old who is just as overwhelmed by all the resources and links and free tools as many other...

Even amidst COVID-19, today is still St. Patrick’s Day. I taught English for six years. And it didn’t matter what I had originally planned, every year that March 17th fell on a weekday I suspended...

As anxious 8th-graders wait to find out where they’ll be going to high school next year, City Limits reports on the reality that many of them will face in September—long commutes. When I advise...

For 18 years, InsideSchools has provided an invaluable public service: free independent reviews of the city’s schools, resources for families navigating the school system, and a trustworthy...

The pre-K landscape in NYC is constantly shifting: since last year’s application season, more than 166 programs have closed, merged, or shifted out of the DOE Universal Pre-K system, and 540 new...

This interview with InsideSchools Editor in Chief, Tom Liam Lynch was originally published in Urban Matters, a publication by our colleagues at The Center for New York City Affairs at The New...

As I write this from my standing desk at work, it occurs to me that in hundreds of school visits over my nine years at InsideSchools, I’ve seen only two standing desks in classrooms. One was on my...

It seems like a no-brainer: Research says children who feel safe and supported by adults have an easier time learning. Environment and tone matters, and at the core of a school's positive...

A couple years ago, a poetry question appeared on the ELA test in Texas. The poet’s name was Sara Holbrook. If her name sounds familiar, it is probably not because of her poetry so much as her very...