Talk of testing dominated the news this week. Whether it was the mayor’s new plan to test kindergarten, first, and second grade students or the results of the SAT exam, the testing debates...

Citing competition as the key to success, Mayor Bloomberg says that pressure from charter schools force traditional public schools to improve. But advocates like Leonie Haimson of Class Size...

Looks like Washington, D.C. schools head Michelle Rhee is borrowing another page from her mentor's playbook; see this storyfor her proposal, modeled on Klein's prototype, that students at 14...

The good news, from the DOE and the State, is that crime in the city's schools is on the wane: Of 25 city schools described as persistently dangerous by the State last year, 15 were removed from...

Families in downtown Brooklyn have long lobbied DOE for new middle schools, especially as local elementaries revive (pace, PS 8's new expansionplans) and the waterfront neighborhoods host new (and...

District 2, which encompasses some of Manhattan's prime development turf, has chronically overcrowded elementary schools. Middle schools, often housed on the top floors of primary schools, add to...

by Liz Willen There's no way of getting around the constant search for schools in New York City -- from getting into pre-kindergarten (far more complicated than necessary this year) to finding a...

Students without placements or unhappy with school assignments in Brooklyn can attend the DOE's new school fair today at Brooklyn's Borough Hallfrom 4-7 p.m. New middle and high schools with open...

More money woes this week: city funding for pre-K programs run by community groups was cut in half, leading to the overnight evaporation of about 300 seats. Yet Obama accepted the endorsement of...

After all the middle-school admissions brouhaha, disturbing reporting on students who can't get out of the middle gradeswas released today by the Out of School Youth Coalition, a network of social...

Quiet week in NYC? Head down to D.C.: Tomorrow morning, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will address a House panel on progress in urban education, along with D.C. Mayor Adrian M....

Early round-up this week -- our attempt to get to the news before we get to the grill. Yesterday, we looked at No Child Left Behind and the second annual Learning Environment Survey results. Even...

We're hoping to take advantage of summer to ask the DOE questions about some things that confused many readers this year, both to understand what happened and explore what's on deck for...

Ten Harlem middle schools will get new math and science programs this fall, thanks to a $17.9 million, five-year grant from the General Electric Foundation, announced just this afternoon by a...

It was the last week of school, and the big story was the generally higher test scores, although the controversy continues over what the scores actually mean. Chancellor Klein was riding high on...

For me, the clearest indication that my son's childhood as he knew it was a thing of the past started with the cupcakes. At a middle school orientation two years ago, I was the ridiculously...

An ebullient Chancellor Klein quoted ol' Blue Eyes this morning -- "it was a very good year"-- and lauded the praises of students at Bronx Lab High School(whose graduates he addressed) as well as...

Persistent declines in level 4 middle school ELA scores and other hallmarks of flagging achievement from the top tier of New York City's students have prompted many commenters' heartfelt concern...

A little-noted irony of the DOE's many student incentives, the cell phones meant to reward middle schoolers -- the ad campaign just won a prizein chic Cannes, France -- are still 100% prohibited on...

It's the last full Friday of the school year, and it seems that we can say with confidence, at long last, that all admissions placements (save for upper-grade g+t) have been made. The appeals cycle...

Too busy worrying if you still have a job, your fifth grader got into middle school or the commute to Manhattan for a G&T program is plausible to read the paper? Don’t worry - we’ve flipped...

by Liz Willen After two middle school searches in three years, I wish I could pretend to be the seasoned pro, generous with wisdom, advice and pitfalls to avoid. But even though we did our...

Parents and special-ed committee members met with DOE officials tonight at PS 721, a District 75 school in the far reaches of Brooklyn, to ask about two-week delays in middle-school admissions for...

As families with special needs students continue to wait for their middle school placement letters, officials from the DOE are showing up at the monthly meeting of the citywide council on special...

With the Obama/McCain showdown claiming more above-the-fold newspaper space and primetime television minutes each week, I have been considering the delicate relationship between teachers’ personal...