Advice from InsideSchools founder, Clara Hemphill, on what to consider when exploring your options for elementary school:

Charter schools are free, public schools open to all New York City students. They are founded by not-for-profit Boards of Trustees and operate under a contract (or "charter") of up to five years....

The following is a paid message from School in the Square. School in the Square (S2) is a FREE, PreK–12 public charter school now accepting applications for the 2023-24 school year. S2 engages,...

InsideSchools director Natasha Quiroga appeared before the New York City Council Joint Immigration and Education Committee to share our insights and observations from helping over 400 newly arrived...

Click here to find resources for newly arrived migrant families New York City has a complicated public school system that's not easy to navigate. It has some of the best schools in the country as...

Contacting the Department of Education is like calling any huge bureaucracy: You have to follow a lot of prompts before getting to a real person. Once you do reach someone, we’ve found that the...

This was originally published in Urban Matters by our colleagues at The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School. Tomorrow, roughly one million students will begin classes in New York...

Mentors help with schoolwork, English, college prep in addition to playing sports, exploring the city, and participating in group events. Academic programs include reading support, test prep, and ...

On a recent hot summer day, July 27th, InsideSchools hosted its first workshop for asylum-seeking immigrants. Our group included several InsideSchools staff, and parent and student volunteers. On...

The problem with public education in America isn’t that all schools are bad. The problem is that the quality is so uneven. In New York City, some lucky parents simply enroll their children in their...

A previous version of this story ran in October 2019. It has been updated with new information for October 2020. While the Department of Education has yet to finalize policies for the Fall 2020...

Updated March 15, 2022 If you want to explore options beyond your neighborhood elementary or middle school you may want to enter a lottery for a charter school. There are also some charter high...

Applying to kindergarten in the Bronx? Application season is open! Last year we updated all 200+ Bronx elementary school reviews. Listed here are a handful of good neighborhood schools, charters,...

A previous version of this story ran in October 2019. It has been updated with new information for October 2020. While the Department of Education has yet to finalize policies for the Fall 2020...

A previous version of this story ran in October 2019. It has been updated with new information for October 2020. While the Department of Education has yet to finalize policies for the Fall 2020...

Now more than ever, we need each other. That’s why we at InsideSchools have spent the summer creating a new space to support NYC families in what promises to be an unusual year. It’s called...

It’s not surprising that many elementary school teachers struggle with the Common Core State Standards for math. Many early childhood teachers are actually frightened of math. They may doubt their...

Back in early March, we published a new vision for where we wanted to take InsideSchools in the next 1,000 days. Within a week, Covid-19 forced the entire NYC school system to shift to remote...

Yvonne, mother of 4 (Girls Prep Bronx Elementary & Middle School, Success Academy) "Open communication with teachers is important to me. I want to be able to ask, 'What are the expectations?...

A good school website tells you what you need to know about a school without even stepping inside—a reality we now face until schools can once again open their doors for tours. The Department of...

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...

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...

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...

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...

New York City is in the midst of an intense debate about opportunity and racial and socioeconomic fairness in determining which students get to attend which public schools. Last month, the School...