Applying to middle school—a process that begins in the fall of 5th grade—can be stressful if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s very important that you stay on task. My name is Nathaniel Cain...

Got an 8th-grader at home? Then you must be gearing up for high school admissions. Our advice: Check out our tips and handy action plan for making the most of your high school search and register...

Some charter schools hold public lotteries. Coney Island Prep held its first lottery in 2009. Abigail Kramer is a public policy journalist at the Center for New York City Affairs and the parent of...

Our 6th-grade blogger Nathaniel Cain checks in with a report after his first full week of middle school in Brooklyn. On Thursday, the first day of school, I was VERY, VERY nervous. I didn't know...

One day last school year, a girl in Fanny Roman's kindergarten class at PS 244 in Flushing, Queens arrived bubbling with excitement about her new shoes. With Roman's encouragement, she began...

Q: This is my senior year. I moved to the US from Vietnam in the second semester of my sophomore year. I attend a large, pretty crowded public high school and my parents knew nothing about...

A Lehman HS student shows off what he's learned in class. (photo courtesy of The Daily News) Teachers are taking it on the chin these days. From Waiting For Superman to budget debates, the value...

Students enjoying- see?- the NYC FITNESSGRAM test (Courtesy DOE) Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he needs to trim fat from public budgets. Here's an unbeatable move: cut test-prep time in half and staff up...

AQE Lobby Day in Albany (Photo Courtesy of Alliance for Quality Education) Last week, activists hoping to avert budget cuts in New York public education — cuts that will have a direct and lasting...

P-Tech Principal Rashid Davis, shown speaking to prospective students at a fair in February, was at last week's supplementary round fair. If you are one of the 8,000 8th graders who were rejected...

Chancellor Walcott cooks waffles at PS 10 in Brooklyn. (Photo courtesy of homedecornews.com) Like Dennis Walcott, I have made good on a promise to cook waffles in a public school.  And like...

As I battle with my 5-year-old daughter over school lunches, I am reminded of something a friend once said about gardening: “Tending a garden isn’t about growing things,” she told me. “It’s about...

The degrees of my good luck are incalculable, in Sinagpore Math or Everyday Math or anything else. I have good health, a wonderful family, and a child who qualified, based on her pre-K test, for a...

PS 290 on Manhattan's Upper East Side, has 60 families waitlisted for kindergarten next fall. Dozens of children remain on kindergarten waitlists at popular schools around the city, and last week...

Out2Play has built 118 playgrounds (some with dedicated athletic facilities, all with student input) at schools around town since 2005. (Photo courtesy of Out2Play) With layoffs looming, it'd be...

Lenny Trerotola introduces the high school admissions process to families of middle school students. (Photo by Erica Baum) Next year's high school applicants will learn where they have been...

A 16-month prep course designed to help low-income middle school students prepare for the city's elite specialized high schools will be cut nearly in half from 16 months to three beginning in 2012,...

New York City is blessed and cursed by the most extensive system of school choice in the country. Everyone must apply to high school. Choose carefully. Once you enroll, it’s really hard to...

Yellow school buses will roll on September 8, the first day of school this year. If your children are among the 150,000 who ride the bus, or if you have a special needs child who is transported in...

Wondering how your kid did on the state tests back in May? Individual math and English test scores for grades 3 to 8 should be available today on ARIS parent link. Summer school students will...

You will certainly want to check out your neighborhood school before you enroll your child. You may also want to tour other schools that your child may be eligible to attend. On your visits,...

Newcomers to New York City public schools, and students with unresolved placement problems, can bring their transcripts and other records needed for school registration to special enrollment...

As spruced-up kids headed for school today, many toted large plastic bags and backpacks filled with school supplies, paid for by parents who may have spent upwards of $100 to fulfill their...

_ Author's Note: If your past week has been anywhere near as chaotic as mine (and if you're the parent of a school-aged child in New York City, I know it has), I hope you'll indulge me in this...

Brooks has come a long way in the pool. As an infant and toddler, he hated the water (he often reminds me these days that "hate" is a bad word, but I assure you it's appropriate here). I have...