This letter, signed by Dana O'Brien, was published last week in the New York Times. As a public school student myself, as well as on behalf of the New York City Student Union, I would like to...

The Post today has a little more information about charter schools opening this fall. It looks like the Board of Regents is approving a dozen new charter schools: four in Queens, three in...

Prospective and current middle school parents might want to question math curriculums more aggressively. What topics are covered and what kind of background and training does your child's math...

It's too easy to say that this is the DOE's way of shortening the school-to-prison pipeline, right? Update 1/12: That was fast. After lots of negative feedback, the city has abandoned the plan.

Since the DOE has demonstrated that it will do whatever it wants, a good way to predict future DOE initiatives is to pay attention to what DOE officials say ought to be done. So when DOE bigwig...

Can we stop testing now, Chancellor Klein? New York rates the highest among all 50 states in a new Education Week report that looked at education funding, policy, and student achievement. What's...

Some parents are threatening to sue the DOE over the changes to the G&T admissions policy, according to an article in Crain's New York (subscription required). "We feel that redress in the...

In Brooklyn today the DOE announced the permanent replacement for Debbie Almontaser, the inaugural principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy who resigned just before the start of the...

Never mind that today is the start of the elementary grades state ELA exam — what school cancels Monday classes over the weekend? Bronx Preparatory Charter School, apparently. Maybe it was...

We're entering crunch time for elementary school students preparing for the state ELA exam. It's being given on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week, and of all of the dozen tests over the...

It’s nearly halfway through the year. Have you spent at least half the money that your PTA has raised? Raising money is not easy, but spending money well can be at least as big a challenge. You...

If you're like me, you're having trouble getting back into the workaday routine. Here's something to hasten your return: If you want to have your child to be considered for admission to Gifted and...

The Post's Yoav Gonen kicks off 2008 with a status update on the cell phone ban. He notes that the bill the City Council passed in July and then reaffirmed with an override of the mayor's veto in...

Earlier this month 45 of you answered a poll about what you consider the best source of information about New York City's public schools. As I hoped and expected, most of you (68 percent) said...

One teacher who hasn't totally taken the week off is NYC Educator; he's been blogging away. Today he takes aim at the culture of school as work that led PS 15 in Springfield Gardens to schedule...

Nestled in a Times article yesterday about the pedagogical values of graphic novels was the information that fans of the genre tried to start a comics-themed high school but were not approved by...

Although the city's schoolchildren aren't heading back to their classrooms for another week, I'm back to work. I'm thinking there won't be too much school-related news until 2008 -- even the DOE...

The state has released its own list of elementary and middle schools in good standing and in need of improvement under No Child Left Behind — and the news isn't great for the city or its progress...

The DOE proudly announced earlier this week that 86 percent of the schools given the option of accepting performance pay this year chose to. Thirty-four eligible schools chose not to participate....

When the progress reports first came out, many, including Regent Merryl Tisch, were not happy that charter schools did not get grades. Chancellor Klein said he didn't have the authority or the data...

The DOE has just announced "new measures to improve transparency and detail in class size reporting." Using improved means of data collection, the DOE will start publishing class size reports so...

Anyone who thinks the New York Times has been soft on the DOE in recent years should take note: Sam Freedman is on the job. His column today addresses the question of "How a Middle School Can Be...

Anyone who expects to come away from a New York City public middle school tour with a “THIS IS THE PLACE FOR MY KID” feeling should adjust expectations. I’m told this does happen to some...

I've been meaning to note for the last week an interesting article in the Times about CUNY's Model City Council program. Kids from around the city, drawn from those enrolled in College Now courses,...

This past spring, when the state lifted the cap on the number of allowed charter schools, you could hear prospective school operators salivating. Now some of the first charters have been granted...