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...

There are only two more nights, but you should still know that this week the DOE is holding presentations about the new Gifted & Talented admissions policy in the seven languages for which the...

“Did you get anything back?’’I posed this question to my 7th-grade son the other day. I hated the nagging tone of my voice. I’m sure he did too. After all, I’m constantly asking how he...

Wow. Folks here are pretty blown away by what just happened. After the council members finished grilling James Liebman (this took about 3 hours), Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson announced...

Looks like the state was wise to reject abstinence-only sex education funds. Teen birth rates have just gone up for the first time in decades, at a time when more money than ever has been sunk into...

For the first time ever, the state is going to reimburse the Department of Education for the costs of educating children who enroll after the end of October. So the DOE is spreading the word that...

I haven't been blogging about the Khalil Gibran saga because it's just so far removed from the school at this point. But now that a judge has ruled that the DOE did not violate former principal...

The Times reported this week that fighting in city schools dropped by 20 percent between 2003 and 2005. But dating-related violence is on the rise among NYC teens, with 10 percent of girls and 5...

A tipster tells me that desperate parents, unable to believe that the DOE would provide useful resources, are shelling out $45 to buy an OLSAT test prep kit from a "Ph.D. testing specialist" who...

It's December 3 -- time for the frenzy over G&T admissions to ratchet up a notch! Today the DOE released handbooks outlining the updated regulations and containing the Request for Testing form,...

Remember when the DOE announced that 51 failing middle schools would be sharing $5 million in special funds, per the recommendations of the City Council's Middle School Task Force? The principals...

Just a (sort of) quick note from Wednesday's MSNBC Democratic presidential debate. About an hour and a half into the debate Rep. Dennis Kucinich said that he believed 16 year olds should be allowed...

The DOE closed its special schools for pregnant and parenting teens in June amid revelations that many were providing little in the way of substantive instruction. The 300-odd young women enrolled...

If your school has a high needs population and you can think of something to buy that would improve teaching and learning, you stand a good chance of getting your idea funded. The start of the...

An article in the Sun today takes a look at tension between students and the administration at Stuyvesant High School, which has been percolating for years and has reached a new high this fall....

It's been months since the liBloomberg-Klein Complex introduced Opportunity NYC, a program that would pay studentsfor academic achievement, specifically: standardized test scores. This story has...

The MacArthur foundation announced its latest group of $500,000 "genius grant" winners today, and among them is Deborah Bial, the founder of the Posse Foundation, which cultivates groups of...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first day black students successfully attended the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Amid harassment and threats of violence, the students...

Education Committee chair Robert Jackson opened today's proceedings with some familiar complaints: why don't people know what's going on at the DOE until after decisions are already made? how do...

If you've never read the famous children's book The Story of Ferdinand, today's a good day to do so. That's the featured book this year for Read for the Record, a national event designed to bring...

Via the New York Times' City Room blog comes a report released today by the state comptroller showing that schools often fail to report major violence. The report, based on analysis of 10 large...