As the last glorious day of Spring Break washed over us in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden–a happy mess of pink petals and muddy feet–an e-mail slid silently into my in-box. At home that evening, I saw...

Four thousand incoming kindergartners qualified for the city's gifted and talented programs this year, the Department of Education reported today, with many more students tested this year than...

Score reports and applications for students who qualified for kindergarten and 1st grade gifted and talented programs were sent yesterday, April 26, by email and regular mail. There is no word yet...

Just over 500 parents nominated themselves to fill 325 seats on district and citywide parent councils, with the citywide councils for high school and English Language Learners getting more than 70...

Students in grades 3-8 will take the state reading (English Language Arts) exam for three days next week: May 4, 5, and 6. The following week they face three days of math tests: May 11, 12, and...

Monday, April 25 update: We asked the DOE for a final count of applicants but it was not available yet, according to a spokesperson. They are waiting to count mail-in applications. Tonight at...

Dear Judy, If I am waitlisted  at my zoned school for kindergarten, does that mean I am guaranteed to get a seat in 1st grade? That’s what my zoned school told me. Hopeful Dear Hopeful. Zoned...

Want to learn more about the system of high school choice in New York City? Want to sound off on how the process has worked for your family or offer suggestions on how to improve it? The Center for...

In March, Community Roots, a sought-after elementary charter school in Fort Greene, won approval to expand and start a middle school next September. On Thursday, faced with opposition to the plan...

By now, you may have heard about the case of the missing PTA dollars at PS 29 (if you haven’t, you can read about it here and here). For a school that relies on parent fundraising to offset harsh...

I finally came up with solutions to New York’s vexing problems regarding school overcrowding, pitiful educational planning, charter school "co-location" and rampant growth in residential...

Truck Farm at Bancroft Elementary, Washington DC. Photo by Sarah Bernardi NYC public schools will be on vacation for Earth Day on April 22, but plenty of schools are organizing environmental...

Sean Keaton, former principal of PS 20 in Fort Greene, was acquitted in a Brooklyn court last week of "menacing in the third degree," a charge stemming from an altercation with a teacher in the...

When the city decides to close a low-performing high school, it is usually phased out over a period of four years. That mean no new students are admitted, but the students who are there are...

State Education Commissioner David Steiner has given the Department of Education's space planners a case of the jitters. On March 31, Steiner overturned the city’s plan to move Brooklyn East...

Q:  My son has a choice of high schools to attend.  Doesn't the reputation of a high school -- whether it's well known or not -- have an effect on college admissions? A:  True, some high schools...

The Department of Education is hosting meetings this week and next for families of incoming kindergartners who have been waitlisted at schools for next fall. At the meetings, to be held District 15...

Parents now have until April 22 to nominate themselves to serve on one of the 36 Community and Citywide Education Councils -- and they can even text to get application information, in addition to...

How is the special education system working in the city's public schools? Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and the ARISE Coalition of special education advocates would like to know. They have dubbed...

Dear Judy, I have several questions related to choosing a school for our daughter (who is currently 16 months old). We are planning to move to Manhattan in time for her to start school, so I am...

Joyous squeals mixed with heart-rending sobs March 31 as I fetched my daughter from kindergarten. Eighth-graders from a nearby middle school had just received letters informing them what New York...

This week PS 9 in Brooklyn became a landmark in the turf struggles over siting charter schools, when State Education Commissioner David Steiner overturned the city's plan to move Brooklyn East...

Which high school out of the 400-plus in the city received the most applicants this year?  Tiny Baruch College High School, with only  438 students, received 7,606 applications for about 104 seats....

Nearly 8,000 high school applicants were rejected at all the high schools they chose in the main round of acceptances this week. If you are one of them, don’t despair. Some good schools still have...

Fewer than half of the nearly 80,000 8th-graders who applied to up to 12 high schools last fall were matched with their first choice school, and 10 percent got no match at all, the Department of...