There are many reasons why high school choice in New York City is so fraught and frightening for parents. In a city where parenting can resemble a competitive sport, important questions abound. But as our children age, we learn that these questions are only the beginning. Concerns from parents...
City Limits devotes its entire March issue toHarlem Children's Zone, featuring a comprehensive report by Helen Zelon, long-time contributor to Insideschools.org. The lead article, "Is the Promise Real," chronicles the history and status of the initiative, developed by charismatic leader Geoffrey...
I admit it: this time of year, my children don't get enough exercise. It's hard to drag them outside to play when we live in a northern, urban environment with no yard, and the playgrounds are sad and frozen. There are only so many after school activities one can sign up for. The school does...
This week's snowstorm forced the postponement of open houses at specialized and new high schools. Because of the delays, the Department of Education is giving 8th graders and their families a few more days to make up their minds about whether to apply to new high schools, or, for those lucky...
<!--StartFragment-->Hot on the heels of the (partial) reinstatement of PTA bake sales, a new brochure was circulated today by the Office of Family Engagement at the Department of Education called “Yes, You Can: A Fresh Look at Healthy Fundraisers for Schools." This attractive guide,...
Meredith Kolodner of the Daily News has been following the storyof Rosa Bracero, a newly homeless senior in high school, who was unable to take the state-mandated English Regents exam in January because her presence was required at a homeless intake center for a seven hour meeting. She took the...
Q: My son is a junior and I thought that later this spring, and over the summer, we'd start driving to see some college campuses. Now he is saying, why bother, no one gets in anyway. He is friends with a number of seniors, and some of them have already gotten rejection letters from colleges....
The Department of Education announced that open houses scheduled for this Wednesday, Feb. 10 for students accepted at specialized high schools, will be postponed until Feb. 22 because of predicted "inclement weather". The forecast calls for ice and snow on Wednesday. Students must turn in their...
New York City is such a peculiarly competitive place to live that even toddlers may receive rejection letters from pre-schools, so you think they might be prepared when it comes time for choosing a high school. At the tender age of three or four, however, they have some insulation, as it’s hard...
Eighth-graders (and some 9th-graders) across the city learned this week whether they were offered seats at the city's specialized high schools, including the eight schools for which students take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, and LaGuardia High School which requires auditions and a...
The Daily News recently surveyed school lunchrooms to see if the "health-crazed Bloomberg administration," which "often touts how it has overhauled school lunches and slashed calories," has succeeded in making standard cafeteria fare healthier. According to some nutritionists, some of the...
In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the closing of 19 city schools. It turns out that a strong majority -- 61% -- feel that schools should be fixed rather than shut. Another 11% felt that some deserve to be closed, but others do not. Just 16% said all 19 schools are bad and should be...
The Department of Education is rolling out plans to open new schools next fall across the city. The DOE announced Tuesday that it will add six schools to the list of Brooklyn schools already slated to open for the 2010/2011 school year. These elementary and middle schools will be located in...
Sixteen new high schools set to open next September are profiled in the Directory of the New High Schools, now available on the Department of Education's website. Representatives from many of the schools will be at this weekend's fair for 8th grade students who are still looking for a high school...
The Upper East Side will be getting a new elementary school next fall to help alleviate overcrowding which caused long wait lists for kindergarten last year in the neighborhood's schools. The Department of Education plans to open PS 267 in the PS 158 building, occupying space which now houses the...
This weekend, the Department of Education is hosting a fair for new high schools at Emigrant Savings Bank, across the street from DOE headquarters at 51 Chambers Street. No word yet about how many new schools, which will accept 9th-graders next fall, will be present at the fair, set to take place...
Is your child turning five this year? Today, Feb. 1 is the first day to submit a kindergarten application. Families may apply to multiple schools by going directly to the school with proof of address and date of birth, and filling out an application.You don't need to bring your child. ...
Judging by the commentary on one of Insideschools' recent polls, heavy homework loads seem to trigger impassioned responses from both parents and students. Do nightly assignments in kindergarten fall into the "too much" category? Some parents think so. The fact that kindergarten homework was an...
In a 6-4 decision, the District 2 Community Education Council approved the Department of Education's "Option 2" proposal for temporarily rezoning Lower Manhattan's school boundaries. Under the plan, Tribeca students living west of Church Street. will be zoned for the highly-regarded, but...
In our most recent poll, we asked how you felt about your school security officers. "Great!" said 35% of respondents. But 63% had concerns, and of those, 18% felt police officers don't belong inside our schools. If you or your child have experienced problems with school safety officers, and...
A recent poll by Insideschools.org found parents overwhelmingly against the bake sale restrictions imposed by the chancellor. Insideschools' readers were not alone in their disapproval. The outcry by parents and kids against the Department of Education's ban on bake sales seems to have convinced...
<!--StartFragment-->Yesterday I had the privilege of serving on a panel at the new Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, listening to 9th graders hold a debate. The topic was “Proposed: a new waste transfer station should be built in the South Bronx.” The two teams represented the South...
After nine hours of parent, teacher, and politician testimony at a boisterous meeting at Brooklyn Tech last night, the Panel for Educational Policy rubber-stamped the decision to close 19 city schools. Impassioned pleas to save neighborhood's schools came from the far-reaches of all boroughs --...
Q: How difficult is it to transfer to another college? Is it easier or harder than getting admitted as a freshman? Also, does the college you are applying to look at your high school record or just your college record? A: The basic answer to all your questions above is: It depends. Openings for...
Parents packed into the District 3 CEC meeting on Jan. 20 to hear Department of Education officials address the impact of charter schools moving into public schools in Harlem, and overcrowding in Upper West Side schools. According to Robin Aronow, ofSchool Search NYC, who attended the meeting,...
I looked at the scattered notes and index cards covering my dining room table last week, struck by a distant but very real memory of my college freshman self during finals: Sprawled out at 6 a.m. in a study room in my freshman dorm, surrounded by textbooks and index cards after pulling an...
Five students and their parents sued the city this week, claiming that kids have been wrongly handcuffed, assaulted, and arrested by school safety officers employed by the New York City Police Department. In addition to damages, the class action lawsuit asks the court to order that schools,...
"Don’t think. If you think, you will fail." That's not a Zen master speaking, but my government teacher. "I’ve seen plenty of students go wrong because they were creative, intelligent people and they thought about the questions. Don’t do it. Copy exactly what’s in the box. Word for word.” Her...
January 21 Update: Red Hook community members gathered before last night's public hearing atPS 15 to voice their discontent with the extension of PAVE Academy's co-location within PS 15. They dispute the accuracy of PAVE'sEducational Impact Statement -- a document outlining the charter school's...
Dear Judy, My mother told me that I should write to you about the fact that that I forgot all my math facts when the teacher gave us two minutes to solve 32 multiplication problems. Do you think two minute tests should be allowed? Jake (4th grader) Dear Jake, Short, timed tests are tough, but...
Someone asked me: do I worry my daughter will be "labeled" by getting an IEP(Individualized Education Plan) and switching to theCTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) classroom? That's a good question, and if I had been asked years ago, hypothetically, I would have said yes. But right now, my answer...
The Department of Education awarded a $12 million grant to the non-profit group Out2Play Inc. to construct 70 new playgrounds across New York City's five boroughs. The first 30 playgrounds are slated for completion by the end of 2010, according to Crain's New York Business. No word yet where the...
Actor Matthew Modine started a chat with middle school students at Brooklyn's New Horizons School, MS 442 on Wednesday by turning off the overhead fluorescent lights to reduce energy. “I feel very strongly about empowering individuals to make a measurable, tangible difference to our community,”...
I have written many posts about how much I love PS 178, Brooks's school. It is extraordinary. Period. This is not news. But I thought it might be an interesting exercise to try to articulate what makes it so good, and for that matter what makes any school good. Especially at this juncture in New...
Q: My stepson is a high school junior and lives in Puerto Rico. He really wants to go to college in New York City. Can you recommend a good website or resource for us to help him prepare for the application process? A: New York City is one of the world's best college towns! There are colleges...
A host of parental postings on this blog in recent weeks have included the following concern: “My child has so much homework and gets so little sleep that I feel really sorry for him/her.” Often, this has come from the parents of freshmen at schools like Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science and...
Gov. David Paterson unveiled a bill Thursday that aims to improve New York's chances of receiving $700 million in Race to the Top funds. Since the introduction of the Race to the Top in 2009, states have worked feverishly to conform with its eligibility standards -- each hoping to reap a portion...
At 7 a.m.on Tuesday, I and 15 of my fellow students, stood on the steps of Martin Luther King Educational Campusshaking with cold and clutching signs that protested the proposed student MetroCard cuts. All of us have been to several student protests this year, and we know what to expect. They're...
Recently, a friend and public school parent said to me that they were not sure they could expect their child to be known well in school, implying that such things cannot happen "in public school." It reminded me of many conversations I have had with people—personal and professional—that assume...
The United Federation of Teachers, alongside a coalition of parents and community groups, filed a lawsuit today against the New York City Department of Education, claiming that it failed to properly allocate more than $750 million in state funding to improve educational conditions and reduce...
Dear Judy, What can I do if a teacher intentionally lowers my son's grades? He is in the 2nd grade of the gifted and talented class. At the parent teacher conference the teacher said that my son was doing very well - reading on a 3rd grade level, But she did mention some issues with his behavior....
It's Sunday, the last day of holiday break, and at 4:30 my daughter proclaims she's ready for a bath. "But what about dinner?" I ask. "You haven't even eaten yet." "No dinner!" she insists, hopping up and down for emphasis. "I'm ready for bed. I want tomorrow to be here." This, from a child...
The Department of Education's proposed closing of some 20 schools—including several large high schools which will be phased out and replaced by small schools—prompted an outcry by students and staff before the holiday break. Teachers rallied to save some of the large high schools including...
The State Supreme Court today ruled against the Department of Education’s plan for development and use of the playing fields on Randall’s Island, long used for public school sports. The city, in partnership with the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation, brokered a deal with 20 private schools to...
New Yorkers have a new Commissioner of Education, David Steiner, who now holds broad powers over our kids. The Alliance for Quality Education has posted a video featuring education activists, parents, grandparents, and students expressing their hopes for what the new boss will do for our kids in...
It was hard not to feel empathy for the aspiring dancer depicted on the front page of the New York Times last week, in an excellent piece by Jennifer Medinathat looked at the grueling schedule of auditions for ninth-graders hoping to snag a spot in a performing arts high school. The endurance...
At a press conference yesterday outside the busy 72nd Street subway stop, Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer called on the MTA to restore funding for student MetroCards. As has been widely reported, among the cutbacks to make up for a budget shortfall, the MTA is planning to cut...
At Arts & Letters, we are embarking on a month of preparation for our Quality Review. For those of you who do not know, theQuality Review stands next to the Progress Report Card, those notorious A-F grades that appear in the newspapers. These are the Department of Education's two most...
A dozen New York City high schools were awarded gold medals by US News and World Report, in its annual ranking of the 100 best high schools in the nation. Schools are ranked according to the degree to which all students meet state standards, and that minority and economically disadvantaged...
Q: My daughter applied Early Decision to an Ivy League school and just found out she was "deferred." Her college counselor told her the school was a "reach," but my daughter chose to apply anyway because she really loves this college and felt she had a good chance. Her grades and scores are very...
I overheard a conversation this fall between a group of high school freshmen, comparing the weight of their backpacks, their teachers, and their overall adjustment. Many spoke of going back to visit their middle school several times already, a telling clue. One described the juniors and seniors...
