Most of the 8th graders at IS 318 in the Bronx boycotted a practice social studies test last week, the Daily News reports. They complain that they've been taking tests all year, many of which are simply practice or diagnostic tests ostensibly designed to prepare them for the real thing, instead...
Today's Sun has a comprehensive overview of where the city's school budgets now stand — and it's possible, writes Elizabeth Green, that one reason principals didn't receive their school budgets last week as scheduled is that the mayor plans to restore some funding to schools. That's the hope, at...
"Did you get the mail yet?'' my 5th grader asked yesterday, for about the 300th time in the last month. I did not like the anxious look on his face, but I understand it. For reasons as of yet unexplained and articulated by anyone at the New York City Department of Education, middle school...
NYC Public School Parents is hosting a copy of the DOE's much-anticipated "Blueprint for District 2 Enrollment and Capacity." At a recent meeting about overcrowding in District 2, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said the fact that such a document was on its way was one "sign of...
Can you imagine what a $52 million capital improvement could do for the increasingly overcrowded Beach Channel High School? Keep imagining -- the $52 million is going to soundproof the building against the noise from nearby JFK airport.
Kids these days spend more and more time inside their utilitarian public school buildings, and as a result they're alienated from nature and the creativity nature inspires, writes Alison Arieff in a recent Times column. "What if we looked beyond the notion of schools as institutions (like jails,...
Parents are reporting that they've started hearing back from citywide middle schools. They've heard — as have we at Insideschools — that districts will be letting students know where they've been accepted by the end of this month. Does anyone have any other information to share? Good luck to all!
Mayor Bloomberg has got to be feeling the pressure to restore education funds to the city's budget. On Wednesday, parents gathered at City Hall to urge City Council members to vote down the proposed budget. This morning, State Assembly leader Sheldon Silver presented the mayor with an assembly...
From the minute we dropped our 5th graders off in a sun-dappled elementary school courtyard last September, the search – and the questions – officially began for parents. Would we be able to find a decent New York City public middle school for our 9- and 10-year-olds? The tours got off to a slow...
From the Sun comes the news that the Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, which had its application denied last year, is now cleared to open in District 15 in 2009. The school will open with grade 6 and will eventually serve students in grades 6-12. Founders says Brooklyn Prospect will offer the...
Eduwonkette's been taking a close look at the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 (pdf)— and she reports today that the $8,287,282 slated for the Division of Assessment and Accountability includes $7,789,623 for 18 staff positions, or $432,757 per position. Eduwonkette uses these figures...
If you don't believe already that the economy is tanking, here's proof: the number of college students applying to join Teach for America increased by 37 percent this year. Nearly 25,000 graduating seniors applied for 3,700 spots, making TFA more selective than all but the most elite colleges —...
The DOE has responded to the frustration voiced by parents who had their rising kindergarteners screened for G&T eligibility, only to find that their district programs start in 1st grade. This week, parents of kids who scored at the 90th percentile or higher received a letter saying, "After...
I've been tossing around this idea for a while now as I've been finishing up the final classes of my senior year. It's a little out there, so please stay with me till the end. The test prep culture in our schools is bad and widespread. It detracts from learning. It pervades all of our classes....
Popular, successful elementary schools are overcrowded because too many families want to attend them. Not really news, is it? It is when kids start getting put on waiting lists at neighborhood schools because the city hasn’t planned for the influx of kids living in new apartment buildings in...
It's not the lack of gym classes in schools -- that was earlier this week (and last month). Perhaps it's the changes to school lunches being made because of rising food prices? "From such healthy staples as fresh spinach to more haute cuisine like cornmeal-encrusted fish and Cuban roast pork,...
Today Sam Freedman reprises his jeremiad from earlier this year about what happens to schools when large high schools near them begin to phase out. The only thing that's really different in today's story is the schools involved: Instead of Beach Channel accommodating students zoned for Far...
Yesterday, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum's office released a report on the state of physical education in the city's schools, concluding what we already know: schools stink at making sure kids get physical activity. But the facts, at least according to the Public Advocate's office, are worse than...
Did you catch the 4,500-word story about Debbie Almontaser in the Times last week? If you did, were you as puzzled as I was about why the story was running now? The initial brouhaha over the Khalil Gibran International Academy appears, finally, to have died down; Almontaser's lawsuit alleging...
It's getting easier to be a helicopter parent, according to an article in Sunday's Times about the rise of online data systems that allow parents to track their kids' school performance in real time. Using programs such as ParentConnect and Edline, parents in some school districts can log on to...
Last week, the mayor released the city's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Calling the numbers describing the city's fiscal situation "scary," Mayor Bloomberg preserved the sizable cuts slated for the schools. Education advocates have only until June, when the budget will be...
Searching for schools is fact of life in New York City, one that requires patience, stamina, resilience. At times you need the skills of an investigative reporter, along with the endurance of a long-distance runner. If you are considering private school, you need many of those qualities as well,...
In case you haven't seen, we've put up a fairly comprehensive FAQ about G&T scores over on the G&T homepage. One important piece of information: the DOE has extended the application deadline for eligible students to May 14. The extension gives families who originally received...
What has cost the DOE as much as ARIS in the last couple of years? Teachers who aren't working, according to a report being released today by the New Teacher Project, a non-profit organization that helps school districts find and train new teachers. The report, titled "Mutual Benefits: New York...
Through their anxiety — a few parents said the experience of testing and waiting ... and waiting may land them in therapy — many parents left sane, thoughtful comments on this weekend's post about G&T admissions. Here's a sampling: From parents whose perspective returned not too long after...
Most of the folks who could have answered your questions were out of their offices on Friday, but I am working on getting responses and as soon as I do I will share them with you. Until I can find out more, here's a roundup of what we already know, thanks in great part to your comments. We know...
It's the middle of school vacation week, which means it's the perfect time for the DOE to send out important letters -- letters that some Insideschools readers consider potentially life-altering. Did you get your G&T score notification letter today? We'd love to see a copy of the letter, if...
Parent coordinators are increasingly unavailable by phone, according to a report released recently by the Public Advocate's office, where staffers called 100 parent coordinators after school hours, only to leave messages for the vast majority of them. Many of those messages — 71 percent of those...
Today's word from the DOE: "Letters haven't gone out yet. They will go out later this week," according to a DOE spokesperson who just wrote to me. Our collective mailbox check can continue -- please keep sending in your helpful comments!
Bad news for critics of the citywide cell phone ban in schools: Yesterday, a state appeals court upheld the ban, saying that "the department has a rational interest in having its teachers and staff devote their time to educating students and not waging a 'war' against cell phones." The author of...
After great uncertainty about dates -- at first it was supposed to be the end of March, then April 18, then the end of this month -- we're hearing that the first G&T letters have gone home. Have you checked your mailbox today? What's the word at your school and in your neighborhood? UPDATE:...
Ever since New York Sun columnist Lenore Skenazy wrote a column earlier this month about why she let her 9-year-old son travel alone on the subway, parents around the city have had little else to talk about — or at least they've made room in their G&T and kindergarten admissions discussions...
After all of the debate on this blog last week over school admissions and the headaches the process causes, I was wondering whether it is actually getting harder to get into desirable schools in Manhattan than it used to be. The answer appears to be both yes and no. On the one hand, Districts 2...
Here's one way to deal with the disheartening and overwhelming school admissions process in New York City: don't apply. A growing number of the city's families who are choosing to homeschool are middle-class black families who believe the options open to them won't sufficiently challenge or...
On one of our earlier posts about the changes to G&T admissions, Insideschools blog reader Crimson Wife commented: The mess in the NYC G&T programs and the ridiculous competition for private school slots is a major reason why my [husband] accepted a position in one of his firm's branch...
At about half of all city high schools, the only foreign language offered is Spanish, creating a challenge when, as is often the case, many students are already fluent Spanish speakers, according to a new article in City Limits. What do high schools do with those students? “The schools design...
Yoav Gonen has a short piece in today's Post with more details on the numbers of students applying and qualifying for G&T classes for the fall. His numbers (which vary from those reported in the Times yesterday) show that District 2 will likely see several new G&T programs this fall; it...
The Times has some interesting district-by-district G&T numbers in its coverage today of the sudden change in G&T admissions criteria. First, the Times is reporting that 3,000 children will score high enough to be guaranteed seats in kindergarten and 1st grade in the fall. This is...
After months of bad budget news from both the state and the city, here's a big piece of excellent news: the State Assembly just passed a budget that restores all of the cuts the state had made to the city's schools! The city's schools are now set to receive a $643 million budget increase as part...
Confirming rumors floating earlier this week, the DOE has just announced that it will guarantee seats in gifted and talented programs in their entry grades to all children scoring at the 90th percentile or higher on the BSRA and OLSAT. The new G&T policy approved by the Panel for Education...
Over at the Insideschools high school forum, user LeonDMatthew describes what happened earlier this week when the mobile scanning unit showed up at his school: I came into school today and was surprises to see the police presence. I knew what was happening we were being scanned. This time I was...
Five years after the Leadership Academy was created to train new principals, the DOE is going to start to pick up the bill for it. Until now, the experimental program was supported with private money. But now, citing an internal study that found Leadership Academy graduates to outperform other...
Oops. Administrators at the Bronx High School for Performance and Stagecraft are in hot water with the DOE after they allowed the Barack Obama campaign to film students discussing a class assignment based on Obama's "Yes We Can" speech. It's against DOE policy for schools to be used in...
Man, the DOE just can't keep its mind made up about anything, can it? When DOE officials announced the new policy for admission to gifted and talented programs earlier this year, they were emphatic that research has proven that gifted programs are useful only for students who score in the 95th...
Last week, all 85,000 8th graders who applied for public high school found out where they were matched. This process is nerve-wracking for all, but it's worst for the nearly 8,000 children who didn't get a high school placement at all. Over at Insideschools, we've got instructions and school...
There is one way to get answers and explanations about the middle school choice process. It requires taking a deep breath, agreeing not to try to game the system and ignoring the "I heard this" rumors. It involves going straight to the source: Jimmy Bueschen, the school choice coordinator whose...
When the public middle school search began this fall, I was not going to be one of those anxiety ridden parents, whispering rumors and comparing notes and test scores of kids who get in. After all, we are talking about 10-year-olds here. There is plenty of time to get hysterical about high...
Last week was a scary one for two Brooklyn high schools. On Thursday, John Dewey High School was locked down for three hours after a student dropped his gun in class, then picked it up and fled. Dewey doesn't have permanent metal detectors, although the roving detectors recently made an...
For many years, the city's specialized high schools have operated a summer program for disadvantaged students who score close to their admissions cutoff on the Specialized High School Admission Test. Successfully completing the program earns those students admission to the city's most selective...
You'd think Post education reporter Yoav Gonen would know better. Last week, Gov. Paterson announced that his son, an MS 54 8th grader, will attend Beacon High School this fall. This weekend, the Post accused the selective Upper West Side school of giving special attention to Governor Paterson's...
I'm about to head down to City Hall for a briefing on next year's school budget and then to the Keep the Promises rally against the budget cuts. There's been so much information floating around in the last few weeks, not to mention the leadership shakeup in Albany, that it's hard to know what's...
