My Brooklyn colleague, Marina Kolmanovsky, wrote this about the prospect of requiring Pre-K teachers to get vaccines before returning to work: While my view on the Covid vaccine might be an unpopular one, it is nevertheless my opinion, and I have no desire to get it. My site has been reopened since June 4, 2020… Continue reading Two Pre-K Teachers’ Views on Mandatory COVID Vaccines
On August 26, 2019, New York City’s School Advisory Diversity Group (SADG) proposed that the ideal way to integrate schools would be to get rid of stand alone Gifted and Talented Citywide and District programs, and replace them with an Enrichment For All Model. What would that look like? Chalkbeat reported at the time: (I)t… Continue reading NYC Endorses Gifted & Talented Approach Determined To Do Least Good For All Students (But Especially Minority and Low Income Ones)
During his speech to joint sessions of Congress on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, President Joe Bident promised “universal free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as two years of free community college for young adults.” Neither proposal is new to New York City. Just as neither proposal is exactly free. Governor Cuomo introduced… Continue reading Who Will Pay For NYC’s “Free” College and “Free” Pre-K?
Advocates for requiring SAT or ACT for college applications revere these tests as an admissions factor which only strongly favors wealthier students instead of overwhelmingly favoring wealthy students. They don’t seem to realize that it’s college admissions officers who intentionally and systematically do the favoring. These admissions officers are the people who decide what characteristics… Continue reading Why Getting Rid Of the SAT Won’t Bring Equity To College Admissions: Here Is the Only Thing That Will
In July of 2020, I wrote a post called, It’s Not a Plot, It’s Incompetence: Is the NYC Department of Ed Deliberately Undermining Some Schools? After reviewing the conspiracy theories behind the disaster that was remote learning, the debacle that was Gifted & Talented, and the exit of several principles from top schools, I concluded:… Continue reading Recycled State Tests & Lies About In Person Learning: NYC Schools Plot Or Incompetence?
School choice advocates see that a student may be faced with a situation where if a school is a bad fit, they’re stuck there anyway. They want to help students by making it so that if they don’t like it where they are, they can leave and take their government funding with them to any… Continue reading One Size CAN Fit All! A Student’s Take On School Choice
In a change from previous years, in 2021, New York City parents need to decide whether to opt their children in –rather than out — of the annual state tests. The deadline to sign up for 3rd through 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) exams was April 15, and the deadline to sign up for… Continue reading Should You Opt Your Child Into NYC State Tests? The Pros and Cons!
The recent “3K For All” expansion has once again been hailed as an altruistic “achievement” of the DeBlasio administration, and, of course, it is anything but. “Chloe, how can you say that? Isn’t it a good thing that more children can go to school?” Absolutely! I think we all can agree on that. However, I… Continue reading Who Is Really Paying For NYC to Have “Free” Pre-K for 3 Year Olds?
NYC Parents Sound Off on 2021 Kindergarten Admissions: Your Most Commonly Asked Questions… Answered!
Early on the morning of April 8, families began emailing me to report that New York City’s parent portal was acting funny. General Ed Kindergarten results were appearing in the waitlisted section, then promptly disappearing. This is good news, I told them. Based on previous years, when results arrived via blank and garbled documents, this… Continue reading NYC Parents Sound Off on 2021 Kindergarten Admissions: Your Most Commonly Asked Questions… Answered!
When Richard Carranza was the School Chancellor of New York City (April 2, 2018 – March 15, 2021), his repeatedly stated goal was to provide the exact same education to every single public school student in grades Pre-K through 12. That’s equity, his key professed value. He championed Computer Science… For All! (Despite not understanding… Continue reading How Carranza Could End Up Helping the Students of NYC After All!
