This is a guest post by Darla M. Romfo, who serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF), a nonprofit that provides partial scholarships for low-income children in grades K-8 to go to the school that best meets their needs. This school year, CSF and its partner programs nationwide are… Continue reading Giving the Gift of Opportunity to New York Children
Kindergarten Connect, the form New York City parents use to apply their children to public school Kindergarten for September 2019, is scheduled to close on Monday, January 14th, although on-going problems with the “new and improved” online Parent Portal may cause the deadline to be pushed back due to technical difficulties. To help parents know… Continue reading New Year, Old NYC School Argument
This post is by Joy Prescott, a fourth-grade math teacher at Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School in Florida and the 2019 Florida Department of Education Teacher of the Year. It was originally published at National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Over the course of almost two centuries, Florida’s Seminoles endured three wars with the U.S. government, resisted numerous… Continue reading Rekindling the Heritage of an Unconquered Indian Tribe
Last week, the big New York City news was: Amazon Is Coming To Long Island City, Queens! While pundits debated what that will mean for housing prices, public transportation, and other quality of life issues, The Wall Street Journal hoped for improved student tech training and internship opportunities, The Daily News revealed that it would… Continue reading How Will Amazon Affect Schools In Queens – And All Of NYC?
This is a post by my friend and colleague Zachary Wright, a national finalist for the United States Department of Education’s School Ambassador Fellowship. Zach is an assistant professor of practice at Relay Graduate School of Education serving Philadelphia and Camden. Prior to that, he was the 12th-grade world literature and AP literature teacher at Mastery… Continue reading No Matter What Anyone Says, the Money Ought to Follow the Kid Regardless of What Kind of Public School They Choose.
Fifteen years ago when I began my journey as an education advocate, I was in it for myself. More specifically, for my son Jonah, who has multiple disabilities stemming from a genetic mutation called Fragile X Syndrome. I saw my quest as securing a high-quality seat for my boy in a school that would provide… Continue reading The Dead Canary: The Problems Within NYC’s Special Education System Signify Global Dysfunction
Thursday, October 11, 2018 was the last day New York City parents could sign their children up to take either the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) or audition for LaGuardia School of the Arts. It was also the first day when NYC parents could sign their children up to take the Gifted and Talented… Continue reading Want To Make NYC Schools More Diverse? Fix These Parent Portal Problems First!
This is a guest post by my friend and colleague Lane Wright. Lane lives in Tallahassee with his wife and three children and serves as Director of Policy Analysis at Education Post, a national nonprofit. You can substitute NJEA and other abusive parents for Lane’s references to the Florida Education Association. Imagine a family with 10 kids: Nine… Continue reading The Abusive Parent in The Charter School/Traditional School Family
Last month District 15 in Brooklyn announced the elimination of all screening processes for admission to middle school. (Yes, even the performing arts one).) Instead of taking into consideration grades, test scores and more, Park Slope’s 11 middle schools will assign seats by lottery, with 52 percent of slots in every school set aside for… Continue reading Who Will (And Won’t) Benefit From Unscreened NYC Schools
David Rubel is an independent public policy consultant with a focus on New York City. For over 30 years, he has conducted research on a range of policy issues including community needs and resources, housing court evictions, workforce development and most recently public and nonpublic school education. Equity is a primary concern of his work.… Continue reading Some News for Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza: NYC’s Top 31 Screened High Schools Are ALREADY Diverse.
