New York City Public Schools

Parents Helping Parents – When the Department of Ed Won’t (Gifted & Talented Edition)
Blog · Finding the Right School

Parents Helping Parents – When the Department of Ed Won’t (Gifted & Talented Edition)

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

It’s been an extremely difficult season for New York City public schools admissions. The new Parent Portal found novel and exciting ways to malfunction. Placements would appear and disappear. Results were posted for high school and Gifted & Talented admission, only to be nullified and families informed they weren’t official. One parent shared with me:… Continue reading Parents Helping Parents – When the Department of Ed Won’t (Gifted & Talented Edition)

True Equality Means Everyone Is Equally Unhappy
Accountability · Blog · Finding the Right School

True Equality Means Everyone Is Equally Unhappy

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

New York City public middle school placement decisions were distributed to students just before Spring Break 2019. For months leading up to the big day, parents had been hearing about how this would be the season of true equality in school admissions. But did that, in fact, happen? The headlines trumpeted: Two NYC districts embarked… Continue reading True Equality Means Everyone Is Equally Unhappy

The Sorting Hat: How NYC’s Kindergarten Admission Really Works
Accountability · Finding the Right School

The Sorting Hat: How NYC’s Kindergarten Admission Really Works

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Last week, I received the following email from a parent: I‘m being told by the parent coordinator at our zoned school (PS 11Q) that general ed school choice is not real, and my child will be attending the zoned school no matter what I ranked. The PS 11Q parent coordinator did not schedule any open… Continue reading The Sorting Hat: How NYC’s Kindergarten Admission Really Works

The NYC Department of Education Wants to Reserve Seats in Elite High Schools By Race. Here’s Why That’s Wrong.
Blog · Educational Equity

The NYC Department of Education Wants to Reserve Seats in Elite High Schools By Race. Here’s Why That’s Wrong.

Guest Blogger (via Alina Adams)Leave a comment

Joseph S. Lento is a licensed Teacher of Orchestral Music and School District Administration.  In 2014 President Obama named him a National Teacher of Arts and Humanities. Joseph has commendations from Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. In 1999 he was named NYC Public Schools Bronx County High Schools Teacher of the Year.… Continue reading The NYC Department of Education Wants to Reserve Seats in Elite High Schools By Race. Here’s Why That’s Wrong.

To Each Their Own: Power To the Parents!
Finding the Right School

To Each Their Own: Power To the Parents!

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Less than 24 hours after my post, New Year, Old NYC School Argument, ran on NY School Talk, The New York Times published their piece on the same subject, Why Black Parents Are Turning To Afrocentric Schools. Now, I’m not suggesting that my post had anything to do with it. The NYT article had obviously… Continue reading To Each Their Own: Power To the Parents!

New Year, Old NYC School Argument
Finding the Right School · School Choice

New Year, Old NYC School Argument

Alina Adams2 Comments

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

Some Families Don’t Know How To Exercise School Choice. Others Don’t Know They’re Already Doing It: An Open Letter To Both
Finding the Right School

Some Families Don’t Know How To Exercise School Choice. Others Don’t Know They’re Already Doing It: An Open Letter To Both

Alina Adams1 Comment

Kindergarten Connect, the form New York City parents use to apply to public school Kindergarten for September 2019, came out on December 5 after being delayed from its originally announced date, December 3, presumably due to the ongoing disaster that is the new Parent Portal. Kindergarten Connect was designed to help all families exercise school… Continue reading Some Families Don’t Know How To Exercise School Choice. Others Don’t Know They’re Already Doing It: An Open Letter To Both

FAQ’s: 20 Questions NYC Parents Have About Applying To Kindergarten – Answered!
Finding the Right School

FAQ’s: 20 Questions NYC Parents Have About Applying To Kindergarten – Answered!

Alina Adams5 Comments

There is no nice way to put this: The Department of Education’s Parent Portal is an unmitigated disaster. Since it opened, I have received literally hundreds of emails from frustrated families who are having trouble registering, getting confirmation, or even logging on. Their calls to the DOE are going unanswered, requiring multiple hour wait times,… Continue reading FAQ’s: 20 Questions NYC Parents Have About Applying To Kindergarten – Answered!

In Mixed Ability Classrooms, Who Is Really Doing the Teaching?
Accountability

In Mixed Ability Classrooms, Who Is Really Doing the Teaching?

Alina Adams1 Comment

“I put him in that group on purpose,” my son’s math teacher told us during Parent-Teacher conferences. “The other students were having trouble understanding some of the concepts and I knew your child could help explain them.” This isn’t my son’s first time at this rodeo. A few years ago, his Computer Programming teacher flat… Continue reading In Mixed Ability Classrooms, Who Is Really Doing the Teaching?

Blog

In NYC’s Special Education Labyrinth, Families Need a Guide: For Proof, The Heartbreaking Case of TJ.

nyschooltalkLeave a comment

This is a guest post by Ariela Rozman who co-founded EdNavigator, where this post originally appeared. Before that, she served for eight years as Chief Executive Officer of TNTP. In October, The New York Times shared the heartbreaking story of TJ, a child with special needs who had been left behind by New York City schools. Heartbreaking because… Continue reading In NYC’s Special Education Labyrinth, Families Need a Guide: For Proof, The Heartbreaking Case of TJ.