(This is a guest post by Vitória Lunardi de Castro, the founder of LaG Portfolio Mentors, a nonprofit program that provides free art portfolio preparation to aspiring students who want to attend New York City art high schools. Originally from Brazil, Vitoria immigrated to the United States at a young age and has since made… Continue reading NYC Student’s Take: Making Education in the Arts More Accessible
From Alina Adams: When my son, Gregory Wickham, convinced me to let him drop out of Stuyvesant High School and homeschool himself, one of my major conditions was that he do all of the work himself. Since then, due to both changes in the NYC public gifted, middle, and high school admissions system, and families’… Continue reading Students Helping Students: Want To Pursue an Alternative Educational Path? I’ll Help You Do It! Ask Me Anything!
(Ed. note: High schools are cutting back on Advanced Placement offerings nationwide, ranging from NYC’s LaGuardia HS to Stamford, CT to Washington state to the University of Chicago’s Lab School. In addition, some NYC middle schools are trying to get rid of honors math, while California looks to detrack all math classes.) TL;DR: You should… Continue reading What Students Can Do When Schools Cut Advanced Courses
As the mom of a relatively recent homeschooler, Chalkbeat’s February 17, 2022, post entitled, Home schooling nearly doubled in NYC since pandemic’s start, instantly caught my eye. They reported that: This school year, roughly 14,800 children across the five boroughs have opted to learn outside of school walls, according to internal education department data obtained… Continue reading Everything You Need To Know About Homeschooling in NYC But Didn’t Know Whom To Ask. Your Cheat Sheet Is Here!
In October, Gregory Wickham wrote Part #1 of Testing Center Makes Up Rules to Prevent Black Teen From Earning High School Equivalency Diploma, detailing his struggles with New York City bureaucracy. Here’s what happened next: The initial part of my story was much more exciting than the finale. After my first attempt at registration was… Continue reading Don’t Let Any Lowly Bureaucrat Stop You: NYC Teen’s Guide to Getting Your High School Equivalency Diploma
The TASC is the high school equivalency exam used by New York State. It replaced the GED in 2014. As I have been homeschooling myself, I decided that it was time to take the TASC. Unfortunately, registering to take it was more complicated than registering for any other exam I’ve ever taken, including the Advanced… Continue reading Testing Center Makes Up Rules to Prevent Black Teen From Earning High School Equivalency Diploma (Part #1)
(This is a guest post by Rova Raveloson, who was a student at Townsend Harris High School. He is now a sophomore at Vassar College where he is exploring the intersection of Economics and Chinese in International Economics. At Vassar, Raveloson is spearheading a potential video game design start-up with his friends, focusing on gamifying… Continue reading NYC Student On Importance of Having the Right Guide on the Road to College
Last month, I wrote about a few of my recommendations regarding educational reparations for Black Americans. The potential reparations commissions that could be created by H.R. 40 in Congress and Assembly Bill A2619A in the New York State Legislature, if passed, should make sure to keep in mind that reparations need to be comprehensive in… Continue reading Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #2)
H.R. 40 in Congress and Assembly Bill A2619A in the New York State Legislature, if passed, would establish commissions to investigate and develop a program of reparations to remedy the lasting effects of the enslavement and oppression of Black people in America and New York, respectively. Although neither of these bills have been passed yet… Continue reading Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)
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
