Once a week, I have a class period set aside during the school day to provide my students with extra help. I teach English Language Arts so you would think that students would come to me with questions about their homework assignment on GoogleClassroom or to review questions that they got wrong on a test… Continue reading Why do the “Bad Kids” Like Me?
A December 16, 2016 report by DNAInfo.com outlined the difficulties encountered by New York City high schoolers with disabilities when looking for schools that meet their physical and academic needs. What the report didn’t cover, however, was that the problems with finding accessible schools start much earlier than high school. In fact, many elementary Gifted… Continue reading NYC Schools Are Failing Kids With Disabilities: Parents Speak Out
No, at least according to Matt Barnum who, in a recent Atlantic article called “Is Attending the ‘Best’ High School Academically Relevant?,” bases his conclusion on a study done by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. But as a New York City mom of a son in a specialized high school, I see enormous… Continue reading Does Attending a Specialized High School Make a Difference?
“Hunter is the original charter school,” offered a Hunter parent at a panel on NYC Selective School admissions that I moderated last month at BASIS Independent Manhattan School. I’d never thought of it that way but, as soon as he said it, it made perfect sense. And yet, I don’t see activists clamoring to close Hunter… Continue reading If a Charter School Operated Like This Non-Charter “Public” School It Would Be Shut Down
Last month, the New York City Department of Education finally made it easier for students to switch public schools, which should, in theory, remove some of the existing barriers to parents and students exercising their right to choose where – and how – they are educated. Previously, transfers, especially in high-school, were reserved for documented… Continue reading Do NYC Parents Have to “Game the System” in Order to Find the Right School for Their Child?
The New York Post notes today that New York City’s list of “struggling” and “persistently struggling” schools has nosedived from 145 down to 72. Party time, right? Chronically-failing schools are suddenly reinventing themselves and boosting student achievement! But hold the applause: this list was pared down because NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Chancellor… Continue reading This NYC High School Has Failed for Forty Years: for Mayor de Blasio, How Long is Long Enough?
Less than two weeks after I criticized the New York City Department of Education’s (DOE) plan to add racial diversity to Specialized High-Schools by offering intensive test prep to high-achieving, underserved students as too-little, too-late, the Panel for Educational Policy has voted to make a major change to the test itself. But I don’t think… Continue reading As A NYC Parent, I Don’t Think the DOE’s Change to Specialized Schools Admissions Test Will Create Diversity
I didn’t grow up in New York City. My African-American husband did, though. He, now a teacher, was the one who first suggested that finding a school for our children might not be as simple as I assumed when he told me, “I know what happens to Black kids in public schools.” I didn’t know… Continue reading I’m on a One-Mom Mission to Help All NYC Parents Find the Right School for Their Child
