On January 21, I wrote about Kids Left Waiting In the Cold as NYC Public Schools Cancel G&T Testing – But Don’t Notify Parents! This disaster was hardly the only one of the 2018-2019 admissions season. After my post ran, more parents contacted me. You can read their Department of Education stories of incompetence below.… Continue reading NYC Parents Sound Off On Department Of Education Incompetence! (Part #2)
When word of a snowstorm predicted to hit New York City over Martin Luther King Day weekend first surfaced, I sent out an email to my mailing list letting them know that the public school Gifted & Talented testing scheduled for that weekend might also be cancelled, and how to maximize their strategy for rescheduling.… Continue reading Kids Left Waiting In the Cold as NYC Public Schools Cancel G&T Testing – But Don’t Notify Parents!
Last year, our overview, Top 5 NYC School Issues That Enraged Parents in 2017 enumerated the posts that received the most hits during the course of the year, and speculated about what would happen in 2018. It says something about how much the Department of Education (DOE) cares about what New York City parents want… Continue reading These Are the Top 10 NYC School Outrages Which Appalled Parents in 2018 – Plus Tips On Navigating the New Parent Portal!
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!
Are you a New York City parent applying your child to public school Kindergarten for September 2019? Congratulations! Here are just some of the forms you’ll need to fill out: Interested in a traditional zoned Kindergarten? That goes on Kindergarten Connect! (Whether it’s your zoned school or not.) Unzoned Kindergarten? Dual language Kindergarten? Magnet school?… Continue reading Could This Change Make NYC Kindergarten Admissions Easier – Or Harder?
This past weekend, 30,000 New York City 8th graders took the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) in hope of being among the 4,000 students accepted to one of the eight schools which use the SHSAT as its sole qualifying measure. This year, twenty percent of seats at every school are being set aside as… Continue reading Will Changing Admission to Specialized High Schools Change Specialized High Schools? How Do We Find Out?
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!
Last year’s post on NYC’s Top 10 Elementary Schools By Test Scores: What Makes Them Special – And How You Can Get In proved such a reader favorite, we’ve updated it! Because many schools make a return appearance, we’ve expanded our list to the top 25, and added details about how some of them get… Continue reading NYC’s Top 25 Elementary Schools for 2018 & How You Can Get In!
After announcing his plans to change admissions to New York City’s Specialized High Schools, and after expressing confusion as to why any family would opt for a screened school (despite his own daughter doing so in San Francisco), and after calling a mother “racist “ who objected to District 3 middle-schools setting aside 25% of… Continue reading Why Our NYC School Chancellor Is Absolutely Right About Gifted & Talented Programs… And Why He Is Absolutely Wrong
The mother below wishes to remain anonymous: My son was denied entrance by our local zoned public school. Here is my story. In November 2017, I visited my zoned school, The Manhattan Beach School (PS 195). We had been displaced by Hurricane Sandy. Our home was a ticking time bomb and we had to move… Continue reading NYC Mom Deliberately Blackballed From Zoned School!
