Just in time for Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren to unveil her education plan severely limiting school options for low-income families, and the release of 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores in math and English (spoiler: New York City stayed flat overall and went down in math), comes Miss Virginia, a movie about… Continue reading School Choice Goes to the Movies: The Sequel!
Earlier this month, I offered A Modest Proposal for Turning NYC School Admissions Upside Down – & Letting Parents Decide the Education They Want For Their Kids. The gist of it boiled down to: What if … A computer algorithm more sophisticated than the one in use now aggregated students by interest and location to… Continue reading Ditch “Gifted” Testing & Accelerate Any Child Who Wants It? NYC Parents Weigh In!
When parents ask me why I’ve written a book called “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten,” and one called “Getting Into NYC High School,” but NOT one called “Getting Into NYC Middle School,” I explain it’s because the NYC middle school process is so convoluted and varies so much from district to district, I couldn’t write one… Continue reading Middle School Mayhem: Prospective Admissions Changes… And Their Consequences
In addition to taking the “ridiculous” Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) which I so cruelly forced him to study for, my 8th grade son also auditioned for the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art & Performing Arts. (Yes, that’s really what it’s called and that’s really how it’s punctuated, although most… Continue reading Do NYC Arts High Schools Set Extremely High Standards… In Everything But Academics?
The big buzz word in New York City education is: Diversity. On October 26, 2017, yet another plan was announced, this time promising to bring diversity to Lower Manhattan’s District 1. District 1 is already a choice district, in that families are not limited to a local zoned school, but can apply to any school… Continue reading It’s Not My Kid’s Job To Make Your Kid’s Educational Experience Better
As I wrote last week, it’s school application time for 2018 in New York City! Public high school applications are due on December 1 (excluding Specialized schools). Public Middle-School applications will become available in November and are also due on December 1. Kindergarten Connect, for all public school general ed programs, is scheduled to open… Continue reading Mistakes Parents Make When Ranking NYC School Choices, From Pre-Kindergarten to High School
(This is a guest post from Raymond Ankrum, Sr., the Executive Director of Riverhead Charter School. It was originally published here on his blog.) SUNY, a nationally recognized charter school authorizer for New York State has recently made headlines for approving a new, innovative approach of allowing its high-performing charter schools to certify their own teachers. Charter schools in recent… Continue reading This School Leader Considers SUNY’s Controversial Plan to Allow Charter Schools To Certify Their Own Teachers
It’s school application time in New York City! Parents of four-year-olds are taking advantage of every to advantage to prep them for entry into public Gifted & Talented programs, private schools, and the hybrid Hunter College Elementary. Parents of 5th graders are wrestling with the convoluted process of middle-school admissions. Meanwhile, 30,000 8th graders took… Continue reading Do Parents Know How To Choose the Best School in NYC?
(New York School Talk exists to offer a “safe space” for parents, teachers, students, and anyone invested in public education. Most of our bloggers support charter school expansion in New York City. Not all of them do. We deeply value all voices and believe that differing opinions can lead to enlightened strategies to address what… Continue reading Sharing Space Doesn’t Make For Safe Schools
June 25th, 2019 Addendum: The New York City Department of Education has announced that there will be no comprehensive, paper directory for 2019-2020 High-School admissions. The directory will only be online from now on. This, despite the multiple glitches the Parent Portal experienced during 2018–2019 admissions, and reports of low income and minority students falling… Continue reading Your Cheat Sheet For Figuring Out All Your NYC High-School Choices – And How To Get Them
