Pre-K spots STILL open, per DOE

Posted by helen at 1:16 PM

The DOE has updated its pre-K registers and says there are half- and full-day spots open at some city schools. Have a look at their updated directory to see what's available; registration begins next Thursday, the 28th and wraps up on the first day of school.

Some parents have written in to say their kids didn't get placements or were offered pre-K seats far from their homes. The frustrations are real (and the time before school is short). Here's hoping that the Pre-K Borough Enrollment staff help resolve open questions — and that the DOE responds to the outspoken demand for seats in good schools by expanding pre-K opportunities.

Last-minute registration info from DOE

Posted by helen at 9:37 AM

For students new to the city or returning to city schools after an out-of-school hiatus, the DOE is opening Registration Centers, beginning Monday August 25th. The centers will be open from 8am-3pm, but will be closed on Labor Day. A few caveats:

Registration centers can enroll all new high-school students and elementary and middle-school students without a zoned school. (Go to a registration center in the borough where you reside.) If you have a zoned elementary or middle school (call 311 or visit the DOE for information), register there beginning September 2, the first day of school.

Families of special-needs students who will be in collaborative-team-teaching (CTT), self-contained, or District 75 placements should visit their Borough Enrollment/Committee on Special Education office to register.

In order to register, parents and other guardians must bring proof of residence (see particulars here for what's required). Also bring your child's birth certificate (or passport), immunization record, and latest report card or transcript, if one is available. Special needs families are encouraged to bring their child's IEP and/or 504 Accommodation Program if they're available.

Registration centers will remain open until September 12th. And along with all the paperwork, don't forget to bring your child -- parents who show up sans students will not be permitted to complete the registration process.

Fewer dangerous city schools

Posted by helen at 8:54 AM

The good news, from the DOE and the State, is that crime in the city's schools is on the wane: Of 25 city schools described as persistently dangerous by the State last year, 15 were removed from the list in light of improved safety and lower crime. The downside is that 11 city schools remain on the danger list. New York City also added more schools (six) to the state's list than any other area of the state.

In counterpoint, Comptroller William Thomson asserts that as many as one in five violent/criminal/safety incidents that occur in schools go improperly or incompletely reported. City leaders hope that a proposed amendment to the City Charter will improve school security by directing complaints of police misconduct to the Civilian Complaint Review Board (not the current norm) and requiring regular reporting on school violence to the DOE and NYPD.


In an article today, the Post documents a number of District 75 schools on the state's list -- D 75 schools enroll special need students with the most acute needs. Reports of persistent violence in D 75 schools, where staff ratios are far smaller than mainstream schools, raise difficult questions on all sides. And an AP story from am New York sets New York's improvements against a national canvas, noting without irony that the other 49 states document a total of 21 persistently dangerous schools compared to New York State's 19 (although reporting criteria vary from state to state).


Notably, despite pop-media visions of metal-detectors and box-cutter-wielding teens, "persistently dangerous" schools include elementary and middle schools, too. Under the provisions of NCLB, parents can request safety transfers for students enrolled at "dangerous" schools. But time is short before the start of school; those interested in seeking transfers should contact their school this week to explore the process.

Pre-K round II news

Posted by helen at 8:46 AM

Families who applied for pre-K seats in the second application round should have news by the end of this week; letters went out by mail yesterday afternoon, according to an email from the DOE's Andy Jacob.

Money for high marks

Posted by helen at 7:58 AM

In a signature transposition of business practice into the education environment, the Klein administration at the DOE has installed a range of mechanisms to pay people -- teachers, principals, and students, at selected schools -- for performance. Today's Times story challenges the merits of a $2 million REACH incentive program (for REwarding ACHievement). Guess what? The results are a mixed bag.

Turns out more high-school students took Advanced Placement exams, which can earn college credit for high-scoring students. Fewer students passed overall, but a fraction more scored at the highest level, 5.

Promoters beg more time to show stronger results; critics say there are better ways to spend that kind of (private) money, despite similar programs' rising popularity in schools nationwide. And you can bet that man-about-town Joel Klein will face sharp questions on the program in his three public appearances today, at a REACH briefing, an NAACP event in Brooklyn and a Teach for America welcome-teachers evening program. But a quote at the end of the story caught our eye: Kati Haycock, director of the DC-based Education Trust, says that "rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents."

Do you pay your kids for good grades? Do you reward effort (trying hard) or outcomes (the grade itself)? And what's the line between motivation and bribe -- between incentive and payoff? We don't think parents have deep pockets for report-card shakedowns, but we could be wrong...

Charter chatter, Q & As

Posted by helen at 11:16 AM

Citing competition as the key to success, Mayor Bloomberg says that pressure from charter schools force traditional public schools to improve. But advocates like Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters beg to differ: the small classes that are the charter norm are all too elusive in mainstream public education, despite long-fought battles. And one has to ask a question that's tough to ask aloud: Are middle-class parents fighting as hard for access to charters as families in neighborhoods long poorly served by city schools?

Maybe that's one of the questions that will be answered on the New York Times Charter School Q&A thread. And for families of high-school students and rising eighth-graders, who will be facing the high-school selection process this year, the DOE is hosting a Q&A with Evaristo Jimenez, head of high school enrollment.

As one commenter implored yesterday, speak up! If parents don't ask the hard questions to advance their child's education, who will?

Pre-K round II: News?

Posted by helen at 11:44 AM

A number of parents have been wondering whether others in the city have heard any placement news on their child's round II pre-K application.

DOE said they'd let folks know by now (mid-August), but many don't have news yet. To connect with other pre-K parents, visit our forums, click on the pre-K thread, and join the conversation. And let us know, please, where the news has arrived -- and where it hasn't.

Update: We heard from DOE; they will snail-mail letters to families next week.

G+T programs: What's happening in your neighborhood?

Posted by helen at 11:19 AM

We've heard reports from parents across the city that some g+t programs in local schools have been shuttered for the coming school year -- for a range of reasons, including low enrollment and g+t funding cutbacks by DOE planners. We've asked the DOE repeatedly for a current list of g+t district programs (they say it's coming), but hear conflicting reports from parents, principals and administrators in the field. That's why we're asking readers to let us know of changes in their districts.

In District 6 in Washington Heights, for example, g+t programs that recently enrolled up to 80 kindergarten students have been pared back to one class (a second class was cancelled when too few families enrolled their children). We've heard of changes, too, in District 18 in Brooklyn and elsewhere.

Our readers are our eyes and ears on the street; please let us know what's happening in your neighborhood.

G+T questions and answers

Posted by helen at 8:55 AM

In the end of June, we started gathering questions for the DOE on a wide range of subjects. It took a month to set up the interview, but on July 31st, we spoke with DOE administrators about gifted and talented admissions, among other issues. A short blog post gave highlights (and generated dozens of reader comments); for more, see the article in the current alert.

We still have open questions, of course, and have had assurances they will be answered. In particular, we're waiting to hear about the sibling/non-sibling mix of each citywide g+t Kindergarten class (both in terms of seat count and test scores).

In terms of overall takeaway, the DOE heard the anger and confusion of parents stymied by gifted and talented admissions this year: They felt the heat, and they want very much to avoid similar experiences in coming years. All agree that this year's process had flaws.

We have absolute assurances from Elizabeth Sciabarra and Anna Commitante that communication ahead of, during, and after admissions and placement decision-making will be clearer, more explicit and more frequent this year. But how these good intentions will inform actual practice can only be known as the year unfolds.

We look forward to brokering an ongoing conversation between parents and the DOE, and welcome reader responses, questions, observations and comments.

Grad rates at last: Inching up, with caveats

Posted by helen at 4:40 PM

The State and the City finally released the 2007 high school graduation rate today, and the news is both heartening and discouraging, on more than a few counts.

First, the good news: The overall graduation rate continues to nudge upward from the swamp where it had long languished. For the city as a whole, 52.2% of students who started high school in 2003 (the 2003 cohort) graduated in four years. Another 3.6% graduated in August, via credit recovery and other recuperative programs (mention of which flummoxed the Mayor briefly at a press conference today). If this seems lower than the 60% that was so widely celebrated last year, it is -- in years past, the city included GED-earners in the grad rate, unlike the State's more stringent criteria, which the city now shares.

More Asian and white students continue to earn diplomas than their African-American and Hispanic classmates (bad news) but the gap between the races is narrowing -- slightly (good news, but not that good): Nearly 71% and nearly 69% of Asian and white students graduate in four years; only 43% of Hispanic kids earn their diploma in the same time, as do just over 47% of African-American students. So while it's true that grad rates are rising for African-American and Hispanic kids, it will be a long, long time before the academic playing field is even approximately equal. And demographics notwithstanding, boys continue to lag behind girls in academic achievement. But back on the good-news side, New York leads the state's biggest cities in academic gains. On the bad-news side, the cities still lag well behind the state's overall grad rate of 79.2%.

Less enthusiastic results were posted for English Language Learners, who Chancellor Klein identifies as "our greatest challenge." ELL grad rates dropped in recent years and now have risen three points, to 23.5% for four-year grads and 32.4% for kids who stay in high school for five years (no typo on those stats). Students with disabilities showed slight change in their graduation rate (from 19.4% in 2006 to 19.1% in 2007. Good news, no drop; bad news, scant improvement.

The general tenor of the announcement this afternoon was celebratory but clear-eyed; the Mayor, sporting a spectacular tan, praised all involved, from Klein (also summer-bronzed) and Weingarten down into the academic trenches -- teachers, principals, APs, parents, and of course the students, especially the kids who stick with high school into a fifth or sixth year. "That they didn't do it in four years is immaterial," said the Mayor, who added that staying longer in high school is "demonstrative of someone who wants to take charge of their life," and graciously crediting Jennifer Medina's Times story today as proof.

Still, Bloomberg acknowledged, "despite this heartwarming progress," there's "enormous room for improvement." Notably, 38% of students don't graduate in four years, and nearly 14% drop out. "It's going to be very hard to get them back," he said. (About 10% stay enrolled in high school beyond four years.) The dropout rate contracted slightly since last year, from 15% to 14.7%; we're waiting for follow-up from the DOE on students who were discharged from school -- and don't show up in DOE records as students or dropouts.

Students now in high school can earn one of three diplomas -- local, Regents, or Advanced Regents. About two-thirds of NYC grads earn a Regents diploma, which is good news -- but not so good for the third who get less-rigorous Local credentials, and moot entirely for the kids starting high school next month, who are not eligible to earn the local diploma at all. We've asked the DOE for diploma and grad-rate details on the new small high schools and Career and Technical Education schools, and for more specific demographic and gender information -- and we'll report back whenever we hear more.

Let us know if you have questions; the State published a thick deck of data slides, and we'll post links to specifics if there's interest.


Update: A correction for clarity: The overall state graduation rate cited above, of 79.2%, reflects the grad rate for schools outside the state's five biggest cities, and not the state as a whole. Regrets for any confusion.

New tower, new middle school?

Posted by helen at 9:06 AM

Families in downtown Brooklyn have long lobbied DOE for new middle schools, especially as local elementaries revive (pace, PS 8's new expansion plans) and the waterfront neighborhoods host new (and massive) housing developments. Now, the Daily News reports there's more support for a new middle school in DUMBO, 45,000 square feet of spanking-new classroom space in a much-criticized project by the Walentas family Two Trees company, headed up by heir apparent, 33-year-old Jed Walentas. Even Schools Construction Authority president Sharon Greenberger has thrown her support behind the Dock St. tower middle school -- and it's safe to bet, the DOE approved her endorsement.

Walentas pere has been steadily, stealthily buying up waterfront and DUMBO parcels for the last two decades, with not a lot of love lost between him and local residents. Cynics wonder, in the quid-pro-quo world of real estate development, what the net gain is for his Dock St. tower, above and beyond the potential benefit to the community.

District 2 overcrowding: Rally this afternoon

Posted by helen at 9:19 AM

District 2, which encompasses some of Manhattan's prime development turf, has chronically overcrowded elementary schools. Middle schools, often housed on the top floors of primary schools, add to the population pressure.

In a long letter to the Community Education Council, the DOE proposed short- and long-term responses to grade-school crowding -- including moving fifth-graders at jammed schools to less-populous schools two miles uptown, strictly limiting zoning variances, shifting classes to underused space at local middle and elementary schools, as well as plans to add thousands of new school seats and (possible) zoning changes. Safe to say, the issue won't be resolved in the next month, before school begins. For schools like PS 234, which is at 150% utilization, or PS 59, at 192%, close quarters doesn't even begin to describe it.

Local parents and school advocates want the DOE to consider another short-term option not outlined in their D 2 'blueprint,' which focuses on grade school crowding. A state-owned building at 75 Morton St., in the thick of the overcrowded zone, is on the auction block. Parents, teachers, principals, and local pols want the DOE to acquire the building for a new public middle school. (It's fully ADA accessible, to boot.)

Today at 5:30pm, parents and activists will rally in front of 75 Morton. We hope the DOE's School Construction Authority and Office of Portfolio Development are paying attention.

'Beat goes on' Dept.

Posted by helen at 10:33 AM

Newsday asked today what we asked yesterday -- but they're getting about the same answers: Tom Dunn of NYSED said in an email the "target" date for report cards was late next week; in the article, bets are hedged to within the first two weeks of August.

And DOE belt-tightening doesn't seem to extend to travel, according to a July 29th report from City Comptroller (and mayoral hopeful) William S. Thompson. Oversights on travel expenses are presently nil at the DOE, the report said, leading to violations in bidding procedure, expensive out-of-town-retreats that could've been held locally (with no travel or hotel expenses), and DOE staff getaways in the Catskills where about a third of invited (and paid-for) participants didn't show.

The DOE didn't argue with the report's conclusions, and has "generally agreed" with the Comptroller's recommendations for additional oversights (more accountability!) and standard-operating-procedure bidding in the future.

Wish list coming true, part I

Posted by helen at 9:59 AM

Remember about a month ago, when we asked you for questions you'd like answered by the DOE?

Well, the wheels grind slowly, even in midsummer, but grind they do: This afternoon, we're speaking with Anna Commitante (head of Gifted +Talented for the Department) and OSEPO head Elizabeth Sciabarra. Watch the blog for a brief follow-up of that conversation, and deeper coverage in the next Insideschools alert.

Many thanks to our avid, intelligent, insightful readers for their participation and support.

Report cards, grad rates, AWOL as usual

Posted by helen at 9:25 AM

Just over two weeks ago, we asked -- and not for the first time -- about high-school graduation rates and school report cards. (The Times asked, too, but didn't get a clear answer.) The New York State Department of Education said in May that they would release the data by the end of June; nothing doing. In July, they said the data would post by the end of July. It's the 30th. Anyone here think we're going into August without knowing how schools did, and whether more kids are graduating than in years previous?

School report cards help parents (and professionals, like principals and teachers) learn more about schools by reporting detailed ("granular") data on enrollment, testing, teacher qualifications and more. The grad rate is the education acid test -- how many kids finish high school is a pretty effective yardstick, and the one against which Bloomberg and Klein measure their success.

The city and state disagreed for years on how to define and count high-school grads. This year, they've reached agreement on who qualifies as a graduate (excluding GED completers, for example). High schools rise and fall on grad rates and other accountability data; don't parents -- the taxpayers who support the schools -- deserve timely reporting on how the city's students are doing? The state and the city's DOE owe the accountability they cite as a foundation of responsible, progressive school reform to the people who pay their salaries.

High school preview

Posted by helen at 10:01 AM

The end of July may seem like low season for high school, but parents of rising 8th graders with questions about small and charter high schools have a chance to learn more tomorrow evening, in a DOE workshop at Stuyvesant High School.

Nearly two dozen new small high schools will open in September, including Bard High School Early College II, a math-science spin on the highly touted BHSEC I model. Parents with thoughts to share or open questions can visit our forum to share their wisdom (and worries).

Fewer parent advocates this fall?

Posted by helen at 5:35 PM

District family advocates, positions newly created by the DOE's Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy before the 2007-08 school year, will be fewer and farther between in 2008-09, according to a story in today's Post.

Each district was to have at least two family advocates according to OFEA, over and above school-based parent coordinators. Now, it looks like more than half of the city's 34 districts may have only one.

Calls to OFEA were inconclusive: Gwen Hopkins, Managing Director for Parent Leadership and Support, didn't deny that cuts were planned, saying "many divisions have to weather this latest round of cuts." Chief of Staff Melissa Harris put us on hold for a while, then came back to say she was "not at liberty" to respond to our questions.

Parents, if you've had interactions, positive or negative, with District Family Advocates, let us know. We're interested in learning how thinning their ranks might affect everyday life at the city's schools.

UPDATE: DOE spokesperson Melody Meyer provided additional details on the parent advocate cutbacks. Although some elementary/middle-school positions will be eliminated, she said, others will be added at the borough advocate level, in response to parent demand for high-school admissions guidance and other high-school information. Meyer could not say where cuts would occur, or whether the new borough advocates would receive formal training in the high-school admissions process.

New middle and high school fair in Brooklyn today

Posted by Tanner Kroeger at 10:29 AM

Students without placements or unhappy with school assignments in Brooklyn can attend the DOE's new school fair today at Brooklyn's Borough Hall from 4-7 p.m. New middle and high schools with open seats in Brooklyn will attend the fair; students can apply on the spot.

Although students citywide are invited to attend, today's fair is only for Brooklyn schools. A similar new school fair will take place in Queens later in the month.

Muggy Monday mash-up

Posted by helen at 9:36 AM

Another sweltering summer day, and the Daily News reports an extra measure of risk in NYC playgrounds -- no news at all to any parent whose toddler's hot-footed it from the sprinklers to the park bench. For those who can find a spot in the shade, summer reading, vetted by the DOE.

The merits of letting young children mature or holding them back, depending on your point of view, gets the Harvard once-over: Despite prevailing trends and the increasingly common practice among independent schools, it may not be the best choice, in the long view. But there's plenty of good news here, with inspiring videos on real-world projects and ideas, thanks to filmmaker George Lucas. No accident his swashbuckling hero doubles as a bashful academic.

Our wish-list is still in DOE limbo -- or maybe the summer doldrums is more like it. Stay tuned, and stay cool (city pools and cooling centers are open).

Unpacking Klein-speak in D.C.

Posted by helen at 10:27 AM

Here's a paragraph from Chancellor Joel Klein's testimony yesterday before the House panel on education; below it, some amplification on what the stats really mean, thanks to this handy PowerPoint from the DOE.

"In fourth-grade math, for example, the gap separating our African-American and white students has narrowed by more than 16 points. In eighth-grade math, African-American students have closed the gap with white students by almost 5 points. In fourth-grade reading, the gap between African-American and white students has narrowed by more than 6 points. In eighth-grade reading, the gap has closed by about 4 points."

First, the good news: Overall, nearly 80% of fourth-graders score at or above grade level in math. That's good. The race gap Klein highlights persists but is narrowing. Also good. But the 18-point split between black and white students leaps to 30 points by 8th grade, when math proficiency drops to 59% overall. So closing a gap by 5 points IS progress -- but the gap that remains is six times as wide.

In English Language Arts (ELA), 26 points separate black and white fourth-grade students who score on or above grade level; the gap endures, at 29 points, in eighth grade. But the overall average score plummets in parallel with the math score -- 61% score at or above grade level in fourth grade, but fewer than half, 43%, earn level 3/4 on their eighth grade ELA.

And two items worth the mention, although Klein elected to skip them: This year, grade 5 level 3/4 ELA scores were 69%; grade 6 level 3/4 scores plummeted to 53% -- roughly, a 20% drop. What happened in that transitional year? And top scorers on the Level 4 ELAs represent a very small slice of the New York City pie: Only 5.8% of fourth graders and 2.9% of eighth graders scored Level 4 on these critical standardized exams.

Head spinning yet? The numbers sure are...