The founder of insideschools.org reflects on the state of public education in the city.
By Sarah Seltzer
The New York City Public School system is such a behemoth--and it has undergone so many policy changes--that they've been extremely lucky to have Clara Hemphill around to help them make sense of it all. In addition to authoring several public school guides, Hemphill was the driving force behind insideschools.org which is widely-used for its methodical listing of all the public schools in New York, each with thorough descriptions and parent comments. Soon, however, Hemphill will be leaving the organization to finish updating her book on the city's public schools.
Imagine parents who want to be fully educated about their public-school options. How would they begin?
Your first option is of course your neighborhood school. You can find out what it is by calling 311. In large parts of Manhattan, the neighborhood schools are not just fine but really excellent, particularly in District 2, which is the east side south of 96th street, the West Side south of 59th, but not the Lower East Side. If you live further uptown in Harlem or Washington Heights, or on the Lower East Side or the West Side, you should still check out your neighborhood schools. Some of them are good, and some are great.
What if the local school ends up being not so great?
Your next option would be schools that either accept kids outside of your attendant zone or schools that are un-zoned. On the Lower East Side, for example there are bunch of progressive schools, like the Neighborhood School, the Children's Workshop, and the Earth School that a lot of parents are really happy with. And on the Upper West Side, there are a number of schools take kids from outside their attendant zone based on a lottery. Those would be another option. Your third option is a gifted and talented program (G&T). A final option is charter schools, which accept children in a lottery. Those also listed on the website.
Many parents would like to hope that a G&T school would become their first option, but there's been a lot of changes in G&T admissions policies.
It's too soon to tell how the new admissions policies [a universal test plus nursery school evaluation[ will affect the kids and their education, but I think that far too much time has been spent over the admission, and not nearly enough has been spent on the content of the programs. I'm also of the opinion that if we have good neighborhood schools in every neighborhood there would be far less demand for gifted and talented programs in the early grades.
What should parents consider when deciding whether a given elementary schools is a good choice for their child?
I think it's really important to visit schools, if at all possible when class is in sessions. The most important thing I look for is the level of engagement of kids. If the kids are bored out of their minds, with heads on desks, that's not a good sign, but if they're goofy and all over the place not a good sign either. I look for rich classroom libraries, lots of fun-to-read books, picture books, atlases, science and discovery books, fiction. I don't like schools that rely too heavily on textbooks. Another thing I look for is the quality of children's work on the walls. I like to see a variety of work that√s initiated by the kids, and not just posters out up by textbook company.
What are some questions parents can ask when they visit schools?
One of the questions parents can ask is how do you handle different levels of ability within the same class? Some parents jump to put kids in a gifted and talented program b/c they're afraid they won't be challenged in a regular classroom, but what's important in any classroom is the teacher's ability to find work that's appropriate for everyone. One of the ways you identify that in a classroom is If one child is reading "Frog and Toad," another reading "Charlotte's Web," then you know the school is making an attempt to reach kid where they are at.
How can the PTA and principal help you take the pulse of a school you're visiting?
I'm not as persuaded that the PTA is really critical to making a good school. Clearly the more parents involved in their children's education the better, though some hyperactive parents can actually become intrusive in the operating of a school. The principal is the most important person in the building. If you have a good principal you have good school. It√s almost impossible to have a good school without good principal. One question to ask a principal is to ask what is your vision and what direction would you like to take it in the future. A good principal has a clear idea of where she wants to take school and how she wants to get there.
What do you tell parents who are concerned about being able to afford private school but worried that public schools aren't going to be able to give kids the same kind of personal attention?
The public schools have large class size and facilities that are often somewhat run down. What I think is really important is the quality of interaction between the grownup s and the kids. Everybody wants a small class. But you sometimes get larger classes in neighborhoods like Tribeca or the Upper East sSde, where the teachers are good and everyone will do what they can do get kids in, whereas in other neighborhoods everyone will do what they can to get their kids out. Research shows that class size particularly critical for working class and low-income families. Most upper-middle-class kids can cope. Which is not to say large class size is a good thing. The contractual limit for kindergarten is 25 kids per class. It's 28 grades for 1-3 and 32- 4-6. Also, a lot of people think that in elementary school your emotional and social development just as important as your academic development. Ultimately, it really depends on [your] child: do you have a robust child who can cope with the rough and tumble atmosphere or, delicate child who might not be able to? In general, my advice is save your money for college.
Besides the lack of tuition, what are some advantages of a public school education?
A lot of parents are concerned by rampant materialism and consumerism in our culture, and there√s some of that in the public schools but I think there's probably less. People talk a lot about friends of all races, and all social classes. In elementary school my daughter had friends who lived in brownstones and kids who were children of superintendents living in basement apartments. It exposes them to wide range of human experiences.
Have either Bloomberg and Klein's new policies or No Child Left Behind made a significant impact on public schools?
The [city] administration is really committed to equity and has poured resources into poor neighborhood that have really suffered from inadequate schools Schools in middle class neighborhoods have not changed a great deal since Bloomberg became mayor. I think NCLB hasn't had a big affect. I haven√t noticed a big impact in Manhattan south of 96th street. But standardized test are a drag, there are lots of them, and there are probably going to be more.
It seems that public elementary schools in parts of New York are excellent. How do middle schools compare?
I have two children in middle school in district two, I've been very happy with the quality of their education. It's tricky; there are some excellent middle schools, but there are very few ordinary neighborhood-zoned middle schools that you can enroll your child in admission. Middle schools have traditionally been the weak link in the New York city public school system. Visit the schools. What you look for is very similar actually to what you look for in elementary schools.
How have public high schools been evolving? Traditionally the image has been that there are the 3 specialized high schools, a few more, and then an empty field elsewhere:
There are now eight specialized schools, This [city] administration has focused really strongly on creating new small schools. In Manhattan there really are no more neighborhood high schools. Everybody has to go through this agonizing process of school choice. The good news is there are a lot of good schools out there, the bad news is an agonizing process. I imagine it's comparable to applying to private high schools.
After all your work, and your own experience, what kind of impression do you have of the NYC public school system overall?
It's got the best and the worst. My children have had wonderful experiences studying with top scientists at NYU medial school and Cornell in their middle school classes, these genius researchers helping 7th graders with ascience project. It was amazing. Some extremely talented teachers opened my kids' eyes to the world. Doing primary source research on Ellis Island in third grade. And then there are frustrations that make you want to pull your hair out. Overall, I can't imagine my kids would have done better anywhere, whether it's public, private, city or suburban.
What would you do to change things in the system if you could?
Strengthening the neighborhood schools. School choice only works up to a point, what we need is good neighborhood schools. There hasn't been as much attention to the middle kids, particularly on the West Side. There are spots for superstars, spots for remedial education, but there isn't much for kids in the middle outside of District 2. School choice helps some kids get better options than they would otherwise, doesn't solve the problem, which is a shortage of adequate schools. ✦
