Finding Middle Schools
So why can’t school information be easier to find? For starters, I’d like a map with markers of each school that my child is eligible to apply to. Ideally, admissions criteria would also be transparent and easy to understand.
Middle school is set up as a system of choice. We’re expected to research options, visit schools, compare deciding factors and fill out an application form with our choices in rank order. All within a few weeks.
So why can’t school information be easier to find? For starters, I’d like a map with markers of each school that my child is eligible for. Ideally, admissions criteria would be transparent. It’d be great to know if essays or auditions or non-English language skills are expected and and what chance my child might have in getting a seat.
Here’s a list of options for 5th graders currently enrolled in District1, according to the 2019 DOE directory. Please let us know if there is additional school information you’d like to see. We are updating this map.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1MTPw54MzKHCz9gkjOFUShd0nGBec2Ch7&usp=sharing
Confused about NYC Middle Schools?
If you’ve got a 5th grader in (non zoned) Dist1 and have questions about applying to Middle School, please join us for this free information session The Public Good is organizing. Register here: https://d1middleschoolinfo.eventbrite.com
The event is co-sponsored with District 1 CEC. The Dept. of Education’s Middle School Admissions office will be joining to provide updates on changes and answer
If you have a child who just started 5th Grade in a District 1 school, welcome to the start of Middle School madness! While a few elementary schools continue into middle school grades, the vast majority of 5th grade parents will need to apply to schools of their choice by early December. And depending on where you live, your child’s unique needs and interests, and your comfort with commuting, you will need to put some time into exploring options and rank-ordering them on a DOE application.
To help answer questions, provide updates on new rules and share relevant information as well as tips on time management, The Public Good is organizing a free and open Middle School Information Session for anyone with a child currently in District1 5th Grade. Fourth grade arents who want to get a head start are welcome too!
Refreshments and child care will be provided.
Choice and equity
For the past eight years, The Public Good has been actively researching NYC Department of Education (DOE) policies around school choice and choice leads to or is lead by segregation and inequity.
We have been exploring is the link between resources and funding for services such as after-school programs and the socio-economic composition of elementary schools.
For the past eight years, The Public Good has been actively researching NYC Department of Education (DOE) policies around school choice. We look at the socio-economic trends and disparities within neighborhoods, while assessing the painful reality of schools, neighborhoods and a City that is increasingly divided and driven by self interest.
We are inspired to do this work by our vision of living in a city where public school children are not segregated from each other by shortsighted policies and differences in families economic situations.
One area we have been exploring is the link between resources and funding for services such as after-school programs and the socio-economic composition of elementary schools. In community District 1 where my kids have attended public schools since PreK and which is one of two Districts without zoned schools, parents “choose” where to send their child for PreK or Kindergarten and hope for the best. In a community where 19% of residents live below NYC’s poverty threshold (compared to 14% Manhattan-wide), a handful of elementary schools do not receive any assistance to make afterschool programs affordable for all children. That’s because, NYC allocates support for afterschool only if a school has a minimum of 60% of students who qualify for public assistance. So kids whose families live below poverty choose (or are assigned a school) where the majority are not in poverty, the most disadvantaged kids will still have to pay for afterschool.
So my question for the past several years has been, are the City’s policies around afterschool and enrichment funding contributing towards the growing economic segregation in our school system? If you were a working parent earning minimum wage and needed safe and dependable care for your child from 3:00-6:00pm every day and you could choose between sending your kindergartner to a school with free afterschool or one where you had to pay $3,000 a year, everything else being equal, you might lean towards the free full-time option.
Applying to Middle School: can we make it easier?
View the presentation here for insights and links to resources that help families navigate the Middle School application process.
Earlier this year we presented some of our work on the NYC Middle School application process at the BetaNY School of Data conference. Our work looks at strategies to make information about school options and the process itself more transparent and less burdensome to families. Tricia and her team at this year's NYC School of Data.
NYC Open Data Evaluation & City Council Report
As an Adjunct Professor, Tricia led a team of graduate students on an evaluation of New York City’s Open Data platform on behalf of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. The report with our findings was presented to City Council.
As an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia/SIPA, Tricia led a team of graduate students on an evaluation of the City’s Open Data platform on behalf of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Our findings were presented to City Council. You can read them here