Archive for the ‘New York City’ Category

Wall Street Journal – Prepping for the Playdate Test

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

In this article from the Wall Street Journal (8/19/2010), Shelly Banjo discusses how parents are hiring consultants to coach their preschoolers on the art of the kindergarten admissions interview.      Like most things in New York, the sessions don’t come cheap. Aristotle Circle charges $400 for a 45-minute observation and assessment. Bright Kids NYC, a [...]

New York Times: Some Private Schools Drop the ERB Test

Friday, May 7th, 2010

New York Times – 5/7/10 Private School Screening Test Loses Some Clout by Jenny Anderson At least two schools in Manhattan have dropped the [ERB] exam as a requirement for admission starting this fall, bucking a trend of more widespread use of such tests. More broadly, a powerful coalition of New York schools is contending [...]

New York City Preschool Articles

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Big Kindergarten Wait List Limits Pre-K Slots (6/10/11) Maintaining Pre-K Day, via Tuition (6/16/11) The Pre-K Underground (co-ops in NYC) (12/16/11) Raising Standards for Head Start (1/3/12) Risks: More Woes for Preemies at Preschool Age (12/19/11) Suit Faults Test Preparation at Preschool (3/14/11) Wall Street Journal’s Prepping for the Playdate Test (8/19/10) New York Times’ Private [...]

New York City Preschool Resources

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Here is a list of resources on New York City preschools. Also, be sure to check the Resources page for additional information that might be helpful.  NYC Preschool Seminars / Workshops Big City Moms – NYC Nursery School Seminar. Includes educational consultant Roxanna Reid from Smart City Kids, Director of The Epiphany Community Nursery School Wendy [...]

New York City Preschool Seminars – Spring 2010

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

On 3/30/10, UrbanBaby posted a list of preschool and kindergarten admissions seminars coming up this Spring. Check out the descriptions here. Big City Moms’ “NYC Nursery School Seminar” The JCC’s “Getting Your Child into Kindergarten” New York Family’s “All-Star Nursery School Admissions Seminar” The Parents League Workshops & Panels School Search NYC Workshops

Maddox Jolie-Pitt Goes to Preschool in New York City

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Maddox, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s oldest, attended preschool at the prestigious Lycée Français de New York on the Upper East side. TMZ has two videos of Angelina taking Maddox to school: http://www.tmz.com/2007/09/10/maddoxs-preschool-cuisine-for-la-creme-de-la-creme/ http://www.tmz.com/2007/09/25/brangelina-sneaks-in-the-side/2

New York Times: Crayon-Chewing Time for Nursery School Directors (4/7/96)

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

New York Times Article Sifting Sandbox Aptitude Tests; Crayon-Chewing Time for Nursery School Directors by Elisabeth Bumiller April 7, 1996 One of the rituals of spring in fin de siecle Manhattan is getting a child admitted to a prestigious nursery school, never a task for the fainthearted. The process triggers the usual stories about letters [...]

New York Times Article: The Blue School

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

New York Times Inventive New Private School Hits Old Hurdles by Jenny Anderson April 1, 2010 The founders of the Blue School aspired to create something different: a private school not fixated on the Ivy League prospects of preschoolers and devoid of admissions hysteria. The school was in the East Village, not uptown, and its leaders [...]

New York Times: Parents Forfeit $20k Private School Tuition to Go to Public School for the Gifted

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

It sounds crazy, but it’s true. Parents in New York City whose children are accepted into a private school need to fork over the entire year’s tuition if they choose to go to a “gifted and talented” public school instead. Here’s an excerpt from the May 23, 2008 article in the New York Times by [...]

New York Magazine: Why Kindergarten Admission Tests are Worthless

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The cover story of the February 8, 2010 issue of New York magazine discusses how much power the kindergarten admissions test has in determining a child’s future, and how ridiculous that is. The Junior Meritocracy: Should a child’s fate be sealed by an exam he takes at the age of 4? Why kindergarten-admission tests are worthless, [...]