Four Things to Consider When Selecting a School for Your Child

Right about now, families are receiving notice of whether or not their child has been matched to a school they applied for last fall.  Students who have not been matched or who may be dissatisfied with their matches will be submitting applications for the supplemental matching round.

With the creation of so many new schools, Bed-Stuy residents have more choices than ever when selecting a school for their child. This is especially true for parents of students who are entering middle school and high school. These students are able to apply to schools citywide. 

With literally hundreds of schools to choose from, identifying the school that will be the best fit for your child can be a difficult process. Here are four key things to look for when engaging in this very complex process:

1. Talk to Your Friends and Neighbors – Like anything else, you usually get the best information by word of mouth-- from someone whose child attends a school that you are interested in.

Additionally, Insideschools.org is a great resource that provides an independent evaluation of public schools by people who are not affiliated with the Department of Education. But you should be aware that some of the reviews are a little out of date.  

2. Look at the Progress Report – Every year, the DOE issues a progress report for every school in the system.  The school is issued a letter grade based upon its performance from the previous year. The school receives grades in three categories: School Environment, School Performance and Student Progress. 

There is additional credit given for the academic performance of sub-groups such as special education students or students for whom English is a second language (ESL). This is averaged together to create one overall grade.

But you must remember that all progress report grades are not equal.  Just because two schools receive an “A” on their report does not mean that they both are great schools.  In fact there are many instances where a school that received the “A” may not be as good as the school that received a “C."

For instance, one middle school located here in Bed-Stuy received an overall progress report grade of “A."  This school received a grade of “C” in the area of student progress with 26 percent of its students at or above proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) and 32 percent of the students at or above proficiency in Math. 

Compare this to another middle school that received an overall progress report grade of “B."  This second school also received a “C” in the area of student progress but 75 percent of its students were at or above proficiency in ELA and 89 percent of its students were at or above proficiency in Math. 

Clearly this can be confusing to a parent who is trying to find a great school for his or her child. One thing that can help you to determine actual quality and not relative quality of a school is to take a look at the “Peer Index” located in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the progress report. 

For middle schools and high schools, this peer index is measured on a four-point scale. The higher the peer index number, the higher the performance of its peer schools.

Peer groups were calculated by applying these peer index formulas to the demographics of schools’ 2009-2010 student population.

The actual schools that the prospective school is being compared to can be found on the bottom of the first page of the progress report under the section “Additional Information." 

3. Look at the Learning Environment Survey Report – In addition to the Progress Report, each school receives results from a Learning Environment Survey which is released annually for every school by the DOE. This survey is taken by parents, students and teachers and evaluates schools on a ten-point scale with 10 being the highest score. 

Schools are rated in four categories: Academic Expectations, Communication, Engagement and Safety & Respect. The first page of the report provides a quick overview of how well schools performed based on the survey results. 

An important bit of information to look at when considering the report is the percentage of parents, teachers and students that participated in the survey.  The greater the participation numbers, the more likely it is that the survey will give you an accurate picture of the school’s environment. 

4. Visit the School – Most schools usually host an open house where they showcase the best of what the school has to offer, but try to arrange with the parent coordinator or guidance counselor to visit on a regular school day. 

This will allow you to get a feel for the day-to-day tone of the school.  You can really tell what the place is like if you arrange to visit after one of the lunch periods.  If a school does not accommodate your request for a visit, it tells you a lot about the school before setting foot inside of the building. 

These are just a few tips that I hope will help you in navigating your way around one of the most complex public school admissions systems in the nation. Good hunting!