What are public schools like in NYC? I heard there pretty bad.?

Question

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Answer 1

I have taught for the NYC public schools for over 20 years and both my daughters go to NYC public schools.

In NYC there are some fantastic schools - better than the best private school, and some really unbelievably bad ones. The range is shocking!

Someone says it depends on where you live. That isn't quite right. Actually, these days, it matters less and less where you live.    

Today, for elementary school, you will have a zoned school. But for Middle School, High School and Pre-K, there no longer are zoned schools. You have to apply, and you have to rank a list of schools by how much you want to go to them. (So the school you rank number one would be your first choice, for example.)

And even in Elementary school, there are gifted programs and unzoned schools that you have to apply to. So real estate is no longer the great determiner as to who goes to which school.

To go back to the original question, though, you will find some fantastic schools in NYC, including Stuyvesant (which is as hard to get into as Harvard - some say harder) and LaGuardia (which is probably the best high school for the arts in the country.)

Answer 2

It depends on where you go, really.  Some public schools are highly selective, requiring entrance exams.

Other regular local public schools happen to be very good schools.  You know, the regular schools that the neighborhood students go to, that they're zoned for, where they don't need specialized entrance exams.  Many of these schools happen to offer great programs.

There are others, though, that are horrendous.

So, what you have to do is research the schools in a particular area, or even research individual schools!  How's the staff?  Are the students motivated?  What about extracurricular activities?

It is entirely possible for a student to get a top-notch education in NYC public schools.

Answer 3

excuse you!

they most certainly are not.

there are some really great public schools like stuyvesant(rated # 12 in the top 100 high schools in america) laguardia, brooklyn tech, beacon, mark twain, bay academy, bard early college, and many more.

needless to say they are certainly not bad.

but people who run the board of education like f*****k i n g with peoples vacation so were in school for as many days as possible

*cough cough mayor bloomberg/chancellor joel klein*

Answer 4

It truly depends on where you live, since most students are assigned to their zoned public school. If you happen to live in a district with better housing, such as Forest Hills or TriBeCa, then the schools are pretty nice.

For middle school, most students are then transferred to another school still based on where they live. There are a few exceptions such as Mark Twain, which requires an interview an audition, Louis Armstrong which is one by lottery, and Hunter College High School</a> which invites qualifying students to take a rigorous test much like the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, except with an essay as well. Though they have special and different admission processes, these schools are still public.

Your admission to a good public high school in NYC will depend on either your performance in middle school, or your score on the SHSATs. Some of the most renowned high schools in New York for which admission is gained through the SHSATs are Stuyvesant High School (in Lower Manhattan, near the World Trade Center), Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech, and these schools are very competitive  but also very big. In Brooklyn Tech, students are encouraged to declare a 'major' which then determines what courses they will take, which will prepare them for specific college programs such as Engineering, Computer Science, or Architecture. Others include High School of Math, Science and Engineering at City College of New York, which is a much smaller school, but the students are allowed to take certain courses at the college campus, and also receive college credit.

Schools that solely depend on the child's performance in middle school include Townsend Harris High School, and Benjamin Cardozo High School, both in Queens. Townsend Harris is located on the Queens College campus, and so it is very similar to the aforementioned HSMSE @ CCNY. There are still so many high schools in Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx that I failed to mention because I have not personally looked into, because I live in Queens.

All of the schools that I've named have rigorous schedules and are wonderful catapults into some of the top colleges in the United States. So the quality of education, like anywhere else, depends on how much interest you are willing to take in your child's education, and then how much your child is willing to work.