Education: Resources For Choosing the Right School

To ensure that a child growing up in the city gets a good education, parents really do have to turn themselves into educated consumers. We have four thriving educational sectors—public, private, charter, and parochial—and they all have their pros and cons, rules, and regulations. New York Family has several wonderful resources to help guide city parents (read on!); plus, we’ve rounded up a selective list of tools that are available to help you find the best school for your child.

NEW YORK FAMILY RESOURCES

The Blackboard Awards: The prestigious Blackboard Awards honor excellence in education throughout the city and in every educational sector, calling upon parents and educators to help select and celebrate wonderful schools, principals, and teachers. You can learn more about the Blackboard Awards and read about past winners at blackboardawards.com. When you visit the site, please be sure to tell us about the schools, principals, and teachers of excellence in your family’s life. You can submit your nominations all year.

The Blackboard Awards: The prestigious Blackboard Awards honor excellence in education throughout the city and in every educational sector, calling upon parents and educators to help select and celebrate wonderful schools, principals, and teachers.

You can learn more about the Blackboard Awards and read about past winners at blackboardawards.com. When you visit the site, please be sure to tell us about the schools, principals, and teachers of excellence in your family’s life. You can submit your nominations all year.

New York Family: If you define education as learning that takes place both in the classroom and outside the classroom, then it’s just a huge part of what we do almost every day on our website and every month in our magazine, by pointing parents to good info and resources for helping them raise their children.

And regarding education in particular, we cover news, trends, admissions, and helpful resources all year long. A great way of tapping into our education coverage is to sign up for our free education e-newsletter, which runs twice-monthly through much of the year.

NURSERY SCHOOL & PRE-K

The Independent School Admission Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY)

The New York City Department of Education (DOE)

The Parents League of New York

Victoria Goldman’s The Manhattan Directory of Private Nursery Schools

Note: Many “preschool alternative” programs are offered by neighborhood education and enrichment centers. See our Classes Guide.

PUBLIC SCHOOL

Clara Hemphill’s various guides to NYC public schools

Class Size Matters

DOE

Insideschools

NYC Public School Parents

PRIVATE SCHOOL (INDEPENDENT)

ISAAGNY

The NYC Private School Admissions Handbook

The Parents League of New York

Victoria Goldman’s The Manhattan Family Guide To Private Schools And Selective Public Schools

CHARTER SCHOOL

DOE

New York City Charter School Center

PAROCHIAL SCHOOL

Archdiocese of New York

Note: For other faith-based schools in the New York City area, we recommend contacting local organizations affiliated with your religion. They should be able to direct you to schools of interest.

SCHOOL ADMISSION CONSULTANTS

As with college admissions consultants, the city has a small but busy cottage industry of consultants who help parents with nursery, public, and private school admissions.

Private Education Advisory Service (PEAS)

School Choice International

School Search NYC

Smart City Kids

TUTORS

Bee Tutored

Big City Tutoring

Bright Kids NYC

Brownstone Tutors

EBL Coaching

Fusion Academy and Learning Center

Green Test Prep

ibidPREP

Ivy Tutors Network

Kumon

Launch Math & Science Centers

Mathnasium

Next Level Learning

PandaTree

The Princeton Review

WyzAnt

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Relevant Directory Listings

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The Vincent Smith School

<p>Vincent Smith School is a non-profit, coed, independent school for grades 1-12 that serves students from Nassau, Suffolk, and NYC since 1924. The school is most known for its small classes, supportive staff, and individualized programs for students with learning differences such as Dyslexia/Dyscalculia/<wbr />Dysgraphia, as well as school anxiety, school reluctance, or ADHD. </p> <p>We emphasize academic, college-prep success through differentiated instruction and on-site services as needed for reading, speech, or OT in dedicated classrooms. VSS offers rolling admissions throughout the year at our scenic Port Washington campus.</p> <p><em> </em></p>

Garden School

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;" data-sheets-value="{" data-sheets-userformat="{">A coed, fully-accredited, independent school in Jackson Heights offering an excellent and affordable Nursery–Grade 12 education. Small classes allow for a personalized approach.</span></p>

EBL Coaching

<div> <p>One-on-one HOME, CENTER, and ONLINE tutoring for grades preK-12 in reading, writing, math, study skills, executive functioning skills, and homework help. EBL offers specialized instruction for students with dyslexia, learning disabilities, and ADHD, including tutoring using the Orton Gillingham method and other research-based, multi-sensory techniques. Under the direction of their director, Dr. Emily Levy, each student is evaluated to determine his or her specific needs and is then matched with one of EBL's highly trained learning specialists.</p> <p><strong>Individualized Learning Plan</strong></p> <div> <div> <p>An individualized learning plan using research-based, multi-sensory techniques is created for each student. Sessions can be held either at EBL's learning center or at the child's home, or online.</p> </div> <p><strong>Students build skills in:</strong></p> </div> <div> <div> <p style="padding-left: 40px;">-Decoding & Spelling<br /><br />-Sentence, Paragraph, & Essay Writing<br /><br />-Multi-sensory Math<br /><br />-Reading Comprehension<br /><br />-Study & Executive Functioning Skills<br /><br />-Test preparation<br /><br />-Time Management & Organizational Skills<br /><br />-Early Childhood Learning Skills</p> </div> <p><strong>One-on-one instructional sessions</strong></p> </div> <div> <div> <p>Students receive one-on-one instructional sessions to teach them the fundamental skills that are essential for academic success. They are initially assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses and academic levels, and are matched with one of EBL's highly trained learning specialists. Students develop core skills in reading, writing, reading comprehension, math, study skills, organization, test taking, note taking, and other executive functioning skills. As the academic demands of school rise, these skills become increasingly essential for academic success.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <h3>Dr. Emily Levy</h3> </div> </div> <p> </p> </div>