Gifted and talented for 1st through 4th grade

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By Joyce Szuflita
Gifted and Talented is back baby! and it is more opaque and imprecise than ever!! If you were interested in G&T for kindergarten in fall of 2023, that process is over and placements have been made. If you are interested in moving your child from their current program for a change at first through fourth grade for the fall of 2023, you have until May 15 to apply. You can only apply if your child has been identified by their course grades to be eligible and you would have received notice from the DoE. Read this to find out what you actually get and don’t get at G&T. This is a large city and there are neighborhoods with very different environments and needs. In this blog I am speaking to the families who live in northwest Brooklyn where there is a bounty of quality, stable, progressive elementary schools filled with talented educators.

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10th grade transfer application and waitlist - where for art thou?

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By Joyce Szuflita
The 10th grade application process exists, but specific information about it is rarely seen on the DoE’s website. I have only found one mention of it under “who can apply?”. The answer is: A current eighth grade or first-time ninth grade student. That’s it! Here is the story of the 10th grade transfer.

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Good luck

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By Joyce Szuflita
According to the DoE high school placements will be coming out through MY SCHOOLS on Thursday March 9. If your child took the SHSAT, the results of the test, and LaGuardia auditions as well as your main application results will be listed there. You will receive an email when your results are available. They often stagger the results because MY SCHOOLS would crash if everyone went on at the same time.

Here is the thing. Life is uncertain. You can prepare and calculate and hope. It is hard not to fall in love with one place or another, but you can’t engineer your placement. Your mission is to prepare your child (and yourself, cause you have worked hard for this!) There is no doubt that you will be disappointed for any number of reasons, possibly just because there has been so much effort and angst.

This is what I hope students will consider when they get their placement:

This school is all potential.
It will be what I make of it.
I don’t know those kids, but my new best friend for life is somewhere in that crowd.
My first love is probably in there too.
There will be a teacher that I will never forget in that building.
There will be some uncontrollable laughter.
There will be something that seemed nearly impossible that I will conquer.
I will likely be sorry to leave at the end of it all.

You can focus on what you desire, but you don’t always get it, and you might even be sorry if you did, because you would have missed the wonderful thing that appeared when you least expected it. Go out and find it.

i'm applying to kindergarten with a "bad" lottery number

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i'm applying to kindergarten with a "bad" lottery number

By Joyce Szufltia
This is something that middle and high school parents have had to address this year. It is in the wind and kindergarten parents have begun to ask. The “random number” aka lottery number has always been with us. It has just never been revealed by the DoE. This year, the DoE revealed the “number” to older kids and if you ask them, they will tell you too. It doesn’t predict your fate, but it does give you a little insight that may help you manage expectations.

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one list for kindergarten. one placement.

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By Joyce Szuflita
The big change in kindergarten admissions this year is that G&T choices are included on your application along with your zoned school, un-zoned programs, out of zone programs, and dual language programs. You only get one placement from this list. This has been confirmed by the DoE.

There are two things that are important to understand.

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What does Gifted & Talented mean?

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What does Gifted & Talented mean?

By Joyce Szuflita
I have listed the schools with available programs for lower elementary here.
There is no Citywide or even district wide information about curriculum or expectations in these classrooms, because there is no different curriculum and there is no uniform approach. They say it is "accelerated" but what that means is something that the DoE will NEVER explain.

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How to find your zoned school 2022-23

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How to find your zoned school 2022-23

By Joyce Szuflita
You are not necessarily zoned to the elementary school that is closest to you. Almost everyone only has one zoned school. There are many zoned schools within a district, but you don’t have the same priority access to all of them. You are not guaranteed a seat in your zoned school at kindergarten. That is too strong a word, although the DoE will make every effort to place you in your zoned school and in most cases it is wildly likely that there will be a seat for you. Currently, because of Covid attrition and lower birth rates, all local schools are NOT over capacity and they have room for all zoned students and occasionally other families from outside of the zone.

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My kid is not in Group 1, what do I do now?!!!

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By Joyce Szuflita
I just got a great email from Elissa Stein (High School 411) about priority groups and it inspired me to write this. If you use the code JOYCE10 she will give you a little discount on her subscription.

This process is not a lottery. It is a match and there are lots of wrinkles to it. Random numbers are in there, but they are not the only thing to consider.

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What does that crazy change in Applicant : Seat ratio numbers mean?

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By Joyce Szuflita
First to find each school’s Applicant:Seat ratios which can give an idea about how popular a school is.
Go to the MY SCHOOLS directory.
Put the name of the school in the search bar.
When the school page comes up, go all the way to the bottom and you will see one or more programs that you can apply to. Open the link on the program name.

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Lottery numbers will be revealed this season for middle school and high school placement.

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By Joyce Szuflita
Counter to my speculation earlier this year (It happens), I have gotten conclusive confirmation from the Director of Enrollment that random numbers will be released before the application deadlines this fall.

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nyc middle school admissions season fall 2022

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nyc middle school admissions season fall 2022

By Joyce Szuflita
Here is what is going on.
Some academic screens will be adopted at some middle schools. In those programs, students will be ranked based on a composite of their course grades from fourth grade. Decisions about which school will allowed to screen will be made at the District level between the Superintendents, CEC’s and the schools. There will be a limited number of those programs and announcements about which programs will be screened will be announced when applications open in late Oct.

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Algebra 1 and the path to Calculus

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By Joyce Szuflita
Thinking about the sequence of high school math classes and requirements for graduation and for college placement is confusing. It is something that I try to make parents aware of when thinking about vetting middle schools, just because this is all confusing and knowledge is power. None if it is a deal breaker, and thinking about what is appropriate in high school math is top of mind for elite colleges as well as high school and middle school educators.

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how to make a high school list

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how to make a high school list

By Joyce Szuflita
Families are starting to think about the public high school search right about now. Spring of 7th grade is also the perfect time to start making a list of around 24 programs to investigate. You will whittle down to 12 by the deadline in 8th grade. You need to keep your mind open at this time of year. If a school is within and hour commute and has something that intrigues you, it is worth at least a passing glance early in the game. If you are too particular right now, your list will be a pathetic group of well known, tiny, wildly popular schools that will be impossible to gain entry to.

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