SchoolBook is hosting a forum on STEM education on Tuesday, May 21. Join us any way you can, in person, via our live webstream or on Twitter (hashtag #StemNYC.) To whet your appetite for the topic take a listen to our recent story about the city’s efforts to seed science, technology, engineering and math programs in the school system.

A lawsuit brought by four families argues that the city’s methodology is flawed when it comes to determining which children are eligible for gifted and talented programs.

“In regards to education policy, Bill Gates ought to have a loud voice in his school district, but a quieter one in mine.” So says a father and Fordham professor who argues the Common Core learning standards, while positive, should not be imposed uniformly upon all schools and teachers.

Some graduate students at Teachers College are offended by the decision to honor Chancellor Merryl Tisch at the school’s graduation ceremony next week. To many of them, Tisch has supported policies antithetical to the Teachers College philosophy and they’re considering ways to make their displeasure known.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a large gathering of parents of English language learners to speak up and ask for help navigating the massive school system, and to remember this mantra: “I am not stupid. I am ignorant. Help me figure it out.”

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson, one of the Democrats running for mayor, said mayoral control could be in jeopardy when it comes up for renewal if there are not “tweaks” made to Mayor Bloomberg’s education reforms.

“I have watched several people die in emergency rooms, and at times, I’ve wondered if the outcome could have been different if some slight detail had changed.” Personal experience led this New York City student to build a computer program that has earned him a spot at the nation’s top science competition underway this week in Phoenix, AZ.

City students who apply to a charter school now have a 27 percent chance of getting in, as more of the privately managed public schools take root. But there’s still a waiting list of more than 50,000 students.

Six of the candidates running for mayor addressed hundreds of teachers at a union-organized forum on Saturday. They all criticized aspects of Mayor Bloomberg’s record, and said they would give more respect to teachers and families.

For the second time in three weeks, Pearson apologized for errors made when scoring the test for admission to the city’s gifted and talented programs. The latest round of errors affects the eligibility of 146 test takers and changes the scores – but not the status – of 159 others. The deadline to apply to G&T programs has been extended, again.