At a bit before midnight, more than three months after the idea was first proposed, the Panel for Educational Policy voted to reconstitute two dozen city schools by closing them, replacing most of their staff members and reopening them with new names. The vote was the end of a prolonged process, a day of drama and a very long, emotional night. Read More »

There have always been fathers involved in school PTAs, fund raising and education governance and politics. But as Kyle Spencer reported in The New York Times last week, these days there are not just more Dads involved in city school PTAs. The Dads are also putting their own stamp on the schools. Read about what is going on at Public School 11 William T. Harris in Chelsea, P.S. 110 Florence Nightingale on the Lower East Side, P.S. 75 Emily Dickinson on West End Avenue, P.S. 3 Charrette School in the West Village, P.S. 295 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, P.S. 261 Philip Livingston in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, and in the Staten Island schools. Read More »

More than 85 percent of New York City’s special education students are not meeting state standards for reading in the elementary and middle grades. Yet the city spends about $5 billion a year to educate students with special needs, more than a fifth of the total budget for schools. The city has been heavily criticized for spending so much money and getting such poor results. It is now trying to improve the way these students are educated. But going forward sometimes means taking a step back. Read More »

Part of what the annual school progress reports reveal are the schools that are subject to revamping or closing. But the reports can also show which schools are excelling, which are most improved, which are persistently failing, which exhibited the greatest student progress and which are inching up -- among many other measures. Here are some lists that SchoolBook has compiled based on schools' progress reports. Read More »

Dennis M. Walcott ended his five borough, first-day-of-school chancellor marathon at Susan E. Wagner High School on Staten Island. Along the way, in response to questions from students, he sprinkled details of his life: what he likes to read, the jobs he held, his days of touch football. He heard from parents with environmental concerns and student government leaders, who inspired a new idea that ended his day. Read More »