Alternative Schools in NYC

by NYC Private Schools on February 8, 2010

An alternative NYC Private School education has become a commonly heard phrase over the past couple of decades, however, before the 70s it was not very familiar at all. Alternative schools were originated in order to serve a student population that was not thriving in public school or traditional school settings and required an alternative educational environment in which to succeed. There were few alternative schools in the beginning, however, now the concept itself has been embraced by a much larger segment of the population.

Alternative school is now a description given to an educational establishment or institution that provides a non–traditional curriculum or applies a non-traditional method of educational philosophy. Specialized curriculums or flexible hours can all fall into this category.

There are a wide range of philosophies and specialized schooling available under the categorization of Alternative Schools. Some have political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, while others better resemble the original Alternative School picture and are a grouping of teachers and students dissatisfied with some aspect of mainstream or traditional education.

Many schools that consider themselves Alternative Schools have similar characteristics in their profile even when the driving forces behind them are different. Among the common similarities in these schools are:

A smaller overall school size, which includes smaller student-teacher ratios.

Increased communication flow between students, teachers and families, allowing for a higher level of individual input and freedom of choice. This allows students and teachers to better understand each other and what is expected of them in their roles, creating a supportive environment of responsibility and guidance.

There are many Alternative Schools in the NYC Private School environment, making it likely that your child can find the right match for his or her educational needs.


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Educational Stability in NYC Schools

by NYC Private Schools on February 7, 2010

As the planning stages continue to develop for new NYC Schools, more news is heard regarding new institutions that are replacing those slated to close. NYC Schools that were considered low-performing were given closure notices earlier this year and now we are hearing about new schools that will eventually be moving in.

The Jamaica High School building will soon house two smaller High Schools within its elder halls at 167-08 Gothic Drive; The Hillside Arts and Letters Academy and the High School for Community Leadership. The Hillside Arts and Letters Academy proposes plans to focus on visual arts, music and writing as specialties in their academic Curriculum, while The Community Leadership School will, as its name implies, emphasize a curriculum focused on community service. It is said that a third school will be housed at Jamaica the following year.

There has been a lot of debate on the closure of the older Jamaica High School, with many advocates pointing out great improvements in safety and quality of education in the past few years.

Some have argued that the same students who attended Jamaica High School will attend the new High Schools and the same teachers who taught at Jamaica High School will teach at the new schools. Though admission and employment are not guaranteed to anyone who is a part of the current system, because of this, many have said that the new schools are simply a renaming ceremony.

Disturbances in the continuity of education can be detrimental to any student and the retention of highly skilled teaching staff should always be a top priority. The continued restructuring of the NYC School System has increasingly led many families to seek a NYC Private School education for stability.


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Private School Focus on Barrow Street School

February 6, 2010

An excellent NYC Private School education starts in the home and continues in the extensive enrichment programs in our area Nursery Schools.
The Barrow Street Nursery School is a Pre-K program designed for children aged 2-5. The curriculum at Barrow Street Nursery School believes in taking advantage of the magical formative years in a child’s [...]

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Crowding in the NYC School System

February 5, 2010

There are many factors that have gone into creating the current school availability crisis in NYC Schools and crowding in the schools seems to be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.
Some of the reasons for availability shortages in NYC Schools are

More children. The biggest single reason is that more families are [...]

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Healthy School Lunch Can Be Hard to Find

February 4, 2010

Healthy and nutritious foods for children are absolutely vital to maintaining their health and their alert, positive energy throughout the day. When students have the right healthy foods they also have the essential building blocks that their bodies need to fight off infections, enrich cognitive function and memory and stay physically and mentally healthy. [...]

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Private School Financial Scrutiny Important

February 3, 2010

In a raw example of how an economic condition affects schools, students and communities, one Private School in Indiana is deciding whether or not it can continue to operate throughout the rest of the year due to the fact that it is just plain out of money.
NewsChannel 15’s Chris Hopper discovered the financial [...]

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The Right Help for Private School Students

February 2, 2010

Children start out in school in a variety of ways, some strong, some weak and some just waiting, it seems, to soak up all that the NYC Educational system can give to them. As children get older, very specific changes in personality and learning styles begin to show and it becomes clearer for many [...]

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Private School Focus on Kew-Forest School

February 1, 2010

The right NYC Private Elementary School is the dream of every parent raising a young child in the city. For many parents in the Queens area, that means the Kew-Forest School. Kew-Forest is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school that enrolls students from Kindergarten through grade 12. Kew-Forest opened in September of 1918 [...]

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Preschool Admissions for Twins in Brooklyn

January 31, 2010

I have heard all kinds of urban folklore about the difficulty of finding school seats for NYC twins. I have heard that a family of twins needs to apply to 10 to 12 preschool programs to gain entry. I just couldn’t reconcile that number with what I know about Brooklyn admissions. We all know that [...]

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NYC Teachers and Potential Layoffs

January 31, 2010

The overall picture of Education in NYC Schools was laid out as bleak at the beginning of last year. Economic concerns, increases in Private School Tuition, more competition for Financial Aid, all of these items that factor into Private Schools were coupled with the loss of thousands of Public School teachers and massive budget [...]

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