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Public and private schools vary in size. Charter schools and schools-within-schools tend to be smaller than traditional public schools. While class size in private schools tends to be small, the size of the school’s 

Special education is defined by law as “specifically designed instruction that meets the unique needs of a child with a disability.” Depending on your child’s disability, the public school system offers a wide range of services and support, including special education, related services, transition services, supplementary aids, testing accommodations, assistive technology and transitional supportive services. 

Some parents donate a great deal of time to their children’s school, while others are either too busy or disinterested in this type of effort. You will have to decide the extent to which you would like to become involved in your school’s operations as well as the role that you would like to play. Typically, parents who volunteer at schools participate in one of three ways:

• Helping with the school’s daily life: This may involve volunteering in the classroom, working in the library, chaperoning field trips or coaching.
• Decision-making: Most schools have parent advisory committees or governing boards. In this role, you may have a substantial voice in the manner in which the school is run.
• Fundraising: Schools use a variety of activities to raise funds, including school fairs, dances, auctions and holiday parties. They may ask you to help organize one or more of these activities or play an even larger role and manage the investment of the school’s endowment.

As part of the admissions process, most nursery schools will schedule an interview with your child. Typically, the director, a staff member or teacher will observe your child in a play group session with a few other children of the same age who are probably also applicants. Your child may be in a class in which the teacher may ask the child to draw a picture or complete a task. Depending on the school, parents may or may not be allowed to be present.

The director or staff will observe your child’s developmental level to decide if he or she is a good fit for the school. More specifically, they will observe:

• How your child responds to the teacher (i.e., follows instructions).
• How your child interacts with other children.
• Your child’s cognitive ability.

The day before the interview:

• Tell your child that he or she will be visiting a school the following day and will probably be playing with other children for about an hour.
• Tell your child that an adult may ask her/him to draw a picture or complete a task.
• Tell your child that you will do something special after the session.
• Dress the child in appropriate, yet comfortable clothing. If the school has a dress code, dress the child as formally as required. If the school does not have a dress code, informal clothing is adequate.
• If only one parent brings the child to the nursery school, select the parent from whom the child has the easiest time separating.

Standardized test scores provide a consistent way to compare children, classrooms or schools to others within a school, district, city or state. These exams are one measure of what students have learned in their core academic subjects at a given period of time and can be extremely helpful to parents when they are deciding among a group of schools. However, standardized test scores can also be misleading.

The New York City progress report provides a number of measures of teacher quality, including the percent of teachers with a doctorate, the percent of teachers teaching in their area of certification and the number of teachers with more than three years of teaching experience. In fact, we have included these measures on our school profiles and comparison charts to allow parents to compare various measures of teacher quality. Unfortunately, these data are not always good measures of teacher quality.

Schools vary significantly in regard to their homework policies. Some high schools boast that their students do 3 to 4 hours of homework each night, and their school day lasts longer than most. Other schools do not emphasize homework and claim that students can complete their learning at school. Although these examples are the extremes, either case might be appropriate for your child, depending on your child’s interests and your goals. Parents should inquire about the amount of homework assigned on a daily basis, over the weekends and during the holidays to ensure that the school’s policies are aligned with their expectations.

Some progressive schools are using portfolios to measure student’s learning and performance instead of grades. Although portfolios and grades serve the same function—measuring student performance on a regular schedule—there are advantages and disadvantages to each system. Parents grew up with grades and do not have trouble understanding the differences between an A and a C. grade. Since they are typically on a scale, it is not difficult to determine how your child compares to school’s standard grade level or even to their peers if the school requires teachers to limit the number of As and Bs given.

Special education is defined by law as “specifically designed instruction that meets the unique needs of a child with a disability.” Depending on your child’s disability, the public school system offers a wide range of services and support, including special education, related services, transition services, supplementary aids, testing accommodations, assistive technology and transitional supportive services. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was created in 1975 to entitle children with disabilities to “free and appropriate” education.