NYC Magazine » Education

Setbacks with the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum

Wendy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:45:12 +0000

Over the past few years, plans have been set in motion to try and create an underground World Trade Center Memorial Museum. The museum was supposed to be created to commemorate all of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and was scheduled to open on September 11th, 2012, the 11th anniversary of the attacks. The museum would also be opening one year after the revealing of a September 11th memorial at the site of the buildings that in its first few months of opening, drew well over 1 million visitors. The museum is intended to add to the memorial and ...continue reading

SUNY Wastes Money, Paterson Not Cutting Costs

Yelena Mandenberg — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:17:10 +0000

This year, CUNY and SUNY colleges have both raised tuition, cut classes, stopped hiring adjuncts, and in general have tried to cut costs everywhere they can. Well, the Daily News is reporting that while students are paying tons more in fees and tuition, SUNY has spent $29.9 paying overtime through November of this fiscal year (which does not end until March 31).

This new finding means that SUNY is exceeding last year’s total, while other schools have cut overtime.

SUNY spokesman David Belsky said new Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is trying to develop a system-wide plan to cut costs “through greater innovation and reduced ...continue reading

Homework Making Kids Nearsighted

Yelena Mandenberg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:33:43 +0000

School kids everywhere can get up and cheer; it was finally proven that homework is harmful to one’s health. Research shows that homework is making kids nearsighted.

Kids these days have way too much homework! Students in first to sixth who attend rigorous schools are much more prone to developing myopia, or near-sightedness. Even children who do not have a family history of poor vision are developing myopia, according to prominent Upper East Side pediatric eye doctor, Mark Steele.

“There’s a correlation between private schools and nearsightedness,” Dr. Steele told The Post. “The kids in private school do more reading, and that puts ...continue reading

CUNY Ceremony Disrupted By Trustee Shouting Match

Yelena Mandenberg — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:02:30 +0000

Today was a special day for CUNY, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials came to the Borough of Manhattan Community College to celebrate the rebuilding of their Fiterman Hall, which was badly damaged on September 11, 2001.

However, during the first part, City Councilman Charles Barron and CUNY Trustee Jeffery Wiesenfeld has a shouting match, yelling “You shut up!” “You’re a disgrace!” and “You’re a sickening racist!”

The word is that Councilman Barron had to sit in the audience and felt disrespected that he wasn’t originally seated at the front with the other officials. He was also upset that Mayor Bloomberg did ...continue reading

Budget Cuts Cause Even Bigger Classrooms in NYC Schools

Yelena Mandenberg — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:42:24 +0000

While all class sizes rose this year, high school students and kindergartners are particularly feeling the increase in class size.

Supposedly, in 2008, the average size of an English class was 24.7 students, although most high schools have at least 30 students in each class. The average number is up to 26.4 this year, according to preliminary figures from the Department of Education. The number of students in high school science classes has also risen from 26.1 to 27.4.

There was also a spike in enrollment in kindergarten classes, by about 5 percent, which is contributing to the increase in class size. In ...continue reading

Students’ Standardized Test Scores Will Factor Into Teachers’ Tenure According to Mayor

Yelena Mandenberg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:18:16 +0000

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced in a statement on Wednesday that, starting immediately, New York City public schools would begin to use test scores to gauge which teachers should or should not receive tenure.

This move has been bitterly opposed by the teachers union, which claims that this is putting too much weight on standardized exams, such as the citywides, and regents exams.

Although most do agree that standardized tests are not a good measure of students’ capabilities, the state government still puts a ton of stock in them. Standardized tests are used to decide teacher and principal bonus pay, assign A through ...continue reading

Bloomberg Wants Even More Budget Cuts

Igor Derysh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:00:26 +0000

While New York Governor David Paterson tries to convince the state legislature to cut $3.2 billion from the state budget, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to cut an additional $1.7 billion from the city budget.

Mayor Mike has said that he wants to cut $500 million from this years budget and $1.2 from next year’s.

His plan would involve cutting 1.5% of the education budget, 2% from the “uniformed services” (i.e. cops, firefighters), and 4% from everything else this year.

Next year, the education system would have its budget cut by an additional 4%, ...continue reading

NYC High Schools Get Report Card (It’s Not Good)

Igor Derysh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:00:57 +0000

In the third year of the A-F grade system, the Education Department has handed down plenty of As but numerous C’s and D’s as well.

In total, 40 schools received better grades than they did last year but 67 schools received lower grades and six schools received an F. In total, 7% of New York City public schools received a D or an F.

While the grades are largely based on test scores, the Education Department claims to also use student progress, graduate rates, and overall performance. Since the grades were introduced in 2007, the city has ...continue reading

CUNY Freshmen Can’t Do Simple Math

Igor Derysh — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:25 +0000

Last week we discussed the record numbers of people that were applying to Community Colleges and City University of New York schools in general but a new study suggests that the colleges have their work cut out for them.

According to a report done by CUNY itself, 90% of students who graduated from city high schools and are entering a four-year (not two-year) CUNY school cannot do a simple algebra problem. More than a third of the students tested could not convert a fraction into a decimal.

More than 70% of the CUNY system is made up ...continue reading

Paterson, Senate Debate Budget Cuts

Igor Derysh — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:30 +0000

Despite New York State’s growing $3 billion deficit, state senate leaders did not respond to Governor David Paterson’s speech to a joint session of the legislature as he would have liked.

As New York faces an economic collapse similar to the one in California, state legislators are doing what they have always done, avoiding any unpopular yet necessary actions that could threaten their jobs, while the Governor avoids pushing too much and is all too willing to compromise.

New Yorkers have come to expect the state legislature to avoid any unpopular actions but many are starting to ...continue reading