What is the SHSAT?

The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is the test taken by 8th or 9th graders who are interested in applying to any of eight of New York City’s Specialized High Schools:

• The Bronx High School of Science
• The Brooklyn Latin School
• Brooklyn Technical High School
• High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at the City College
• High School of American Studies at Lehman College
• Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
• Staten Island Technical High School
• Stuyvesant High School

The ninth Specialized High School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, requires an audition and a review of academic records rather than the SHSAT.

Registering for the SHSAT and Applying to NYC High Schools

In September of the 8th or 9th grade, you should inform your guidance counselor of your intention to apply to one or more Specialized High Schools.  The last day to register for the Fall 2010 SHSAT is October 6^th.  Prior to the testing date, your school guidance counselor will give you the SHSAT admission ticket (available for distribution after October 15^th).  The ticket will indicate the location of the test, the date and time of the test, as well as your student ID number and school ID number.  If you have a conflict with the test date/time/location, you should notify your guidance counselor immediately to arrange an alternate plan.

Before the test, on the back of your admission ticket, you will need to rank, in priority order, which Specialized High Schools you want to attend.  You will need to submit this on the test date, signed by your parent/guardian.  Only list those schools that you know you are willing to attend since changes cannot be made once your rankings are submitted.

In order for you to receive the result of your SHSAT and to be considered for admission to a Specialized High School, you must also submit a New York City Public High School Admissions Application to your guidance counselor (deadline is December 3^rd).  On the application you will indicate that you will take or have taken the SHSAT.  You will also have the opportunity to apply to other high schools/programs around New York City.

In February 2011, you will be notified as to whether or not you received an offer to a Specialized High School. If your test score qualifies you for an offer, then your placement will be based on how you ranked the schools.  You will be offered a seat at your highest ranked school that still has openings available.

Click here to see the Fall 2010 SHSAT test dates.

Click here to see some of Partners With Parents’ favorite SHSAT Prep tutors.

Next week’s blog:  What is actually on the SHSAT and how is it scored?

Dear Partners with Parents,

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for my son’s Bar Mitzvah. Planning an event like this is mystifying, especially when trying to meet everyone’s needs and address each age group.  I just can’t tell you how amazing your team was. Your coordinator was so lovely.  She and our ceremony leader helped me with every aspect, from start to finish. The cantorial student you provided fit in perfectly as well.  She, too, was warm and totally tuned into our specific needs.  Every generation and people from all backgrounds felt welcome and included and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.

The speeches were a huge surprise. Normally, I would be concerned about leaving them “to fate” but I totally trusted the team, especially our tutor who led the service.  She came so well prepared and was so professional in her communication with everyone involved.  Her talk during the service was beautiful.  She totally understands my son and values him the way I do.  She’s like part of our family.  My son’s speech was amazing.  It was funny, on point, and in his own voice.  She promised me good grammar, my one requirement, and she came through!  I had no fear about what would happen on the big day because I so trusted her judgment.

Most important, my son loved this experience, and it was meaningful for HIM. He was so happy to work with his tutor that he now wants to continue his Jewish education because he finds it fun and interesting!

I just have to tell you and anyone else who wants to know, it was a fantastic process and a beautiful result. The service was intimate and memorable, everything my family and I wanted.

Thank you so much,

Linda Bicks

Recently, Partners With Parents has seen a increase in the demand for private tutoring for use as part of a homeschooling program. In the past, homeschooling has had a reputation as a “solution” for parents who differed religiously or disagreed philosophically with how their kids were being taught in school. Now, particularly in places like New York City, there is a new group of parents who want, need, and are finding the vast benefits of homeschooling programs for kids with learning disabilities.

There is a lot to be said for the advantages of socialization in school and for the theory that having all different kinds of kids and abilities in a classroom is a good thing for all involved. I agree. My point in suggesting a short term homeschooling program is to save kids from acute stress — and that is what many with undiagnosed or newly diagnosed learning disabilities are experiencing.  This is especially true if they are in schools that aren’t appropriate for their needs or if their leaning difficulties are also accompanied by emotional, psychological, or physical issues. The fact is that a stressed child is using all of his or her capabilities to cope, not to learn. Changing the environment and social stresses can make all the difference if it is done well and gracefully.

If you think such a change might be beneficial to your child, consider:

1) Does your child complain about school, fear it, pretend to be ill, or otherwise avoid going to school?

2) Can you clearly see your child likes and wants to learn but is just in the wrong environment?

3) Can your child’s school make the accommodations necessary to help your child learn and function socially, in the near term?  Do they have the capacity to include you in a plan to implement changes for your child based on his/her emerging needs?

4) Do you question whether the school you chose was the right one for your current situation?  Is it too late to put your child somewhere else this year or do you worry that he/she can’t get into the school that is a better fit?

5) Can you envision your child connecting with one or two teachers/tutors in your home and getting to study more of what he/she likes and in ways that fit his/her learning needs? Would that be a good thing at this stage?

Depending on your answers to these questions, it might be time to consider a short stint of homeschooling, giving everyone a breather. Kids may need that emotional break, a respite from feeling like they are failing (often socially as well as academically). They need to find their natural love of learning, and discover the strategies that work for them.  Parents and guardians need a moment to get their bearings and figure out what is best for the whole family.  Logistically, it takes time to find and apply to the right schools even if you know that school is the place you ultimately want your child.  While, short term homeschooling may not be the solution, it may just be the right fit at the right time.

September 15 – October 6, 2010 – SHSAT Registration (through school counselors)

October 23 & 24, 2010 – SHSAT Test Days for 8^th graders

October 30, 2010 – SHSAT Test Day for 9^th graders, as well as 8th and 9th graders with testing accommodations

November 14, 2010 – SHSAT Test Day for all 9 ^th grade Sabbath observers, 8^th and 9^th grade Sabbath observers who need testing accommodations, as well as make-up tests (with permission only and must register by November 4^th)

Taking the SHSAT is a requirement for admission to the following high schools:

• Bronx High School of Science
• The Brooklyn Latin School
• Brooklyn Technical High School
• High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at the City College
• High School of American Studies at Lehman College
• Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
• Staten Island Technical High School
• Stuyvesant High School

If you are interested in more specific information about the SHSAT or other entrance exams for New York City’s public and independent schools (like the ISEE, SSAT, or COOP), please give us a call at (212) 928-5016 or e-mail us.

To read the bios of a few of our favorite SHSAT tutors, click here.

Jessica is a highly experienced and enthusiastic tutor.  She has her BA from Columbia University and received multiple scholarships and fellowships for getting master’s degrees in art and music from Wesleyan, Brandeis, and Bard.  Over her eight years of tutoring in New York City, she has worked with hundreds of elite independent school students in a wide range of subjects: SATs, ISEEs, SHSATs, SSATs, PSATs, and other standardized test preparation, as well as academic subjects including mathematics, English, history, sciences, and music.  She has also served as the coordinator for the Brandeis University tutoring program, taught intensive SAT prep classes through the Ivy League Tutors Foundation, and taught a range of art and music courses as a graduate teaching fellow at Wesleyan University.  She believes that tutoring should reinforce the student’s strengths, rectify misunderstandings, and nurture independent thinking.  This allows students to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to feel empowered and excited about their academic success. She loves teaching and loves learning.

Alisa has a Ph.D in the humanities.  She has been listed in “Who’s Who in American Educators” and has taught a variety of humanities courses at the college level.  Alisa has extensive experience with standardized test preparation and has published on writing techniques for different learning styles.  Prior to working with PWP, Alisa taught SAT and GRE prep for the Princeton Review.  She is expert at developing proficiency in standardized test content, teaching test taking strategies, and building academic self confidence so that students feel ready to successfully take exams.  She has a fun, irreverent approach, siding with the student to outsmart the test, and has a record of substantial score increases for the vast majority of her students.

Regina has an MFA from Columbia University and an MA in Liberal Studies from The Graduate Center.  Regina has been teaching and tutoring for over 10 years.  Before coming to work with Partners With Parents, Regina worked as a private tutor for the Princeton Review.   Her classroom experience has included time as an English teacher at Hunter High School and she has done one-on-one test preparation for a wide array of tests: the ISEE, SHSAT, PSAT, and SAT, among others.  In addition to working with test prep clients, Regina creates and implements curricula for homeschool students, as well as provides academic coaching and conventional subject tutoring.  On the non-tutoring front, Regina recently impressed us all with the breadth of her knowledge as a 4-day champion on Jeopardy! Look out for her on the Tournament of Champions!

If you have general questions about the ISEE, SHSAT, or the SSAT or if you are interested in learning more about Partners With Parents’ other services, please call our office at (212) 928-5016/5014 or e-mail us.

I know that parents are the most important teachers, whether we like it or not, so it’s on me to pass these values along. But, I will be honest, I bristle at the notion of making up a community service project and “doing it,” rather than living as someone who serves my community.  What I really want to teach my children  is to become people who see being of service as part of their daily lives.   Recently, a neighbor’s experience crystallized things for me. . .

Last week, my neighbor, with whom my children and I interact frequently, confided in me that her two year old son has been diagnosed with PDD, which is on the autism spectrum. It was such a revelation. Suddenly—and if you are a parent with a child who finally got the right diagnosis, you understand—so much made sense. What an odd mixture of feelings I felt from her and for her: relief at understanding her son’s behaviors, fear about what this would mean for her and his life, questions like “What do we do now?” and “How can we help?

I teach and want to focus on the positive, so I stopped right there. In the midst of all the other emotions, I feel a tiny bit grateful to have been offered the opportunity to authentically serve our community, and teach my children while I am at it. How can we help best? Intending to find out, I’ve asked my neighbor to invite me AND MY CHILDREN (who interact with her son regularly) to the next home meeting with their therapists and advisors. There, together, as a community, we will learn how to help this little boy and his parents.

How to be of service to the community is one of the most important life skills you can teach your children. And believe me when I say that the experiences that result will be among the most enjoyable and fulfilling that you and your child have together. Absolutely everybody wins! As you look for a meaningful community service outlet for your children, please consider:

1) What will your child authentically connect to? There are literally thousands of ways to be of service—maybe it’s working with animals, caring for the sick and disabled, raising money a cause, or using technology to raise awareness.

2) Who needs help that is near by? Trying looking for things you can do “locally.” This will allow your child to see the positive results of his or her efforts, reinforcing the values you are trying to instill.

3) Will you join in yourself? Your children are learning everything from watching you, and, for good or for bad, kids do what their parents DO, not what they say or teach.

Happy helping!

Laurie

Owner, Partners With Parents

Day/Time: Thursdays, 6:00-7:30pm

Dates: April 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, & 29^th, May 6^th, + field trip on Saturday, May 8^th

Location: Residence of the parent who came to us with the request.  (W 107^th St)

Length: 1½ hours, including presentation and guided practice each session

Ages: Ten to fourteen years old (recommended)

Topics Will Likely Include

• Basic Sketching: Drawing as Communication
• Aesthetics of Structure: Engineering vs. Design
• Room Design
• Meaning and Use in Architecture
• Field Trip/Observation “Scavenger Hunt” with Digital Camera

Class Structure

• 15 minutes – lecture/slide show
• 15 minutes – discussion
• 30-45 minutes – guided practice (building/drawing)
• 15 minutes – review of completed projects & drawings/clean up

Space is extremely limited so please call Will at (212) 928-5016 if you are interested.

Interestingly enough, the other parents who I have chosen to spend most of my time with are not quite so permissive.  Most of the time we can see eye to eye.  It’s not so hard when we’re outdoors (It’s not like I let my son run in the street or anything), but when we’re in one of our homes, it can be a bit more tricky.  Do I tell my son that it’s okay to bang or climb the furniture or walk around with spatula in hand and bucket on head in our home but not in others?  You bet.  Do I spend a lot of time deflecting what is perceived as “bad behavior?”  You bet.  Is it worth it?  You bet.  Do I think that my son gets it now?  If he did, he’d be a truly astounding 18-month old.  But, I live with the hope that my consistent inconsistency will make sense to him in the future.  Let’s not forget that one of the best principles that we can teach our children, and for that matter, live by ourselves, is respect for others’ ideas and practices.  It is not easy to tell our children no, especially when we secretly think they are right, but it is important to do so when they are violating another household’s rules.  I have the task of teaching my son that he will experience many different sets of rules and that part of functioning in society is understanding when and how to act in different situations.

I remember from my own childhood having to grapple with the same inconsistencies and carrying around resentment for the conflicting rules.  My parents were not so much about the “why,” but more about the “do.”   I am thankful that my son is growing up in an era where explaining things to your child is looked upon as a matter of course.  I will, unlike my own parents, carefully explain why certain behavior is correct in different situations, instead of telling him, “That’s just how it is.”  But I firmly believe that in the end I will, like my parents before me, successfully instill (with a few embarrassing moments for all, of course) the necessary understanding of social graces and respect for others that will get him labeled “such a good child.”  After all, we do not live just in our own homes, but ever increasingly as citizens of “the world.”  Let us equip our children to do the same—but maybe still also get the thrill of throwing the football in the house with Dad on a fun Sunday morning.

-An “Underprotective”  NYC Parent

It’s not a traditional powerhouse like Stuyvesant High School (#31) or Bronx Science (#58).

It has a specific theme, but it’s not the High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies (#52), New Explorations Science, Technology, and Math School (#64), or the High School for Law and Public Service (#75).

To enroll, you don’t have to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), so it’s not Staten Island Tech (#34) or Brooklyn Tech (#63).

It’s not tied to a post-secondary institution, so it’s not Queens High School for the Sciences at York College (#81), or the High School of American Studies at Lehman College (#19).

It is in Queens but it’s not Townsend Harris (#33), or the Baccalaureate School for Global Education (#35),

Stumped?

The answer, coming in at #6 with a whopping College Readiness Index of 100, is Newcomers High School in Long Island City, Queens.  Known as something of an academic Ellis Island and located not far across the East River from the United Nations, Newcomers High School aims to fulfill on the mission created at its founding: to greet recent immigrants to the U.S. of one year or less with high expectations and rigorous support.

To be fair, the criteria for the numerical ranking is based on a scale called the College Readiness Index, which is limited in its scope.   Described as the measure of the degree to which students master college level material, the index only considers total participation and percentage of passing scores on AP exams (or IB exams, where applicable) in its determination of college readiness.  Not quite a complete picture.

Data was included from 21,786 public high schools in 48 states (NE and OK did not submit) and DC, mainly from the 2007-2008 school year.

View the rankings:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2009/12/09/americas-best-high-schools-gold-medal-list.html

My first response was to think that we need to reduce kids’ seemingly incessant “screen time,” as opposed to their “book time,” which my colleagues explored in last week’s post, Nearsightedness and Competitive NYC Schools.  Over the last week, however, I’ve been stuck on this popular notion that we are overloading our kids with homework.  In this idea, we are dangerously close to coming out against a certain developmental rigor that is crucial for our children’s development.  We have all become familiar with the refrain that we should “let them have their childhood,” but if we’re talking about replacing books and academic challenges with a bag of chips and a 50” screen, I’m declining.

As adults with a certain amount of life experience, we know that few things come easily.  We know one has to work hard for the things worth having, and in the process one builds the skills and wisdom to manage the fruits of those efforts.  The classic example of this principle is the penniless lottery winner who, without the financial acumen to manage his new wealth, quickly burns through his winnings and finds himself stunningly penniless once again.  If he had worked to earn his wealth, he would have developed the skills to manage it and the emotional disposition to maintain it.  As moms, dads, and educators, we don’t want it all to be easy for our kids; we want them to gain strength through overcoming adversity.  To a reasonable extent, we are guided by the value, “That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”  By working hard to meet a goal, or to pursue an interest in spite of distractions and hurdles, our kids “learn how to learn” and become effective, values-driven problem solvers.

At the same time, we also know that a person must be able to succeed at a challenge in order for it to be useful.  A task that’s beyond a person’s capacity to execute is an exercise in futility, and often results in misery (if not symptoms of illness or subtle acts of defiance).  If our kids are genuinely suffering with their homework, as opposed to battling through their own procrastination and getting the job done, then it needs to be addressed.  Adult and child learners alike must have the tools available to them so that they can succeed.  So our ophthalmologist seems to have the right intuition about children whose well-being is compromised by hours and hours of homework, but above his concern for their vision there must be concern for their holistic health and sense of success.  Beyond monitoring the impact of rigorous academic life on children’s eyesight, we need to “keep an eye” on how it is affecting every aspect of their lives so that, as they are challenged to stretch and grow, no part of them is feeling an unbearable strain.

Read the original article: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/eye_doc_shocking_charge_nearsighted_UP00JQisaUlsuMg78aGJZN

Will Craig, Educational Director at Partners With Parents, can be reached at will@partnerswithparents.com.