New York City parents shop for elementary schools the way parents elsewhere shop for colleges. New York City has some of the best public elementary schools in the country, as well as the nation’s largest system of choice. This essential guide provides parents with everything they need to find a good school in their neighborhood or to apply to the dozens of alternative schools that accept children from outside their immediate neighborhoods. Interviews with teachers and parents uncover the "inside scoop" on schools, including atmosphere, homework, student stress, competition among students, the quality of teachers, the condition of the building, and more. It also provides the hard facts on:

• Class size and total school enrollment
• Test scores for reading and math
• Ethnic make up: Black, White, Hispanic, Asian
• Admissions requirements: none? tests? interview?
• Teaching methods and styles: progressive, traditional
• When to apply
• How to decide which schools to try for

Critical Acclaim for Clara Hemphill’s Parents’ Guides!

New York Daily News said "Clara Hemphill’s school guides wrestle the complexities of New York’s schools into brisk, thoughtful profiles of topnotch, intriguing schools." Big Apple Parent declared "Hemphill has done for schools what Zagat’s did for restaurants. At last, that first day of school should be much easier for everyone!" New York Magazine’s Barbara Ensor called her work"thoughtful, well-researched…required reading." The New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte said: "It is part consumer guide, part urban plan. Without public schools, Hemphill maintains, the dream of multiethnic democracy will live on only through jury duty and subway travel."

Click here to get the Table of Contents in PDF format.
Click here to get the Preface in PDF format.