< Return to Talk
05.24.08, 16:13 PM NY Schools
43 replies
What can you tell me about NEST? [ Reply | Watch | Flag ]
NY Schools 05.24.08, 04:13 PM Flag
 

Dear UrbanBaby community,

Thank you so much for being a valued member of the UrbanBaby community. We wanted to inform you that we are shutting down the site on July 6th. We are grateful for your participation and support that has helped make UrbanBaby such an important resource to parents for many years.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can email us at urbanbaby-support@cbsinteractive.com.

Thanks so much,

UrbanBaby Support

»
Go to Insideschools first and read the reviews. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.24.08, 04:17 PM Flag
»
A NEST parent. I can tell you UB is a bad place to get current information on NEST. The prior administration there did/is accused of doing some nasty shit. If it is true it is unforgivable BUT whether it is true or not it has little to do with the people who are there now. My ds is finishing K. He has had a good year. His teacher is great. She is pretty young and new but she runs a good classroom and the kids seem to respond well. The current principal is not a great communicator. That said she does well with kids. I've seen her any number of times in the hall, etc. with children. She seems to walk that authoritarian/princiPAL line well. The lower school VP is great. The parent body is nice and fairly diverse. Ethnically, SES, parenting style, etc. Just like you would expect from a program that pulls from all over the city. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 09:59 AM Flag
»
NP - but thanks for posting. we are really hoping for nest for our dc. the only downside for us is the location. how does your dc get to school?? [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:00 AM Flag
»
F train then walk/M21. The commute is the part that sucks! (I admit I love the extra half hour/day with my boy but it is a pain in the...) Some neighborhoods got private busses. I am hoping Brooklyn can arrange for next year. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:04 AM Flag
»
does your K dc have homework? i think at the tour they said about 20 minutes per night? does that seem right? [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:05 AM Flag
»
Reading log M-Th but we read together anyway so it is just about writing title/author/a sentence or two about book. Spelling practice. (Words are simple.) Early in the year he had some penmanship stuff, that I haven't seen so much. Now a little math. Nothing too onerous. It seems like good practice to build discipline. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:09 AM Flag
»
do they expect kids going into K to read? my dc is reading 2nd level of bob books; can 'write' but not great - i would be concerned right now that he wouldn't really be able to write in a reading log... [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:21 AM Flag
»
My son was reading entering K but he is one of the better readers in his class. It was certainly not universal and right now I think there are a few in his class who are still struggling with reading. He did not start the year writing in a log and I believe not every kid does this. (Don't quote me here.) [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:53 AM Flag
»
^^I should add, my son was reading really well as far as (what I think is called) decoding. Figuring out what words were and that stuff. But the bigger picture of what the books were about and all that in the middle of the year, as he moved into chapter books, I think his ability to read the letters/words got ahead of his ability to comprehend the story. I think the log helped him slow down and focus on the story not just reading faster. (Not a reading specialist so bear with my analysis.) [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:58 AM Flag
»
Thanks for posting - - I'm not sure why it has such a bad rap. Parents I know love it there, and it just seems like a great place for motivated, smart dcs. Any regrets? Do you foresee staying there through middle school, based on what you know now? [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:04 AM Flag
»
Depends what happens with sibling(s) in the future but I hope/sepect so. The downside for older kids might be the small pond effect. But then again, I went to a huge junior and then senior high school so... [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:11 AM Flag
»
Thanks - good to know. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:29 AM Flag
»
The schools report is not good at all for NEST. I think the question is, why don't more people realize that just because it's a citywide K-12 does not mean it's all that. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 11:08 AM Flag
»
That school report is not set up to rank schools like NEST. To expect it to accurately do so is foolish. It was set up to rank the ~1,400 general ed schools across the city not the three G&T schools. Look at where it says the NEST students are performing. Where they test. Then tell me that is not the student body you want your child around. Hell, just read the report. (All this said, NEST is not perfect. The administration is new and seems to be learning things as it goes. The hostility between the DOE and the school causes me concern. There is a real communication issue there. Information seems to be a commodity the parents have to tease out of their own resources as much as (more than) they get it from the administration.) [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 11:41 AM Flag
»
Oh, please. It worked just fine for Anderson, which got an excellent report. The fact is, there are problems at NEST. A bunch of smart DCs do not a great school make, and this is clear in the school report. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 12:52 PM Flag
»
so you would rather have your kid at PS124 in Brooklyn than NEST? [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 02:03 PM Flag
»
I think there is someone with a huge axe to grind about NEST that is always on here. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 02:22 PM Flag
»
I just had an image of the ex-Principal -- Celenia(?) -- sitting at a lap top in a Dunkin Donuts... [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 02:28 PM Flag
»
np. there are a lot of people who don't have great things to say about nest. including the boe. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:04 PM Flag
»
I just don't know any of them anywhere but on UB. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:08 PM Flag
»
i know parents who have pulled their dcs from nest. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:09 PM Flag
»
Who said anything about PS124? I said that this whole, "Oh, NEST is just too SPECIAL to be analyzed by the pedestrian DOE!!" is crap, pure and simple. Anderson got a glowing review. NEST, not so much. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:02 PM Flag
»
You obviously have your mind made up. To people considering it I would say, read the detail behind the report. It certainly talks to a very young program which needs to develop. It also talks about an administrator who appears to have a game plan and is working toward that. (These things may matter to the DOE but they are non-issues in the kindergarten classroom.) Then read the student stats. The student body at NEST is a bunch of good, bright, hard working kids. The teachers and the parents are involved. If that is what you want for your kid, talk to a few parents who have kids there. Then come to UB and here what the people the DOE fired from NEST have to say... [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 05:36 AM Flag
»
Why would the administrator's game plan be a non-issue? It would be very important to me as a parent, not just some annoying blank the DOE insists a school fill in. And there are plenty of schools, both gen eds and district g&ts that have bright, hard-working dcs and involved parents but that seem to have their acts together more than NEST does. You don't have to be a disgruntled ex-employee to see that. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 05:43 AM Flag
»
The things they talk about are transitional things which don't impact the K kids. Furthermore, they are things which the report notes the administration is working on. So, if I were a parent of a fifth grader and I had a good local G&T program to opt into that report would make me question NEST. But as a parent of a kid just finishing K, it is a non-issue to me. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 05:55 AM Flag
»
I guess we'll agree to disagree. I think that ultimately these things do affect the dcs and I also think that just because an administration is working on something doesn't mean it will succeed, whether they have 1 year to get it done or 6. The report doesn't give me confidence in the leadership at NEST, which to me is a big deal. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 06:03 AM Flag
»
You're right. Although "citywide G&T" and "K-12" is a lot in my book. The schools report doesn't work for the NESTs of the world. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 11:46 AM Flag
»
why is citywide g&t in and of itself a lot in your book? it's just a label. unless you buy into the nonsense that a couple of points on a meaningless test ensure a "peer group" that means all the difference in the world. which is just bull, frankly. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 12:53 PM Flag
»
I buy into the fact that theres something to be said for not having huge numbers of slower-paced learners in the classes. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 01:39 PM Flag
»
luckily that's not the case in most of manhattan, and certainly not in d2 or d3. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 01:53 PM Flag
»
So I assume you didn't bother with G&T testing, and also wouldn't see Anderson as offering anything above and beyond good D2 or D3 gen eds? [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 02:23 PM Flag
»
np. Keep dreaming. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:05 PM Flag
»
not dreaming. d2 and d3 test scores are the best in the city, and many parents at 234, 41, etc., choose their gen ed though they tested into g&ts. the so-called peer group is essentially the same. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:08 PM Flag
»
Sorry, but no. You're choosing to look at a select group of schools and a select subpopulation of dc within those schools. All you have to do is look at the scores for the entire borough and those two districts to see that there are huge numbers of dc who don't fit your description. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:27 PM Flag
»
look at the scores for d2 and d3 and then get back to me. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:34 PM Flag
»
I have, thanks. I can only assume you haven't, or else you're deluding yourself. There are FAR more average and below-average dc compared to above average dc. Even in D2 and D3. I'm not saying this as a way to bash public schools, general eds, or anything else. But it's a fact that the peer group at general ed, even the good general eds, is much more heterogenous than what you'll find next year at the citywide G&Ts, which is what was being discussed. You claimed the peer groups are essentially the same, and it's not true. Personally, I don't think it matters, but if it's important to some parents to have their dc in a homogenous peer group, then the distinction matters to them. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 05:58 PM Flag
»
OR: Thank you. My point exactly. And its not that I think dc wouldn't be well-served at a great gen-ed, I just think its a unique opportunity that these citywides present, because of this crazy crazy concept of peer group. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 06:27 PM Flag
»
no, i have, actually. the peer group is very, very good at most d2 and d3 schools. this is why people flock to certain neighborhoods in those districts and why real estate prices are so high there. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 06:27 PM Flag
»
Actually, compared to the national average, the scores in Manhattan are higher. Not across the board, obviously, but on average. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 06:29 PM Flag
»
I completely agree that there are other factors that matter more, but that's not the point. For SOME PEOPLE, having their dc in an intellectually homogeneous peer group is a big deal. They care about that factor above all others. I don't personally relate, but whatever. And yes, the peer groups at many D2 and D3 schools are very, very good; better than in many other parts of the US, yes. No one is arguing otherwise. But those general eds are still much more heterogeneous than what you'll find next year at a citywide G&T. Really, I don't understand why this is so difficult for some people to grasp. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 08:58 AM Flag
»
believe it or not, there are even more important things than peer group. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 07:26 PM Flag
»
i couldn't agree more. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.28.08, 04:37 AM Flag
»
Firend's dc is there and she is very happy. She does have some issue, but tells me that they have more to do with it being a public school than anything specific to NEST. In general she is happy and so is dc. [ Reply | More
]
General Topics 05.27.08, 10:32 AM Flag
Refresh » New Post »
Select Category
close [X]

close [X]

Select a Category (only 1)

category
Stages
Regions