PS 290 Manhattan New School

with PS6 the best school in UES.

it is truly the best school in the city. I have 3 children who attended PS290 and they received the most incredible education from fabulous teachers and had an incredible experience.

I have a son in 1st grade and he loves it. It is like a private public school. You get a warm and fuzzy feeling and an excellent education. They do a lot to make it feel like a community. Also the PTA is VERY involved in fundraising which allows for many extra activities and TA's.

According to what metric is PS 6 the best? Not internal BOE ratings -

BOE ratings are sort of a joke... they are given for improvement and performance relative to income factors.

There were some A/B rated schools in Brooklyn... turns out half the kids couldn't read. But more than half couldn't read the year before. So they get a great grade!

I might give a principal of that school props... but I sure as hell wouldn't send my kid there.

agreed but just questioning why the obsession on PS 6 - what standard are you using to measure it -

what standard do you use to measure Harvard?

There are quite a few ratings guides, and some put random schools above it...
but in the end, you don't generally have to explain to folks that Harvard is the school you want your kids to go to.

hmmm sort of - college is about (1) getting a job (2)getting into grad school (3) lifelong "stamp"

elementary school is (1) getting into a middle scool (2) learning

for harvard 1-3 is certainly there -- very provable
ps 6? Class sizes are bigger than average --

> Class sizes are bigger than average

Same for Harvard...
compared to other ivies and then the top liberal arts schools (amherst, swarthmore, etc.).

> (2) learning

You really claiming that Harvard isn't about learning?

> (1) getting a job (2)getting into grad school

And you don't think your schooling before college is also part of this?

Big picture, you're still missing the point entirely. This isn't saying that PS6 is the same as Harvard. Its saying that, while you do have to look at some stats, very often they are misleading... and Harvard doesn't need the stats to tell you its the gold standard.

Class! Please stay on topic! The question was about the merits of PS290.

I moved into the neighborhood just so my 2 kids can go to PS6 or PS290. It so happened the building I ended up in was zoned for PS6 instead of PS290 (by on the west side of the school). I don't know how the rating came about but I have to say I see a big difference between PS6 and my kids old school. Here are some of my observations... A lot more parents involvement in PS6 and yes they do fund raising all the time but the what the PTA contributes to the school is amazing. The PTA members are large and these parents are dedicated. From kindergarten to 5th grade, each class has full time teacher and at least 1 full time teacher's assistant, which is very rare in other public school and completely funded by the PTA. My kids are in lunch clubs where they learn to make model airplanes and doing mad science a couple of days a week. School library is amazing, brand new and a lot bigger than the one in other school. Kids been to the museums multiple times, attended opera in the metropolitan opera house, every 4th grader learned ball room dancing. Computer lab has large numbers of apple computers with large monitor. School encourage student to be well rounded by exposing them to different aspects of life, not just reading, writing and math. Class size is big but so are all other public school and the extra assistant makes a big differences. From what I had seen, a good and higher # of students graduate and go into specialized middle school.