What is the most elite NYC preschool?

[Anonymous]

And I believe all were full pay if I had to make an educated guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:contemplating leaving the city because their kid would be pushed to public 1st grade in the city.

I seriously think people should be less hung up about that - I have an October kid in public school and in part because of NYC's aggressive age policies, they really don't cover that much in a public kindergarten that you wouldn't also get in a high-quality preschool.

If your kid can read Elephant & Piggie books on their own and write mostly-correct sentences and knows the names of shapes and colors and can count to 100 and do simple arithmetic with no carrying, they should have no trouble joining a public school at 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

I don’t disagree, but if it’s your first kid I understand the panic. Everyone talks about how academic kindergarten is now and most private preschools are very play-based. I’m not saying it’s not reactionary, I just see why they panic.

[Anonymous]

*because most preschools are definitely not teaching the skills you listed— they’re kindergarten skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t disagree, but if it’s your first kid I understand the panic. Everyone talks about how academic kindergarten is now and most private preschools are very play-based. I’m not saying it’s not reactionary, I just see why they panic.

That's fair, but a good 'play-based' school is still going to have those Montessori elements of teachers steering kids towards specific skills to master and monitoring their progress; you're not just paying to have somebody lead your kids in fun games all day.

My kids' experience with kindergarten was that around half of the kids in their classes - most of whom had gone to one of a couple of local chain preschools - knew most of the material already, were bored out of their minds in math and were reading 'just right' (this was back in the bad old Calkins days) books that were level G or H or whatever the chart considered to be 1st/2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t disagree, but if it’s your first kid I understand the panic. Everyone talks about how academic kindergarten is now and most private preschools are very play-based. I’m not saying it’s not reactionary, I just see why they panic.

That's fair, but a good 'play-based' school is still going to have those Montessori elements of teachers steering kids towards specific skills to master and monitoring their progress; you're not just paying to have somebody lead your kids in fun games all day.

My kids' experience with kindergarten was that around half of the kids in their classes - most of whom had gone to one of a couple of local chain preschools - knew most of the material already, were bored out of their minds in math and were reading 'just right' (this was back in the bad old Calkins days) books that were level G or H or whatever the chart considered to be 1st/2nd grade.

Sure, but in NYC (play based, or child-led, or reggio) preschools, kids are not being taught to read. And they are definitely not being taught to count to 100. Could they be? Absolutely. But the preschools are banking on the children learning these skills in kindergarten. Which is why skipping kindergarten when you don’t get into private school and instead sending a kid to public 1st grade creates the panic.

Of course parents are upset that the independent school process didn’t go their way— we do love to get our way in this city, myself included. But they are now on the hook (after spending 3-4 years on tuition at said preschool) for quickly brining their children up to speed if their only option (short of moving) is public 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

All that said, that’s the risk you take with the summer and fall birthday kids applying to independent schools. If you’re not smart enough to walk through every potential outcome before taking said risk or only deeming a small subset of schools “worthy” for your child, well, I cannot feel that terrible for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but in NYC (play based, or child-led, or reggio) preschools, kids are not being taught to read. And they are definitely not being taught to count to 100. Could they be? Absolutely. But the preschools are banking on the children learning these skills in kindergarten. Which is why skipping kindergarten when you don’t get into private school and instead sending a kid to public 1st grade creates the panic.

Sorry, but is that consistently the case? I just looked at Episcopal's website - cited earlier in this thread as the TT of all TT preschools - and there's a whole section about library and love of reading and children choosing their own books to read and so on. Wouldn't a kid who's reasonably in the running for a TT/2T private K slot be expected to be demonstrating these sorts of skills at playgroup? (heck, wouldn't they be intellectually curious enough that they'd have picked up reading at home by then after being read to every day?)

It seems like there's a nice business opportunity for somebody in offering a low-ratio, open-admissions 'catch-up' private K program which takes in kids in this situation and runs them through the public-school K+1 curricula in one year so they can join a public school in 2nd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All that said, that’s the risk you take with the summer and fall birthday kids applying to independent schools. If you’re not smart enough to walk through every potential outcome before taking said risk or only deeming a small subset of schools “worthy” for your child, well, I cannot feel that terrible for you.

Didn't see this before my previous comment but this makes more sense - people taking themselves into thinking their kids are a lock for HM or Trinity or whatever and not bothering to look at lesser alternatives, when they are not in fact the type of kid who's already most of the way through a kindergarten curriculum at 4 based on their own intellectual curiosity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but in NYC (play based, or child-led, or reggio) preschools, kids are not being taught to read. And they are definitely not being taught to count to 100. Could they be? Absolutely. But the preschools are banking on the children learning these skills in kindergarten. Which is why skipping kindergarten when you don’t get into private school and instead sending a kid to public 1st grade creates the panic.

Sorry, but is that consistently the case? I just looked at Episcopal's website - cited earlier in this thread as the TT of all TT preschools - and there's a whole section about library and love of reading and children choosing their own books to read and so on. Wouldn't a kid who's reasonably in the running for a TT/2T private K slot be expected to be demonstrating these sorts of skills at playgroup? (heck, wouldn't they be intellectually curious enough that they'd have picked up reading at home by then after being read to every day?)

It seems like there's a nice business opportunity for somebody in offering a low-ratio, open-admissions 'catch-up' private K program which takes in kids in this situation and runs them through the public-school K+1 curricula in one year so they can join a public school in 2nd.

Cultivate a love of reading? Absolutely. Introduce the alphabet and work on letter recognition for kindergarten assessments? Yes. Be able to identify and write their name? Yes. Teach children CVC words or phonics or sight words? Not really at most of these preschools.

Do some kids just naturally pick it up or have parents do it at home or hire tutors or send kids to Little Learning or Book Wise? Yes and they keep that very close to the vest. Do you need to know how to read or count to 100 to get into a top kindergarten? Absolutely not.

Every school we applied to seemed to look for different metrics on play dates and all structure their assessments differently (one on one, small group, large group, FL testing or not)— some seemed IQ based, some skill, some behavior and personality, some are interested in the parents, some are looking for it all.

At our TT some came in reading Harry Potter, some came in with basic phonetic awareness. And guess what? By third grade it had all evened out because the kids (by and large) are incredibly bright.

Your business model is not a bad idea at all, but I think many turn to tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All that said, that’s the risk you take with the summer and fall birthday kids applying to independent schools. If you’re not smart enough to walk through every potential outcome before taking said risk or only deeming a small subset of schools “worthy” for your child, well, I cannot feel that terrible for you.

Didn't see this before my previous comment but this makes more sense - people taking themselves into thinking their kids are a lock for HM or Trinity or whatever and not bothering to look at lesser alternatives, when they are not in fact the type of kid who's already most of the way through a kindergarten curriculum at 4 based on their own intellectual curiosity.

bingo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All that said, that’s the risk you take with the summer and fall birthday kids applying to independent schools. If you’re not smart enough to walk through every potential outcome before taking said risk or only deeming a small subset of schools “worthy” for your child, well, I cannot feel that terrible for you.

Didn't see this before my previous comment but this makes more sense - people taking themselves into thinking their kids are a lock for HM or Trinity or whatever and not bothering to look at lesser alternatives, when they are not in fact the type of kid who's already most of the way through a kindergarten curriculum at 4 based on their own intellectual curiosity.

I find it is the opposite the child is very advanced but clearly has behavior issues that are dismissed as the child is bored or it is normal for a gifted child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but in NYC (play based, or child-led, or reggio) preschools, kids are not being taught to read. And they are definitely not being taught to count to 100. Could they be? Absolutely. But the preschools are banking on the children learning these skills in kindergarten. Which is why skipping kindergarten when you don’t get into private school and instead sending a kid to public 1st grade creates the panic.

Sorry, but is that consistently the case? I just looked at Episcopal's website - cited earlier in this thread as the TT of all TT preschools - and there's a whole section about library and love of reading and children choosing their own books to read and so on. Wouldn't a kid who's reasonably in the running for a TT/2T private K slot be expected to be demonstrating these sorts of skills at playgroup? (heck, wouldn't they be intellectually curious enough that they'd have picked up reading at home by then after being read to every day?)

It seems like there's a nice business opportunity for somebody in offering a low-ratio, open-admissions 'catch-up' private K program which takes in kids in this situation and runs them through the public-school K+1 curricula in one year so they can join a public school in 2nd.

Cultivate a love of reading? Absolutely. Introduce the alphabet and work on letter recognition for kindergarten assessments? Yes. Be able to identify and write their name? Yes. Teach children CVC words or phonics or sight words? Not really at most of these preschools.

Do some kids just naturally pick it up or have parents do it at home or hire tutors or send kids to Little Learning or Book Wise? Yes and they keep that very close to the vest. Do you need to know how to read or count to 100 to get into a top kindergarten? Absolutely not.

Every school we applied to seemed to look for different metrics on play dates and all structure their assessments differently (one on one, small group, large group, FL testing or not)— some seemed IQ based, some skill, some behavior and personality, some are interested in the parents, some are looking for it all.

At our TT some came in reading Harry Potter, some came in with basic phonetic awareness. And guess what? By third grade it had all evened out because the kids (by and large) are incredibly bright.

Your business model is not a bad idea at all, but I think many turn to tutoring.

100% agree with this. Signed by a parent of kid who went to a play Baez preschool and is now a few years in to TT K-12. My child could not read at all going into K FWIW, but quickly picked it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but in NYC (play based, or child-led, or reggio) preschools, kids are not being taught to read. And they are definitely not being taught to count to 100. Could they be? Absolutely. But the preschools are banking on the children learning these skills in kindergarten. Which is why skipping kindergarten when you don’t get into private school and instead sending a kid to public 1st grade creates the panic.

Sorry, but is that consistently the case? I just looked at Episcopal's website - cited earlier in this thread as the TT of all TT preschools - and there's a whole section about library and love of reading and children choosing their own books to read and so on. Wouldn't a kid who's reasonably in the running for a TT/2T private K slot be expected to be demonstrating these sorts of skills at playgroup? (heck, wouldn't they be intellectually curious enough that they'd have picked up reading at home by then after being read to every day?)

It seems like there's a nice business opportunity for somebody in offering a low-ratio, open-admissions 'catch-up' private K program which takes in kids in this situation and runs them through the public-school K+1 curricula in one year so they can join a public school in 2nd.

Cultivate a love of reading? Absolutely. Introduce the alphabet and work on letter recognition for kindergarten assessments? Yes. Be able to identify and write their name? Yes. Teach children CVC words or phonics or sight words? Not really at most of these preschools.

Do some kids just naturally pick it up or have parents do it at home or hire tutors or send kids to Little Learning or Book Wise? Yes and they keep that very close to the vest. Do you need to know how to read or count to 100 to get into a top kindergarten? Absolutely not.

Every school we applied to seemed to look for different metrics on play dates and all structure their assessments differently (one on one, small group, large group, FL testing or not)— some seemed IQ based, some skill, some behavior and personality, some are interested in the parents, some are looking for it all.

At our TT some came in reading Harry Potter, some came in with basic phonetic awareness. And guess what? By third grade it had all evened out because the kids (by and large) are incredibly bright.

Your business model is not a bad idea at all, but I think many turn to tutoring.

100% agree with this. Signed by a parent of kid who went to a play Baez preschool and is now a few years in to TT K-12. My child could not read at all going into K FWIW, but quickly picked it up.

I also have two kids at TT. One kid knew how to read entering K and younger kid did not but only had letter recognition. Both doing well. We think the school did an awesome job push the kid to expand their reading and writing skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All that said, that’s the risk you take with the summer and fall birthday kids applying to independent schools. If you’re not smart enough to walk through every potential outcome before taking said risk or only deeming a small subset of schools “worthy” for your child, well, I cannot feel that terrible for you.

Didn't see this before my previous comment but this makes more sense - people taking themselves into thinking their kids are a lock for HM or Trinity or whatever and not bothering to look at lesser alternatives, when they are not in fact the type of kid who's already most of the way through a kindergarten curriculum at 4 based on their own intellectual curiosity.

I find it is the opposite the child is very advanced but clearly has behavior issues that are dismissed as the child is bored or it is normal for a gifted child.

This does happens and must be incredibly frustrating for a parent if your preschool director doesn’t explain it to you. Gifted children (especially PG) can be extremely hard to place. But schools like HM or Trinity— if you’re unconnected— they’re looking for the entire package. They get 500+ applications for very limited spots. They get to pick the kids who are gifted (or high achieving) and well behaved.