With over 1,000 preschools in the metropolitan area, there is at least one that will meet your family's needs. Preschools differ by cost, ranging from free to over $20,000 per year. Some preschools offer services for 6 week old babies, while the public preschools only serve students who are 4 years old. Moreover, many day care centers offer services from 8 AM through 6 PM, 52 weeks per year. This section will help you:
Most nursery schools begin accepting applications in September, the year before your child will enroll. In addition, many schools require you to apply before they allow you to tour the school. Since many good nursery schools fill up quickly, it is wise to select a few schools in which you are interested during the summer and call them right after Labor Day to request an application. After the schools receive your applications, they will contact you to schedule a tour as well as student and parent interviews.
Please click the following link to obtain a timeline for the public and private preschool admissions process.
To obtain more detailed information about applying to private preschools, please click on the Private Preschool Admissions Process link.
To obtain more detailed information about applying to public preschools, please click on NYC MySchools.
Please see the handout section near the bottom of the parent guide to learn tips regarding the school tours, student and parent interviews, entrance exams, admissions officers' pet peeves, admissions decisions as well as financial aid and scholarships.
To identify which schools meet your needs, you will first have to consider your child’s educational profile as well as your family’s educational goals and practical concerns.
Your child's educational profile consists of the following characteristics:
Please click here to learn more about these aspects of your child's educational profile.
Regardless of your child’s skill development and interests, parents may also have academic goals and/or practical considerations that are important. Some educational issues that you may want to consider are:
Moreover, there could be some practical considerations that may be important, including:
Please click here to learn more about your family's educational goals and practical concerns.
There are over 1,000 public pre-kindergarten programs as well as more than 350 private preschools and day care centers in New York City. They vary by cost, educational approach, size, religious affiliation and the number of hours and days they offer preschool programs. To help you determine which preschools have the characteristics that best meet your needs, this section explains the various educational philosophies to which the preschools adhere and the differences between public and private preschools.
Educational Philosophies
Although there are three main approaches to preschool education—Montessori, Developmental, and Traditional—there are many preschools that follow different educational philosophies. Eclectic preschools choose not to ascribe to any one of the three aforementioned approaches but combine at least two of the three. Moreover, there are play-based, Reggio Emilia,Waldorf and cooperative preschools. There are also over 100 day care centers around the city that are less structured than nursery schools but offer longer hours in an intellectually and socially stimulating environment.
Please click on preschool educational philosophies to learn more about the different approaches to early childhood education.
Public vs. Private Schools
There are many good pre-kindergarten opportunities that are free. Unfortunately, there are not enough seats to accommodate all of the 4 year olds in New York City; however, the City is planning on increasing the capacity. Moreover, the public preschools generally only offer half -day programs, and some can be overcrowded. To learn more about the public preschools, please click on the following link: NYC MySchools.
There are also hundreds of private nursery schools and day care centers that provide an excellent education. Compared to public preschool programs, they tend to serve younger children, hold longer hours, have smaller class sizes and provide more resources. Unfortunately, they are not free.
School Finder and Comparison Tool
To help parents navigate the preschool admissions process, the website has a preschool finder as well as a private preschool comparison tool that will allow parents to identify a set of preschools that meet your child's and family's needs as well as compare these schools' characteristics (e.g., educational philosophy, cost, hours and days of service provided). Please click on the School Finder tab to learn more about this service.
Handouts
Moreover, the website has handouts that help parents prepare for the school tours, child and parent interviews, reference letters, standardized tests students take to enter kindergarten, admissions officers' pet peeves and admissions decisions.
Please click on the following links to download the following handouts:
We also provide more personal services to help parents navigate the preschool admissions process, including eduprofile, workshops and individual consulting. The remaining section describes these services in greater detail. To learn how to purchase these services, please click on the Our Services tab.
Eduprofile
We have created a survey that will help us determine your child’s educational profile as well as your family’s educational goals and practical concerns. More specifically, the survey asks you about your child’s basic learning capacity, skill development, learning styles, motivation to learn, social temperament and disabilities. In addition, the questionnaire asks parents questions regarding the importance of various educational characteristics (e.g., what content is emphasized, teaching methods, classroom behavior management approach, school community and feeder schools) as well as any practical considerations that are important, including the school's type, location, educational approach, schedule, transportation, and cost. Once we have reviewed the survey, we will send you information about your child’s educational profile as well as a list of schools that we think will meet your needs.
Workshops
We offer two 2-hour preschool workshops to provide assistance with:
1) Navigating the New York City preschool admissions process
2) Preparing children for the kindergarten standardized tests
The preschool admissions process workshop provides parents with tips regarding 1) how to identify the preschools that meet your family's needs, 2) the logistics of the admissions process, 3) touring schools, 4) parent interviews, 5) preparing your child for interviews, 6) writing a compelling essay, and 7) juggling acceptances and wait-list offers.
Most parents do not understand why your four-year-old child has to take standardized tests to enroll in kindergarten. The second workshop, preparing students for standardized tests, explains the rational behind the admissions tests required by many kindergarten programs (i.e., the Howard Gardner evaluation and Stanford Binet). Attendees will also receive material with a list of activities that have helped other parents nurture their children’s intellectual skills in a natural, playful setting. Parents will also learn how to prepare your child to be as comfortable as possible on the date of the test.
Individual Consulting Services
We provide individual consulting services to parents who would like help navigating the public and private preschool admissions process. More specifically, we can help parents with any one or more of the following steps:
Step 1) Develop your child's and family's educational profile
Step 2) Identify the preschools that meet your child’s and family’s needs
Step 3) Understand the logistics of the admissions process
Step 4) Prepare for the school tours as well as the parent and student interviews
Step 5) Complete the application and write a compelling essay
Step 6) Select the best school for your child and family
