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Good morning. It’s Amy with Chalkbeat New York.

Navigating New York City’s school system can feel like deciphering a black box. Mountains of data exist online, but finding what actually matters — and making sense of it — can be a massive headache.

As middle and high school admissions season is underway and elementary school applications are on the horizon, we are here to help families cut through the confusion. Our team at Chalkbeat teamed up with The City Reporter and hosted a live session breaking down how we vet local schools. We walked through the key data points we rely on, including teacher survey results, principal spending, and student growth metrics.

If you're weighing school options or just want a clearer picture of your local campus, watch the full recorded guide and live Q&A here.

Share your strategies with us at [email protected].

And here's another must-see event: Tomorrow night, The Bell and New York Appleseed are hosting a school integration town hall with New York Times Magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, and others. Chalkbeat’s Michael Elsen-Rooney will be there moderating a panel discussion of high school students. Find out more and RSVP here.

Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.

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Local News

WATCH: A video walkthrough of our guide on how to vet NYC schools like an education reporter

Chalkbeat and The City Reporter walked through how to use sometimes clunky NYC databases to vet public schools. Watch the event recording.

Around Chalkbeat

Denver to close Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy, a tiny HBCU-style high school, after 6 years

Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy, opened in 2021, will undergo what Denver Public Schools calls an operational closure, meaning the school is not financially sustainable.