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6th Grade Admissions

UPDATE 5/15/2013:  We are making every effort to send out our 6th grade admissions notifications this Friday, May 17th via email to every family whose child tested at The Anderson School. If your child took our entrance exam for 6th grade, please look for an email from DSmiley@schools.nyc.gov.

The Anderson School (PS334) seeks a diverse student population and welcomes applications from students of all races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds living in any of the five boroughs. Students entering grades 6 and 7 may apply; new students are not admitted into 8th grade.  This page describes the 6th grade application process; there is a separate page for 7th grade application information. For information about Open Houses and Tours, please visit this page.
 
Overview
Students must apply directly to the Anderson School using our school’s own application. Our application is separate from the district middle school application public school students will submit to their guidance counselor, but has the same due date. We are not listed on any district’s application because we are a citywide admissions school. Students from any district or borough may apply, providing they meet the initial criteria outlined below. Applying to Anderson does not jeopardize your chances of being made an offer from any other school.

Every applicant meeting the initial academic criteria who has submitted an on time application will be invited to take Anderson's own admissions test given at the school which includes a writing assignment and math assessment.

Please remember that we are a K-8 school, therefore 5th graders currently enrolled in Anderson are guaranteed a seat in our 6th grade if they choose to continue at Anderson, as long as they are in good academic standing. However, we expand our class size slightly in 6th grade, so there are always at least eight seats available. For fall 2013, we know that we have at least 14 seats to fill. This fall 2012, 14 new students joined our 6th grade.

If you are new to the NYC public schools (moving to NYC or switching from a NYC private school) please read this page before you continue!

Initial Admissions Criteria (The information below was intended for applicants for the 2013-2014 school year. This page will be updated in fall 2013 with current information about applying for the 2014-2015 school year.)
In order to maintain our high academic standards and to ensure a diverse student population, we accept applications from students living anywhere in New York City, without regard to current school district, who meet the following initial criteria:
  • High academic performance and good attendance based on report cards (interim fifth grade report card and final fourth grade report card.)
  • Public school students must have achieved a minimum score on both the 4th grade New York State tests of:
    • 723 English Language Arts (ELA)  (93rd percentile, 5 wrong answers - one more wrong answer than last year. )
    • 735 Math  (93rd percentile, 5 wrong answers - the same number wrong as last year.)
    • At this point, we are not making ANY exceptions to these minimum score requirements. If, however, we find we need a larger applicant pool in mid-January, we will post new eligibility requirements on this page at that time. Please do not contact the school to inquire about exceptions to these numbers, as we do not have the personnel to reply to you. 
  • If the student has not been attending a New York State public school, submit any standardized test documentation from 4th grade. If no standardized tests were taken, submit all other components of application packet. Our admissions committee will determine if these students will be invited to take Anderson's entrance exam.
  • A strong teacher recommendation (two recommendations, if not attending a NYC public school)
  • An application submitted/postmarked by Friday, December 21, 2012 - there are no exceptions. 

Application for 6th Grade – 3 actions required: (Please note: our website, online form and documents are all Google. Internet Explorer is not always able to open Google products, so if you are having difficulties, try opening our website in another browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari.)

1. Fill out the Student Information Form here. (The deadline to apply has passed, so this form is no longer available.)

2. Download the Application Instructions here. (The deadline to apply has passed, so this document is no longer available.)

3. Download the Confidential Teacher Recommendation Form here. (The deadline to apply has passed, so this form is no longer available.)

Selection Process
Every applicant meeting the initial academic criteria who has submitted an on time application will be invited to participate in an admissions test given at the school that includes a writing assignment and math assessment. This test will tentatively take place on Saturday, February 9, 2013. The acceptance list and ranked wait list will be created after a thorough evaluation of the student's performance on the onsite test, report cards, test scores, and the teacher recommendation. There is no preference given to where these students live, nor do we have a sibling policy. We do not conduct student interviews or review portfolios of work.
 
Admissions notifications will be distributed to families in May, 2013, at the same time as all other Department of Education middle school placement notifications.
  
Visiting Anderson
For information about Open Houses and Tours, please visit this page.

Unfortunately, we do not have enough staff to handle all of our admissions phone calls - thank you for understanding.
If you have read this page and still have questions about the application process, contact Donna Smiley: DSmiley@schools.nyc.gov.
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