Expert Answers

Karen co-found a consulting business helping families get their kids into NYC’s best public and private schools. There, she taught parents how to work with their children to get them ready for testing just as she had worked with her son Sam. A few years later, she left the company and wrote the best-selling The Ivy Chronicles, a humorous novel about the experience of working in the competitive school admissions world of NYC. Karen wrote a total of four novels (two of which have been optioned as movies) before going back to the book she says she was “meant to write” – Testing For Kindergarten. Karen just launched the IQ Fun Park which is a test prep game disguised as fun for children and parents.

Michael founded a very popular blog for parents to learn more about the NYC gifted and talented process after his daughter was accepted in the G&T program in New York City. Michael has since become the parent expert for the NYC gifted and talented program and has provided thousands of parents with invaluable insights from his own personal experience. Michael is now one of the most popular “daddy bloggers” in New York City with tens of thousands of visits per week to his site focused on gifted and talented programs. He has received awards for his work on the blog and has spoken on numerous educational expert panels to inform other parents in NYC the “ins and outs” of how to effectively navigate through the system. Before co-founding TestingMom.com with Karen, Michael worked in senior management positions at a variety of internet companies in NYC and Dallas, Texas. Michael’s daughter attends P.S. 33 Chelsea Prep Gifted and Talented Program.

Dr. Marion Blank is the director of the A Light on Literacy program at Columbia University in NY. She has spent over forty years studying how children learn to read and is recognized by her peers as one of the world’s top experts in literacy.

Dr. Blank obtained her Ph.D. in Medical Psychology from the University of Cambridge in England. Among her many achievements, she has lectured extensively around the globe, serving as a consultant to governments in many different countries, receiving awards and commendations, created the Phonics Plus Five Reading Program and wrote “The Reading Remedy,” a book that Kirkus Reviews describes as “an invaluable resource.”

Dr. Blank has devoted her life to helping children learn to read, and she has used her innovative methods to help literally thousands of kids. Now, with her groundbreaking new reading program, www.ReadingKingdom.com, she is making her system available to every parent who wants to teach their child to read. The Reading Kingdom is the only fun, easy-to-use online reading program that customizes itself to your child and teaches all the skills necessary to make your child a successful reader and writer. We at TestingMom.com highly recommend this program to parents of emerging readers.  To read about a mother’s experience using The Reading Kingdom with her 2 children, CLICK HERE.

Dr. Blank recently started writing for The Huffington Post where she provides expert insights on the topic of literacy and education for children.

Kim Har, Ph.D., is director of early childhood education at Aristotle Circle. She is an experienced educator and published author in journals of education and child psychology, with more than 10 years of hands-on teaching and research experience.

Dr. Har earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a Minor in Psychology from MIT; a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from NYU; a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from Columbia Teachers College; and a Ph.D. in Education from UCLA.

Dr. Har is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the American Psychological Association (APA). Dr. Har leads development of products and services for the pre-college market, including childhood test preparation and tutoring.

Dr. Har has helped develop the extensive test workbook library published by Aristotle Circle, including the Complete ERB/WPPSI-III Practice Workbook and The Bracken School Readiness Assessment.

Ms. Haddad is an educational consultant with Aristotle Circle. She has more than 10 years experience in education and NYC admission. Ms. Haddad is a member of the NYC Distinguished Teacher Program in District 2, Manhattan. She is frequent speaker and is involved several education organizations such as DECA, ISAAGNY, NAIS, ATIS, and NYSAIS. Ms. Haddad has met and/or worked with more than 6,000 families about admissions counseling in New York City. She has previous work experience as an admissions professional at Horace Mann and Claremont Prep.

Sandy Eiges holds a Masters in Social Work, and has worked in and around schools throughout her career. She has served as executive director for Save the Children’s field office in Jerusalem, where she created and published a cultural diversity curriculum for grades 5-9. This curriculum was subsequently adopted by the Israel Ministry of Education. She also served on the executive board of UNICEF in Israel and created and ran after-school programs for latch-key children. She is the President of the Board of Bridges Community Charter School, a Reggio-inspired K-8 school. Sandy was also the charter school developer for YouthBuild Charter School of California, a high school diploma program for out of school/out of work youth, located on three sites in greater Los Angeles. She has served on the compensatory education committee and local school leadership council for Mark Twain Middle School, in Venice/Mar Vista. She has a child who attended a Reggio-inspired preschool and who now attends a project-based elementary school. Sandy has been an educational consultant for parents looking for preschool, elementary schools, middle and high schools for their children, for the past five years. Her website, www.LAschoolscout.com, offers a free online tour calendar for school tours in Los Angeles; as well as a free weekly subscriber-only newsletter

Whether you’re relocating to Los Angeles and looking for a private school, or that perfect neighborhood, charter or magnet elementary school, there is a school out there for your child. Sandy Eiges and L.A. School Scout will help you figure out your options, and give you meaningful and timely support throughout the process. For more information on L.A. School Scout services, please visit her websites at www.LAschoolscout.com, or www.LArelocationscout.com, where you can also sign up for her free weekly newsletter.

Elizabeth Barbaro has a private tutoring practice in New York City. She also works with families on Collaborative Problem Solving, which supports children with challenging behaviors. A former public school teacher in Greenwich Village and founding teacher of one of the first Charter Schools in New Jersey, Elizabeth has worked in the education field for over twenty years. She holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education. She is also lisenced in Special Education. Additional trainings include Mel Levine’s All Kinds of Mind, Teachers College Writing Institute and Collaborative Problem Solving Training.

Elizabeth’s passion is to empower children in their learning, provide the support they need to be successful students and maximize their learning potential.

Among one of Dana’s earliest memories is when she shared with her father that one day she would be a teacher; teaching was her dream. Today, Dana feels fortunate to be fulfilling that dream each day. Originally from Columbus, Georgia, Dana attended the University Of Wisconsin, Madison for undergraduate studies and proceeded to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia where she received her Masters of Arts in Education. Dana’s teaching career began with the Atlanta Public School System in Atlanta, Georgia. During her first year teaching in Atlanta, she was selected by her principal to attend courses in Gifted Education to enable her to be the Gifted Education Specialist within the school. Dana was the youngest of her colleagues to receive an additional certificate in Gifted and Talented Education. Currently, Dana is in her fifth year with PS 33, The Chelsea Prep School, teaching Gifted and Talented Kindergarten. After teaching pre-Kindergarten for two years and CTT Kindergarten for a year, Dana was then asked to pilot the first Gifted and Talented program at Chelsea Prep for the 2009-2010 school year. With great success, Chelsea Prep now has three strong Gifted and Talented classes.

Dana loves to learn, explore, and discover with her favorite four to six year olds with the hopes of helping each person create and capture his or her dreams. Dana believes that it is her responsibility to help each person understand that everything introduced and learned in class is intended to help prepare him or her for life. Dana teaches this understanding by creating a family with her class members by way of support, love, and encouragement. Dana firmly believes that each member of the classroom family has the power to use their strong voice and inner strength to go forward.

Dana was nominated and later chosen as the first NYC Gifted and Talented Blog Reader’s Choice Award 2010.

Dana frequently reminds herself that dreams do come true!

Victoria Goldman, a journalist specializing in education is the author of three guide books on private schools: The Manhattan Family Guide to Private Schools, The Manhattan Directory to Private Nursery Schools and The Los Angeles Guide to Private Schools, all published by Soho Press. Ms. Goldman regularly contributes to the Education Life supplement of The New York Times. Ms. Goldman lives in Manhattan and serves on the board of trustees of various non-profit institutions including the Albert G. Oliver Scholarship Program Board, The We Are Family Foundation and The Educational Alliance.

Ms. Goldman is the co-founder of Education First along with Maura Wollner. There, she consults with families on admission to nursery and primary school through college. Education First offers consulting options from year-long partnerships to individual consultations.

Jill Moylan is a NY State Licensed, ASHA Certified, Speech-Language Pathologist. She began her career in neurolinguistics, conducting research in Boston at the Aphasia Research Center. Then, it was Yale School of Medicine, where Jill worked alongside renowned experts in functional brain mapping and psychology; their results were published and presented at several conferences. While pursuing her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University, she interned at the Bank Street School for Children and the Stephen Gaynor School. These internships sparked Jill’s passion for working with children and somewhat altered the course of her career—getting her out of the lab and onto the playground!

In her practice, Jill focuses on speech and language delays and disorders, stuttering, apraxia of speech, auditory processing, and overall language and social enrichment for children. She takes into consideration the clinical findings for each child, and creates a unique treatment plan to be implemented in the fun, play-based manner that she has found most effective in keeping her young clients engaged. Jill is known for her ability to build trusting relationships with children, parents, and New York City public and private schools.