What to Ask on a NYC School Tour, Grade by Grade

A school’s numbers tell you how its students did on a test. A tour tells you what a Tuesday feels like there, and whether your kid would be okay in it. The trouble is that tours are short, crowded and run by the people with the most reason to impress you. A good list of questions is how you get past the welcome speech.

Here’s ours, by level, plus what to look at on the way there. Skip anything the school already answered on its own page; your time is better spent on the things only a person in the building can tell you.

Before you go

• Know how the program admits.A zoned seat, a lottery, a screen and an audition call for different questions. Each district school’s page on Motley NYC has a How to get in, step by step section with its programs, their methods and its upcoming open houses.
• Sign in when you go.For some programs the visit itself counts: a limited unscreened high school program gives priority to students who attended an information session or open house. We hold 54 such high school programs in the city’s admissions data.
• See two or three schools, not ten.Tours blur together fast. Pick the ones you’d really rank, and visit those well.

Questions for any school

• What does a normal day look like for a kid in the grade my child would start in?
• How big are the classes in that grade this year?
• What happens for a kid who’s ahead in math or reading? And one who’s behind?
• What’s the after-school program: who runs it, until what time, what it costs, and is there a waitlist?
• How do teachers and families stay in touch, and how active is the parent association?
• What’s changed here in the last two years, and what’s about to? (A new principal, a new program, a move, a merger.)
• If your child has an IEP: do you offer the setting it recommends, at this grade, and which services are delivered on site? Our IEP and 504 guide has the full list.
• If your child is learning English: what English as a New Language or bilingual classes do you run?

Elementary school

• How many kindergarten classes did you open last year, and did every zoned family who applied get a seat?
• Is there a 3-K or pre-K here, and does attending it affect kindergarten admission?
• When and where do kids eat lunch and have recess, and for how long?
• How do you teach reading in kindergarten through second grade?
• Is there a Gifted & Talented program in the building, and how do its classes and the rest of the school mix? How G&T works.
• What do you do when a child is having a hard time getting along with others?

Middle school

• If the program screens: what exactly does it look at, and how much does each part count? What “screened” means.
• Can students take accelerated math, such as Algebra I with the Regents exam, in eighth grade?
• Which languages, arts, electives, teams and clubs are open to sixth graders?
• How do you help families with the high school application and the SHSAT?
• How are advisory, phones and conflicts between students handled?
• How do most students get here, and how long is the trip?

High school

• Which program would my child apply to, and how is each one admitted? One high school can run several programs with different codes and different methods. High school admissions, explained.
• Which advanced courses do you offer, such as AP or college-credit classes, and who can take them?
• How many students does each counselor work with, and what help do juniors and seniors get with college and careers?
• Which teams and clubs are active this year?
• What time does the day start, and what do ninth graders find hardest in their first year?

On the walk there

The tour starts at your front door. Walk or ride the route at the hour your child would, not at noon on a Saturday.

• How long does it take, and which crossings would you want your child to make alone?
• How crowded is the train or bus at drop-off time?
• Where do kids go after dismissal: a library branch, a playground, a pizza place, home?
• What does the block feel like at 3 p.m., when school lets out?
• If you’re also choosing where to live: is the zone line near the apartment you’re looking at? Check the exact address before you sign — here’s how.

After the tour

Write down what you saw the same day, before the next school blurs it. Three lines is enough: what stood out, what worried you, and whether you could picture your child there. Then rank only schools you’d actually send your child to.

On Motley NYC, school pages list the upcoming open houses and tours the city posts on MySchools (on October 17, 2026 we held 1,754 of them at 258 schools), and signed in, your dashboard flags upcoming tours at the schools you’ve saved during application season. With Motley Pro, our admissions tracker keeps your notes, dates and checklist for each school in one place. If tours are part of a bigger move, our guide to moving to NYC with school-age kids puts them in order with everything else.