Schools which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with subject-specific names that leave no room for interpretation, make choosing high school a challenge.

World Journalism Preparatory, Mathematics, Science Research and Technology Magnet High School, High School for Health Careers and Sciences are but a few examples of the 500 high schools and 600 programs within New York City's 1,499 public schools.

For most immigrants, the wide range of selective schools, charter schools, transfer schools, art schools, educational option schools, vocational schools and international schools can prove to be confusing and exhausting. Yet, choosing a school for their children will have a great impact on the quality of education for immigrant youngsters, and bears on the schools' enrollment process. In some cases, the effects on schools prove averse, prompting principals and teachers to find new ways of reaching parents who are deliberating on which school to send their children.

"It's challenging even for savvy New York parents to sort out all the schools and decide what works for their kids," said Nedda De Castro, assistant principal at the Internationals High School in Prospect Heights created for immigrant children living in the country for less than four years. "Imagine not really understanding how the system works or even what the benefits are."

"Within the Russian community parents usually choose a school recommended by word of mouth", said Vladimir Epshteyn, president Metropolitan Russian American Parents Association in New York City. According to the Department of Education, the community's 2,834 children account for 2 percent of English Language Learners in the school system, 563 of them in grades 9 to 12.

"Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg gave children a right to choose a high school," Epshteyn explained, "but it doesn't mean that everybody can use it. Students have to take a test to be admitted to a special or highly rated school. For gifted immigrant children it can be a big problem."

Immigrants from central Russia and other large cities from the former USSR care deeply about the quality of education and seek out the best schools for their children, in other words schools with a high rate of graduates admitted to colleges. However, people from Asian cities of the former Soviet Republic are not as advanced in terms of education and depend solely on recommendations from the Russian community.

Most children end up in the closest neighborhood schools. The children's own desire and initiative in researching schools are also factors in deciding which schools to attend.

The Mariyasin family, for example, emigrated to the United States from Moscow five years ago, with their then 9-year-old daughter, Inna. The girl had studied in one of the best elementary schools in Moscow and her mother wanted the same quality of education for her in Brooklyn.

However, Inna's mother, Faina Mariyasin, did not speak English well. She enrolled Inna at Public School 177, the Marlboro School, in Brooklyn only because the admissions process was fast and easy. She states that the most impressive aspect of the school was not the school's curriculum but the fact that the admission officials understood her poor English.

It proved to be the right choice after all, Faina Mariyasin said, because a chess program there opened her daughter up to a network of people that guided the family's future choices. Chess tournaments Inna participated in led to socializing events, where Faina Mariyasin gathered information from other parents about junior high schools and their entry requirements.

For junior high, Inna attended IS 228, David A. Boody Intermediate School in Brooklyn, her second choice; she was not fluent enough in English to pass an entrance exam to her first choice. Again, that school worked out, because it had a chess program Inna enjoyed.

Inna had progressed well and when time for high school arrived, she applied to a dozen schools, and ended up choosing Trinity, a private school on the Upper West Side.

"If a student doesn't pass the entrance exam to a special high school, he will be offered the choice of a school with a related program and are limited to the district he lives in," Faina Mariyasin said. "This district requirement forces parents to cheat so their child can study in the schools that better suits him or her."

Not all Russian-speaking immigrants are as fortunate as Inna. For example, Kirill Oparin, who came from Kursk, a city in the western part of central Russia at, age 9, began his American education at P.S. 97, Highlawn School in Brooklyn.

"School was like a monkey house – frequent fights, students didn't pay attention to the teacher, they were chatting, listening to music and eating," Oparin said. "The teacher was just as bad. She didn't give us any homework, and taught the lesions reluctantly."

The boy complained to his aunt, who had lived in the United States for many years but still did not speak English. His aunt Irina met with the principal and Kirill was transferred to a new class, with a better teacher.

Now, 15 and a sophomore at New Utrecht High School, Kirill likes school. His older cousin attended the school in Bensonhurst (Brooklyn) and recommended it to Kirill's parents. Their younger cousin also attends the school, whose Russian population has now reached to almost 10 percent of the student body.

"They don't have a lot of time to find out about education because they work hard," Kirill said of his parents.

De Castro, from the Internationals High School, said they did not have any Russian-speaking students until a boy from Uzbek boy living in Queens discovered the school and brought his siblings and friends.

"We have teachers who speak Russian, but we don't know exactly where to get in touch with Russian-speaking children and their parents," De Castro said. "One of the things about immigrant families is they work a lot. They have long hours; they are juggling a lot of things. It's very difficult to target the best time to reach them," De Castro said.

To spread the word, IHS advertises at high school fairs, conducts presentations in middle schools with a high population of English language learners (ELL), and attends open houses and informational meetings there. Word of mouth helps a great deal in recruitment, and has resulted in 33 Russian families out of the 400 in the district that have more than one child attending the school, De Castro said.

The lesson from all this is for immigrant parents to behave the same way as savvy New Yorkers who do not go to neighborhood schools, but research to find the best fit for their child.

Guidance counselors should be the first stop for immigrant parents, Department of Education officials say. The agency's website also provides the high schools admissions handbook in eight languages and the directory listing has nearly 500 high schools with their offerings and requirements.

Officials also tell parents to attend high school fairs, information sessions and open houses during the school year that give additional information to the parents. The Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy and the Translation and Interpretation Unit regularly hold citywide Native Language Forums where parents can get all the information they need in their native language.

For the directory of high schools and school choice guide, log on to http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/High/Directory/Search/default.htm?l=russian.

This story was written as part of an education reporting fellowship granted by New York Community Media Alliance.