Equity

Educational equity is a goal for many of us but in short supply. Parents, students, and teachers continue to search for improvements in a system that limits access to high-performing public schools, both charter and traditional, and disproportionately disciplines children of color.

Attention all Teachers! Auntie Kalyca on What The Midterm Elections Can Teach Our Students About Gender Bias
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Attention all Teachers! Auntie Kalyca on What The Midterm Elections Can Teach Our Students About Gender Bias

Kalyca Adesina ThomasLeave a comment

With the midterm elections now behind us in New York, a historic election of women has resonated lately with my students and me. The gender biases that the election results’ uncovered dismantled my students’ preconceived notions about both male and female roles. Our recent midterm elections yielded a change in who occupied seats and the… Continue reading Attention all Teachers! Auntie Kalyca on What The Midterm Elections Can Teach Our Students About Gender Bias

Not Backpacks Full of Cash: Backpacks Full of Rights! NCSECS Takes On Special Education Equity in Charter Schools
Accountability · Finding the Right School · School Choice

Not Backpacks Full of Cash: Backpacks Full of Rights! NCSECS Takes On Special Education Equity in Charter Schools

Laura WatersLeave a comment

It’s a common complaint among those who turn down their collective nose at public charter schools: they don’t serve their fair share of students with disabilities, or at least those with moderate to severe disabilities, and they counsel out kids who can’t deal with academic rigor, either back to their sending districts or to private… Continue reading Not Backpacks Full of Cash: Backpacks Full of Rights! NCSECS Takes On Special Education Equity in Charter Schools

The Lack of Diversity in NYC’s Elite High Schools Has Nothing To Do With the Admissions Test.
Accountability

The Lack of Diversity in NYC’s Elite High Schools Has Nothing To Do With the Admissions Test.

Laura Waters3 Comments

The media is afire with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to diversify NYC’s most competitive high schools — Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech — by eliminating the SHSAT admissions test. Instead of basing student suitability for these ultra-competitive schools on a single test, he says, students will be admitted based on classroom… Continue reading The Lack of Diversity in NYC’s Elite High Schools Has Nothing To Do With the Admissions Test.

A Personal Story about Gifted and Talented Programming in NYC
Accountability · School Choice

A Personal Story about Gifted and Talented Programming in NYC

Laura WatersLeave a comment

Just before I turned five years old, my parents moved me and my two younger sisters from our apartment on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx to a Queens neighborhood zoned for P.S. 115. While my old elementary school is now quite segregated (77 percent Asian, 18 percent White, 22 percent eligible for free and reduced… Continue reading A Personal Story about Gifted and Talented Programming in NYC

Changes Coming To NYC Middle and High School Admissions! What They Might Mean For You!
Finding the Right School · School Choice

Changes Coming To NYC Middle and High School Admissions! What They Might Mean For You!

Alina Adams1 Comment

With a new School Chancellor taking office this month, there were bound to be changes afoot. Although, in Richard Carranza’s defense, modifications to New York City’s application system for public middle and high schools have been hotly debated topics for years. Here’s a look at the proposals on deck, whom they will help, and whom… Continue reading Changes Coming To NYC Middle and High School Admissions! What They Might Mean For You!

Have We Made Any Progress Since Brown v. Board of Ed? Not In My Experience.
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Have We Made Any Progress Since Brown v. Board of Ed? Not In My Experience.

Vivett DukesLeave a comment

In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children.  What a strong example of parental engagement this landmark case models for us, right? This case… Continue reading Have We Made Any Progress Since Brown v. Board of Ed? Not In My Experience.

What Should Teachers Know About How Mass Incarceration Intersects With The Classroom?
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What Should Teachers Know About How Mass Incarceration Intersects With The Classroom?

Vivett DukesLeave a comment

Our guest today is Whitney Q. Hollins. She is a special educator in the NYC DOE, a Research Assistant at We Got Us Now and a doctoral student at C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center. Whitney and I do advocacy work together and what struck me most about her when we first met was her sharp mind. She’s… Continue reading What Should Teachers Know About How Mass Incarceration Intersects With The Classroom?

NYC High School Admissions: What the Department Of Education Refuses To Admit
Accountability · Finding the Right School · School Choice

NYC High School Admissions: What the Department Of Education Refuses To Admit

Alina Adams2 Comments

If it feels like I’ve written this post before, that’s because I’ve written this post before. (Think of it as Groundhog Day: High School Edition.) The highlights: September 12, 2016: Can Last Minute Test Prep Bring Diversity To NYC’s Specialized High Schools? September 26, 2016: As a NYC Parent, I Don’t Think the DOE’s Change… Continue reading NYC High School Admissions: What the Department Of Education Refuses To Admit

Is NYC Education an Even Playing Field For All Families?
Accountability · Finding the Right School · School Choice

Is NYC Education an Even Playing Field For All Families?

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

In response to my posts about how New York City parents can raise the odds of their children getting into a Gifted & Talented public school program, a reader wrote to sarcastically congratulate me on destroying what had previously been a perfectly even playing field. Her child, it seems, took the G&T test with absolutely… Continue reading Is NYC Education an Even Playing Field For All Families?

Is Parental Engagement Necessary For a Child’s School Success? A Personal Story.
Accountability · Finding the Right School · School Choice

Is Parental Engagement Necessary For a Child’s School Success? A Personal Story.

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Celia Scott Wickham wasn’t just an HHLA board member. She was also my mother-in-law. On Friday, February 16, 2018, Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School (for those tracking such things, one of NYC’s most diverse public schools at 36 percent White, 30 percent Black, 29 percent Hispanic) dedicated the day to celebrating their neighborhood. Classrooms… Continue reading Is Parental Engagement Necessary For a Child’s School Success? A Personal Story.