achievement gap · admissions · Advanced Placement · Educational Equity · Finding the Right School · NYC high school · NYC middle school · NYC Parent Voices · NYC School Admissions · School Choice · school diversity · School Integration

Why I REALLY Sent My Daughter to a ‘Diverse’ Public School

The New York City Department of Education defines racially representative schools as “those that enroll between 50 percent and 90 percent black and Hispanic students.”  By that definition, the public high school my sons attended, even though it was only 18 percent white, was still not diverse. That’s because it was also 71 percent Asian. … Continue reading Why I REALLY Sent My Daughter to a ‘Diverse’ Public School

achievement gap · admissions · Advanced Placement · Educational Equity · Gifted & Talented · NYC high school · NYC Kindergarten · NYC middle school · NYC School Admissions · school diversity · School Integration · screened nyc schools · specialized high schools

Finally! Even the NYT Admits What’s Really Needed To Diversify Specialized High Schools!

You can’t blame The New York Times for lagging behind. They’ve spent so many years arguing for the abolition of the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the exam that qualifies New York City students for entry into the eight Specialized High Schools believed to be the best, it’s inevitable they’d be a day late… Continue reading Finally! Even the NYT Admits What’s Really Needed To Diversify Specialized High Schools!

Blog · Educational Equity · student voices

Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)

H.R. 40 in Congress and Assembly Bill A2619A in the New York State Legislature, if passed, would establish commissions to investigate and develop a program of reparations to remedy the lasting effects of the enslavement and oppression of Black people in America and New York, respectively. Although neither of these bills have been passed yet… Continue reading Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)

NYC Schools · school diversity · student voices

Why We Created a Website for Students of Color, and Why We Shouldn’t Have Had To

This is a guest post by:  Aisha Baiocchi: Uses she/her pronouns and is half Brazilian and half Indian. She is a rising senior at the High School of American Studies in the Bronx. She is the founder and executive editor of The Outsiders Guide website. She is also an artist and an advocate for public… Continue reading Why We Created a Website for Students of Color, and Why We Shouldn’t Have Had To

school diversity · School Integration

Parent Responds to Queens D28 Integration ‘Daily News’ Editorial

The following letter was sent to Ms.Nyah Berg, Director of Integrated Schools Project for New York Appleseed, by Rocky Bonanno, a District 28 parent in response to “Integration jitters in Queens: We can’t lose sight of the ultimate goal here,” published by the NY Daily News on March 16, 2020. The letter has been edited… Continue reading Parent Responds to Queens D28 Integration ‘Daily News’ Editorial

achievement gap · School Integration

If This Is a Victory For Integration Then, Yup, I’m a Racist

I have been called a racist many, many times. Because I don’t agree with the Mayor’s proposal to get rid of the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Because I don’t think that sitting low-achieving students next to high-achieving students will magically raise test scores. Because I think school rezoning is just a way to… Continue reading If This Is a Victory For Integration Then, Yup, I’m a Racist

Finding the Right School · school diversity

A Revolutionary Rezoning Plan To Increase School Diversity, Bring in More Funding & Make Parents’ Lives Easier! Would You Support?

New York City General Education public school Kindergarten applications for 2020 were due on Tuesday, January 21. At the last minute, the Department of Education extended the deadline to Sunday, January 26. It was absolutely, positively not due to technical glitches with the very expensive MySchools Parent Portal. (For tips on how to circumvent the… Continue reading A Revolutionary Rezoning Plan To Increase School Diversity, Bring in More Funding & Make Parents’ Lives Easier! Would You Support?