Advocates for Children of New York works on behalf of children who are at greatest risk for school-based discrimination and/or academic failure due to poverty, disability, race, ethnicity, immigrant or English Language Learner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, homelessness, or involvement in the foster care or juvenile justice systems.
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Spotlight
New AFC Resource: Guide to Manifestation Determination Review (MDR)
07.27.2017 | AFC has a new guide on the rights of students with disabilities facing discipline! Students with disabilities have special rights and protections when they are suspended from school or removed from class, and one of those rights is a meeting called a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR). This comprehensive guide explains what... Read more
New Data Shows English Language Learners Under-Represented in NYC Career and Technical Education Programs
07.24.2017 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) released a data brief analyzing city and state data showing that English Language Learners (ELLs) are under-represented in career and technical education (CTE) programs at New York City high schools. Entitled Missed Potential: English Language Learners Under-Represented in NYC... Read more
AFC Supports the Extension of Mayoral Control
06.19.2017 | Today, AFC sent a letter to the New York State Assembly and Senate, urging them to approve a long-term extension of mayoral control as a stand-alone bill that is not tied to other changes in education policy. View our letter [PDF] Read more
New AFC Resource: Guide for Court-Involved Students
06.16.2017 | AFC has a new guide for court-involved youth and their families! The guide includes a basic overview of the education rights of young people ages 7 to 21 in New York City who are or were involved in the juvenile or criminal justice system. It includes information about the education rights of youth in community and court-ordered... Read more
AFC in the News
Inclusion in Action: The lawyer, teacher, and organizer Maggie Moroff on the fight to make New York City schools more accessible
07.26.2017 | Guernica | In 1975, Congress enacted what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law granting all children the right to a “free appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment.” The statute’s implications are profound: students with a range of disabilities are entitled to specially... Read more
English learners are underrepresented in New York City’s career and technical ed programs, report finds
07.24.2017 | Chalkbeat New York | Career and technical education has been shown to help students make it to graduation. But New York City’s English language learners — who consistently lag behind their peers when it comes to on-time graduation — are both under-enrolled in the city’s CTE programs and less likely to complete them, according to a new... Read more
Report: Special education voucher program leaves some of New York City’s poorest families without services
07.12.2017 | Chalkbeat New York | Maggie Moroff, a disability policy expert at Advocates for Children, said in an interview that the report’s findings did not surprise her and that related services are just as important as general academic instruction. “It’s all the other things that go into a student’s ability to process and learn and develop in... Read more
When the School Building Itself Is a Barrier to Equal Education
06.20.2017 | WNYC | Emma Albert, 14, has never entered her school through the front door. The eighth grader has a vascular malformation on her left leg, which means that since the first grade she used a wheelchair though she could switch to crutches for short distances. And it means that she could access only the areas of her school that were... Read more