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
Disparities in Graduation Rates Show the Need to Rethink Graduation Requirements
01.16.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the New York State Education Department (NYSED)’s release of high school graduation rates for the 2015 cohort: While we are pleased that graduation rates continue to trend in the right direction, the... Continue reading
AFC Testifies on Universal After-School Program Plan
01.14.2020 | AFC testified before the City Council Committee on Youth Services about access to after-school programming for students with disabilities, students in temporary housing and students in foster care and legislation related to universal after-school programming.Read AFC's testimony [PDF] Continue reading
New Report Shows Racial Disparities in NYC Children’s Access to Early Intervention Programs
12.05.2019 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York published a new report in partnership with Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) entitled Early Inequities: How Underfunding Early Intervention Leaves Low-Income Children of Color Behind [PDF], which shows that State disinvestment in New York’s Early Intervention program has... Continue reading
Advocates for Children of New York Commends the City’s Efforts to Reduce the Number and Length of Suspensions and Urges the City
11.04.2019 | On November 1, 2019, the City released 2018-2019 school year data showing that, since the 2013-2014 school year, suspensions are at an all-time low, having declined by 38.5%. The City reported that major crime in schools declined by 31.9% during the same period. The school discipline data, which the Department of Education... Continue reading
AFC in the News
NYC’s 2019 graduation rate inches up to 77%
01.16.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Ashley Grant, a staff attorney for child advocacy group Advocates For Children New York, said the “troubling” disparities in graduation rates between students of different races and abilities illustrate why the state should be rethinking diploma requirements.“It will be critical that the State Education Department and... Continue reading
These NYC parents struggled to find schools that would address dyslexia. Now they want to start their own.
01.07.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Maggie Moroff, a disability policy expert at Advocates for Children, said there could be real benefits to the district running a school that explicitly services students with reading challenges — including making phonics-based reading instruction more widely available. “There’s a need for additional evidence-... Continue reading
Same classroom, different salaries: Special education pre-K teachers earn dramatically less than their general ed co-teachers
01.02.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | There’s already a shortage of more than 300 seats in special education pre-K classrooms in New York City, and about 30 special education pre-K programs have closed in the past few years, according to Advocates for Children. The nonprofit sent a letter last month to city leaders demanding swift action to stave off a... Continue reading
How to help homeless students around the holidays and beyond
12.21.2019 | CNN | In New York City alone, over 114,000 students were identified as homeless in the 2018-19 school year, according to New York State Education Department data posted by Advocates for Children of New York, a local nonprofit organization. That's one in 10 students, and 85% of them are Black or Hispanic. The trend has grown over 70%... Continue reading