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Julian’s Story
Julian is a 3-year-old preschooler with delays in his language skills, but the DOE failed to provide recommended services.
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11.18.2020 | The 74 | The students who have lost contact with their schools also remain a matter of concern for Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, a nonprofit fighting on behalf of the city’s underserved youth. On Tuesday, her group published a statement saying, “Educating...
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Blog: Stuck on Mute: Kids in Juvenile Lockups Can’t Be Seen or Heard by Teachers During Remote Learning11.19.2020 | The CITY | “It’s clear that the Department of Education is working with ACS to make improvements in access and quality of education,” said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New York. But she worries about what another...
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11.19.2020 | Politico | The coalition, New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, is unveiling “A People’s Agenda for Education and Racial Justice,” centered on issues such as police-free schools, culturally responsive education and getting rid of school admissions policies they say fuel school...
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11.20.2020 | Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education’s hearing about the critical need for social-emotional and mental health support for students, and the City's commitment to remove police from schools and craft a new vision of school safety that ensures...
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Page: Teacher EvaluationTeacher EvaluationAt Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), we believe that a robust and fair teacher evaluation system will improve access to high-quality instruction for all students and increase teacher, principal, and school accountability to students and their parents. As New York...
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08.18.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York released a set of essential recommendations for New York City’s school reopening plan, urging the Department of Education (DOE) to ensure that students with disabilities have the support they need when schools reopen, whether they are learning...
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11.17.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the possibility of a systemwide shutdown of New York City’s schools:Educating children is one of the most essential services the City provides, and the Mayor...
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11.12.2020 | WBAI | Dawn Yuster, director of Advocates for Children of New York's School Justice Project, joins Bob Gangi on "Justice Matters" to talk about police-free schools and sending mental health professionals, not cops, to New Yorkers experiencing mental crisis. Listen to the...
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11.10.20 | The 74 | Advocates for special education students are especially interested in the class size numbers for those learners. At an Oct. 23 City Council hearing, Advocates for Children testified that the DOE had violated state limits on class sizes for special needs students in self-...
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11.07.2020 | NY Post | The news was welcomed by Advocates for Children, a nonprofit organization that has highlighted the Wi-Fi problem for needy kids. “We should explore all options because the alternative is children missing out on school this year, and that is not acceptable,” said Randi...
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11.06.2020 | Qns.com | “A student who lost weeks of instructional time because they lacked needed technology for remote learning would still be considered ‘fully’ served for the purposes of this report if they had been in a special education class prior to the closure of school buildings, as...
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11.06.2020 | Univision Neuva York | El reporte anual del Departamento de Educación indica que los pequeños con discapacidades no pudieron recibir los recursos que necesitan debido a la pandemia, lo que ha afectado su aprendizaje. La organización Advocates for Children pide a las autoridades...
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Page: Taskforces & CoalitionsTaskforces & CoalitionsAFC’s staff are members of many coalitions, advisory committees, and taskforces that focus on improving education and pushing for reform, including:Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)/Advocates Education Work GroupThe ARISE CoalitionCampaign for ChildrenCampaign...
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11.05.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) issued the following response to the release of the New York City Department of Education (DOE)’s suspension data report for the 2019-20 school year: The new suspension data released on Tuesday show that New York City has continued...
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Blog: Number of NYC students referred for special education plummets during COVID shutdown: new data11.03.2020 | NY Daily News | “It’s a huge drop,” said Maggie Moroff, the Special Education policy coordinator at Advocates for Children. “Those are kids that in other years would have been referred, they would in other years be getting services and supports now," she added. Advocates say the...
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11.05.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | “Extending these exemptions through August 2021 would allow students and educators to focus on the work of teaching and learning, confident that students who meet all other graduation requirements will not lose their chance to earn a diploma because of COVID-19,”...
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11.05.2020 | NY Daily News | Advocates who have long pushed the state to ease the Regents-related graduation requirements — and who say the testing rules are especially problematic during the pandemic — applauded the decision to nix the January test and urged officials to cancel the June and August...
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11.03.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children New York, said the reduction in suspension length is “particularly notable” and is reflective of the education department’s revamp of the discipline code. She hoped the city’s plan to expand...
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11.03.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | “Their numbers were improving, and then everything got set back,” said Maggie Moroff, a special education policy expert at Advocates for Children, which focuses on students with special needs. “What we don’t know is a whole lot about what happened in those months after...
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11.04.2020 | Gothamist | Maggie Moroff, special education policy coordinator at Advocates for Children of New York, said her organization is pushing the city to more directly measure, and address, the gaps in services and learning for special education students during the pandemic."We are obviously...