Need Help?
Call AFC's Education Helpline
(866) 427-6033
Monday to Thursday
10 am to 4 pm
Donate Now
Help Advocates for Children support more New York City students!
Julian’s Story
Julian is a 3-year-old preschooler with delays in his language skills, but the DOE failed to provide recommended services.
Stay connected
Sign up for AFC's email updates and find other ways to take action.
-
12.05.2022 | NY Daily News | “The evidence shows that these high-stakes exams are not correlated to success. They more so serve as a barrier,” said Juliet Eisenstein, a staff attorney at Advocates for Children, which spearheaded the petition. Eisenstein is on a 64-member state commission...
-
12.12.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | Historically, there has been a failure to cooperate and minimize disruptions to students’ schooling between the multiple agencies connected to homeless children, including the education department and homeless services, said Jennifer Pringle, director of Project Learning...
-
12.05.2022 | FOX 5 New York | It's a huge problem, a problem Jennifer Pringle says needs urgent attention if the City wants to break the cycle of homelessness. "We know that kids who don't graduate from high school are 3.5 times more at risk of experiencing homelessness as young adults." ...
-
11.18.2022 | CBS New York | "This is definitely an issue in New York City, and we've been seeing it for years and years," said Dawn Yuster, with Advocates for Children of New York. Yuster is director of the School Justice Project with Advocates for Children of New York. "There is no...
-
12.13.2022 | ABC 7 News | New York City officials announced an expansion of seats for preschool students with special needs across all five boroughs on Tuesday. "Many of these children were sitting at home waiting months or longer, in violation of their legal rights," said Randi Levine, policy...
-
Early Childhood: Children Ages 0-5Advocates for Children of New York’s Early Childhood Education Project provides individual case assistance, community education, and policy advocacy to improve access to early childhood education for low-income children (ages 0–5) so that students can enter...
-
This guide explains the kindergarten admissions process and answers frequently asked questions. Includes information for families of students with disabilities, ELLs, and students in temporary housing.
-
12.06.2022 | Today, the Coalition for Multiple Pathways to a Diploma released a petition signed by more than 1,200 New Yorkers, calling on State leaders to permanently decouple Regents exams from graduation requirements, a practice which currently makes New York State an outlier in the US. ...
-
L.V. v. NYC Department of EducationIn the L.V. case, parents of children with disabilities claimed that they had received favorable orders in impartial hearings, but the New York City Department of Education (DOE) was not implementing the orders. The parents also claimed that the DOE did not have a...
-
Overview of the kindergarten placement process for students who need school-aged special education services. More detailed information on eligibility, referral, evaluations, Turning 5 IEP meeting, and kindergarten placement. Guide also includes information on what to do if placement is...
-
11.21.2022 | Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigation and the Committee on Education regarding persistent, long-standing issues with NYC school bus transportation services. The DOE must take action to develop the systems and procedures...
-
11.17.2022 | The CITY | It’s a common trajectory for young people with emotional disabilities, who make up close to half the students enrolled at schools in New York City’s juvenile detention centers and in the Rikers Island jail, according to data from the Independent Budget Office. “There’s a...
-
11.08.2022 | Gothamist | “I think we can glean from the data that there has been a significant influx of students and families into the New York City shelter who've recently arrived to this country and that many of the schools where they’re enrolled were not prepared for that influx. Nor was the...
-
Page: Amicus BriefsAmicus BriefsNote: The following documents are in PDF format and will open in a new window. To view PDF files, download the following free software: Get Adobe® Reader®.United States Supreme CourtMiguel Luna Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, et. al. (2022)AFC submitted an amicus brief filed with...
-
11.17.2022 | 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 2021-22 school year: The new suspension data released publicly this week indicate a decline in the...
-
11.16.2022 | Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education about the need for the DOE to address delays in launching key programs funded by federal COVID-19 relief funds and for city, state, and federal elected leaders to begin planning to sustain long-overdue...
-
11.09.2022 | Today, AFC testified before the New York City Council Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities & Addiction and Committee on Youth Services to discuss the youth mental health crisis and urgent need for a comprehensive system to ensure that our young people have access to and receive...
-
10.26.2022 | PIX 11 | New York City has committed to hiring 100 shelter-based Department of Education Community Coordinators this year to help families navigate the school system, resolve barriers to regular attendance, and connect students in shelter with needed supports. However, a month and...
-
Blog: For the Seventh Year in a Row, More than 100,000 New York City Students Experienced Homelessness10.26.2022 | The 2021-2022 school year marked the seventh consecutive year in which more than 100,000 New York City public school students experienced homelessness, a crisis which has now persisted through two Mayoral administrations and four schools Chancellors. Even as total enrollment in City...
-
10.26.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | A total 104,383 children lacked permanent housing last school year across district and charter schools, according to an annual report released by Advocates For Children New York, an organization that advocates on behalf of the city’s highest needs students. “If...