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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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10.11.2022 | The Uptowner | Sarah Part, a policy analyst with Advocates for Children, explained that while some students struggling with literacy may have learning disabilities, many are considered “instructional failures”: They struggle with reading because they were not taught well, or did not...
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10.03.2022 | City Limits | But educators and advocates say there are high-need student populations the formula doesn’t account for, including students in temporary housing and in the foster care system. They say that in a city where over 100,000 students were homeless in the 2021-2022 school year,...
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09.01.2022 | News Nation Now | Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of Advocates for Children of New York, said they are concerned there isn’t enough staff at the schools who speak the migrant students’ language and are able to help their families. “It’s also a bigger challenge for students who...
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08.30.2022 | NewsNation | “Our concern is that there isn’t sufficient staff at each school that is bilingual and that are knowledgeable to be able to help families and to help all the students are coming in,” said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, an immigrant rights advocate. New York City Schools...
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09.01.2022 | Conexión Migrante TV | "“Un problema que vemos ahora es que no hay suficiente personal que hable español o que hable el idioma que hablan las familias. Entonces, recientemente el departamento de educación iba a contratar coordinadores que trabajan en albergues para ayudar a las...
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09.13.2022 | NYS Education Department | 64 Commission Members Encompass Diversity in Backgrounds, Ethnicity, Geographic Regions, and Areas of Expertise. Under the direction of the co-chairs, the 64 members of the Blue Ribbon Commission will undertake a thoughtful and inclusive process to explore...
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09.16.2022 | NY Post | “It is critical for the DOE to have strong leadership, particularly at a time when there is an influx of new migrant students entering shelters,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, whose focus includes students in temporary housing and foster care....
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09.20.2022 | NEWSY | Recent data from New York City's mayor's office shows 43% of public-school students in foster care complete high school graduation on time, compared to 81% of their peers outside the system. "They're also much more likely to struggle with mental health challenges because...
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09.21.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | Maggie Moroff, a special education policy expert at Advocates for Children, said it would be “significant” if the city could serve more students with disabilities in traditional public schools and she appreciates “the DOE working to explain and think through [Banks’]...
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09.25.2022 | Gothamist | Some parents and education activists said they were disappointed and had hoped the school system would replace the entire curriculum immediately. “You can add more phonics, and that’s great, but if you don’t eliminate the old practices that we know don't work, you’re...
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10.02.2022 | NY1 | This week, the city released state test scores for math and english for third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders. The results show a mixed bag for city schools. The city says the move to remote learning during the height of the pandemic seems to have had a...
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09.07.2022 | 1010 WINS: In Depth Podcast | On this episode of In Depth, we speak to recent graduates of New York's Staten Island Technical High School about the mental health challenges they faced during the pandemic. We also speak with Psychologist Dr. Allison Holman, a specialist in...
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09.01.2022 | City Limits | City officials say the pilot has been in the works since last year and was not a response to the increase in the number of immigrant families seeking asylum in New York over the last few months from the southern border. On Aug. 19, the mayor announced the multi-agency...
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09.28.2022 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the release of the 2022 New York State English Language Arts (ELA) test scores for New York City, showing that only 36% of Black and Hispanic students, 18% of...
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09.21.2022 | Today, AFC is testifying before the City Council Committee on Education about the serious obstacles that students with disabilities and their families continue to experience every day on the ground. Every day, Advocates for Children hears from parents struggling to get their...
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Public Comments & Testimony Archive: 2018Note: The following resources are in PDF format and will open in a new window. To view PDF files, download the following free software: Get Adobe® Reader®.AFC Testifies on the Proposed 5-Year Capital Plan, December 18, 2018AFC testified before...
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Public Comments & Testimony Archive: 2019Note: The following resources are in PDF format and will open in a new window. To view PDF files, download the following free software: Get Adobe® Reader®.Sign-On Letter Calling for Transportation for Students in Foster Care, September 27...
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Public Comments & Testimony Archive: 2020Note: The following resources are in PDF format and will open in a new window. To view PDF files, download the following free software: Get Adobe® Reader®.AFC Testifies on the Impact of COVID-19 on Child Care, December 16, 2020AFC testified...
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A brief overview of the three main English language learning programs in New York City’s public schools: English as a New Language (ENL), Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), and Dual Language. (In Spanish)
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This fact sheet for families of students with disabilities covers issues that typically come up at the start of the school year, such as what to do if a child does not yet have a school assignment or the school assigned says they cannot serve the child’s needs.