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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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Over the last decade, child welfare agencies and advocates have begun to recognize that the students they serve need access to greater educational opportunities, and that education is critically important to child wellbeing, permanency planning and a successful transition to adulthood. This report...
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7.26.2012 | AFC is co-hosting a community forum on bullying on August 1. Learn more and RSVP at http://action.advocate.nyc.gov/bullying.
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7.30.2012 | Insideschools.org | Special education advocate Maggie Moroff of the ARISE Coalition and Advocates for Children says she firmly supports the goals of the reform, but, like many others, she has concerns about how changes will be implemented. "A dedicated hotline is great," she said. "But...
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7.26.2012 | City Limits | The city hopes EarlyLearn will make for higher-quality city-funded daycare. Despite funding shortages and doubts about the way contracts were awarded, some agencies and advocates believe the program has promise... Read Article
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Blog: World Journal Chinese Language Press Features Article about AFC's Complaint Filed Against the DOE6.21.2012 | World Journal Chinese Press | AFC and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education against the DOE for its systemic failure to provide translation and interpretation services to...
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6.20.2012 | New York Daily News | Parents who don't speak English and have kids with special-education needs have systematically been denied access to translations for key documents and interpreters at required school meetings for at least the past three years, Advocates for Children and New York...
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7.03.2012 | New York Times | Elementary schools in New York must screen their students for literacy problems in a new way, beginning this month. The goal is to get students the help they need as soon as possible, but the city's Department of Education also hopes the program will reduce...
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6.20.2012 | NY1 News | Advocates for Children of New York and Lawyers for the Public Interest said the lack of services is hindering tens of thousands of parents from becoming involved with their children's special education programs. Click here to watch coverage.
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6.20.2012 | New York Times/SchoolBook | Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, said that these parents were eager to participate in their children’s education, but were hampered by their lack of English proficiency, and that the city has not shown the necessary...
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6.5.2012 | New York Times | “It is great that the DOE is starting to think of discipline in a more holistic way," said Avni Bhatia, a staff attorney for Advocates of Children of New York. But because there are no requirements for schools to use these new practices we're concerned that...
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6.19.2012 | Gotham Schools | Students without disabilities also struggle to pass the required exams, and they too would benefit from a more robust rethinking of what it should take to graduate from high school in New York City, said Gisela Alvarez, a project director for Advocates for Children....
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6.20.2012 | Gotham Schools | Advocates filed a federal complaint today against the city Department of Education that they said represents years of troubling reports from parents who don’t speak English. Hundreds of those parents have come to the advocacy groups with concerns that the department...
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6.18.2012 | Gotham Schools | The state’s highest court ruled last week that public school students cannot use New York’s human rights law to seek recognition of discrimination — or get financial compensation when discrimination has taken place. Never before have courts ruled that such a large group...
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This June 2012 policy paper describes the need for student and parent input in teacher evaluation in New York City, summarizes research demonstrating the validity and reliability of such measures, describes efforts other states and districts are undertaking to incorporate student and/or parent...
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6.13.2012 | NY1 | The policy has been tested in a 260-school pilot program since 2010. But council members and advocates say the city is now expanding it to all 1,700 schools before fully studying key factors, like behavior and discipline, of students in the pilot. "The public really needs to know...
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6.1.2012 | New York Daily News | “The practice of retaining students year after year without investing in improving their education has been problematic, so it’s good to see some steps in the right direction,” said Advocates for Children executive director Kim Sweet. Read article
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6.1.2012 | Gotham Schools | Critics of the social promotion ban have said they have seen some students stuck in a grade, unable to advance because of the state tests. Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, said today that those students often become discouraged and are unlikely to...
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5.29.2012 | WABC-TV Print Version | " We're asking the state to keep the local diploma as an option until they put into place new pathways to graduation," Gisela Alvarez, senior project director, said. Alvarez and the not-for-profit Advocates for Children of New York have joined a coalition,...
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5.21.2012 | New York World | New York's new Close to Home initiative will allow court-involved youth to remain in the NYC public school system while incarcerated, and on the Department of Education’s credit system. The results remain to be seen, but Christopher Tan, director of Advocates for...