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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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05.18.2022 | NY Daily News | “The administration’s current proposal for spending millions in federal funding does not address the most fundamental problem, which is that children in shelter are not getting to school in the first place,” said Jennifer Pringle, director of Advocates for Children’s...
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05.17.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | The new rules will mean just an extra hour of learning a day for these students. Still, it’s a “really critical” change for families, said Maggie Moroff, a special education policy expert at Advocates for Children, who said that even pre-pandemic students at home were...
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Blog: New York parents and advocates are speaking out against labeling students ‘emotionally disturbed’05.12.2022 | Prism Reports | “It’s overly broad. It’s subjective, it’s vague, and once you have subjectivity, you have a greater likelihood of bias,” said Dawn Yuster, Esq., director of the School Justice Project for Advocates for Children. Last year, Advocates for Children released an update to...
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05.12.2022 | Gothamist | Last week, a report from Advocates for Children called on the education department to urgently revamp literacy instruction across the public school system. Fewer than 47% of all third through eighth graders, and only 36% of Black and Hispanic students, scored...
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05.12.2022 | Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks’ announcement of plans to support students with dyslexia: For decades, AFC has been advocating for low-income students who are...
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05.12.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | The plans “could have a transformative impact if implemented well,” said Kim Sweet, of Advocates for Children, which has spent decades fighting for low-income students who are struggling with reading and are unable to be supported in public schools. Her organization...
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05.12.2022 | NY Daily News | Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children, a group that works on behalf of students with disabilities and recently released its own recommendations to improve reading instruction, said “we’re encouraged to see the Mayor and Chancellor tackling...
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05.12.2022 | The New York Times | The new policy was met with applause by a group who has called for reading reforms in the city. “The plans announced today could have a transformative impact if implemented well,” Kim Sweet, the executive director for Advocates for Children of New York, said...
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Blog: Literacy CornerPolicy WorkReaching Every Reader: NYC Literacy Summit On December 9, 2021, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), the NYC Department of Education, and the ARISE Coalition jointly hosted a Literacy Summit [PDF]—an all-day virtual event that brought together diverse stakeholders and experts...
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Resource: AFC Education Helpline Flyer (Spanish)Gives information on the Jill Chaifetz Education Helpline.
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05.03.2022 | New York Post | More than 100,000 public school students were homeless last school year — including a third that lived in New York City shelters. More than half of students living in shelters miss at least one out of every 10 school days, according to data cited by Advocates for...
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05.02.2022 | amNewYork | “Every parent sends their child to school assuming they will be taught to read. Yet when students struggle, parents often have to find help on their own,” said Kim Sweet, Executive Director of AFC. “As a city, we need to stop accepting that unacceptable outcome and provide...
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05.02.2022 | Gothamist | The report from Advocates for Children – “Reaching Every Reader” – argued the fact that so few public school students are being taught to read effectively is “unconscionable,” citing how less than 47% of all third through eighth graders, and only 36% of Black and Hispanic...
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05.02.2022 | Chalkbeat NY | “For many parents, it is not possible to transport their child with significant disabilities to and from their school,” said Randi Levine, from Advocates for Children. “We know many students with disabilities last year were unable to participate in the Summer Rising...
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05.02.2022 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) released a new report, Reaching Every Reader: The Path Forward, summarizing key takeaways from last December’s Literacy Summit--a day-long virtual event jointly hosted by AFC, the NYC Department of Education (DOE), and the ARISE Coalition...
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Blog: Infusion of federal cash, a more focused approach seen as key to boosting literacy in NYC schools05.02.2022 | NY Daily News | Yet enormous obstacles remain to creating widespread change in a system with 1,600 schools and more than 70,000 teachers — and advocates warn that the DOE could squander its opportunity without specific and long-term plans for how to make reforms stick. “History...
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05.02.2022 | New York Post | “Every parent sends their child to school assuming they will be taught to read,” said Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children. “Yet when students struggle, parents often have to find help on their own.” “As a city, we need to stop accepting that...
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04.29.2022 | Gothamist | Families and advocacy groups welcomed the news, but say that the city needs to commit to training all teachers across the system on strong, proven literacy strategies that benefit students with dyslexia and other reading challenges, such as training more teachers in...
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04.29.2022 | More than 30 organizations released a letter calling on Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks to use federal COVID-19 relief funding specifically designated for students in temporary housing to hire 150 shelter-based Department of Education Community Coordinators. Community...
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04.28.2022 | Advocates want the city Education Department to hire 150 people to make sure students in homeless shelters get to school every day. Chronic absenteeism — defined as missing more than one in ten school days — is a big challenge citywide this year, and it’s more pronounced among...