Need Help?
Call AFC's Education Helpline
(866) 427-6033
Monday to Thursday
10 am to 4 pm
Donate Now
Help Advocates for Children assist 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.
Sign up
Receive email updates or text alerts from AFC.
-
9.04.2013 | The Student Safety Coalition, a diverse group of educators, parents, students, advocates and legal experts, today called on New York City’s next mayor to implement reforms to end overly aggressive policing in the city schools and restore authority over school discipline to professional...
-
Blog: Advocates for Children of New York Wins Decision Enforcing Rights of Students with Disabilities11.07.2013 | The New York State Education Department (NYSED) issued a ruling this week on a complaint filed by Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) earlier this year, charging the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) of systemically violating the law by failing to provide...
-
12.12.2013 | A new report, Rethinking Pathways to High School Graduation in New York State: Forging New Ways for Students to Show Their Achievement of Standards [PDF], was released today by The Coalition for Multiple Pathways to a Diploma, prepared by Advocates for Children of New York. The...
-
03.10.2014 | In the heated battles over co-locations, there are rarely perfect solutions. Displacing some students to make room for others creates a winners-vs-losers scenario that can be disruptive to any educational community. Students with disabilities, unfortunately, have often found themselves...
-
05.12.2014 | In New York State, 25% of all high school students—and 55% of students with disabilities and 65% of ELLs—fail to graduate in four years. Each student who leaves high school without a diploma costs the State at least $70,000 in lost tax payments and increased welfare and crime...
-
06.03.2014 | Today the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center released its School Discipline Consensus Report. The Consensus Report highlights successful school discipline reform efforts from a diverse array of school districts including Denver, CO, Austin, TX, and Baltimore, MD. Notably...
-
06.12.2014 | AFC submitted testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Education regarding the proposed bill to equip all exit doors in elementary school buildings and buildings accommodating District 75 programs with an alarm system. We support the targeted use of alarms, but only as a...
-
06.23.2014 | The graduation rates released today show little progress for the State as a whole, with a disturbing decrease in the percentage of English Language Learners receiving a diploma. With 25% of students in New York State leaving high school empty-handed, we have a graduation crisis that...
-
07.16.2014 | Today AFC is testifying before the New York State Assembly Committee on Education regarding Career and Technical Education (CTE) in New York State (NYS). To respond to the graduation crisis in NYS, we must create both instructional and assessment pathways that take into account the...
-
07.18.2014 | AFC has a newly updated "Know Your Rights" guidebook for immigrant families in the New York City public schools! The guide is available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu [PDF], and covers topics such as enrolling in...
-
07.29.2014 | Yesterday AFC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education regarding disproportionality under Section 618(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Our comments focus on racial disproportionality in the identification, placement, and discipline of children...
-
8.15.2014 | The Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Math scores released Thursday show only limited progress for New York City’s students. In particular, students with disabilities and English Language Learners (ELLs), who are some of our most vulnerable students, continue to be left behind...
-
9.10.2014 | More than 50,000 middle school students – a quarter of the students in New York City’s public middle schools -- have been left back at least once, and more than 8,500 students have been left back at least 3 times. Despite their significant academic and social-emotional needs, there are...
-
Blog: AFC Testifies at a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Behavioral Health System Planning Forum09.15.2014 | This afternoon, AFC will be testifying at a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Behavioral Health System Planning Forum on the need for DOHMH to work with the DOE to improve the mental health system for New York City’s students so they can stay and succeed in school. In our...
-
09.29.2014 | Today AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education regarding guidance counselors in schools. We strongly support the City Council in publicly monitoring the number and distribution of guidance counselors, social workers, and school psychologists in New York...
-
10.28.2014 | Today AFC will be testifying at the New York City Council Committee on Education's oversight hearing on special education instruction and student achievement. At Advocates for Children, we see again and again that when students of all ages have been failed by the system and still can’t...
-
11.05.2014 | On the evening of December 4, the ARISE Coalition (which is coordinated by AFC) and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) will be co-sponsoring a panel and parent speak out on inclusion. Download a larger version of the flyer in English [PDF] and Spanish [PDF] .
-
11.13.2014 | Children born in 2010 are eligible to enter kindergarten in September 2015, and there are steps that families can start taking now to prepare for this important milestone!From November 14th through December 3rd, the DOE is holding Kindergarten Orientation Meetings to provide...
-
12.11.2014 | Today Advocates for Children is testifying before the City Council’s Education Committee about diversity in NYC schools. Ensuring that students from diverse backgrounds have access to high-achieving schools and programs is critical, but is only one step. As the City Council strives to...
-
12.15.2014 | Today Advocates for Children testified before the City Council Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disability, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Disability Services on the importance of the Early Intervention program. View testimony [PDF]