AFC works to change education policy so that the public school system serves all children effectively. We publish policy reports and data analyses, testify at the City and State levels, speak out in the press to bring attention to the challenges facing the students and families we serve, and join with other advocates, parents, youth, and educators to call for change.
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This policy brief highlights disparities in school attendance during the pandemic and calls on the City to invest in an ambitious Education Recovery Plan that ensures all students can receive the academic and social-emotional support they need as they return to school.
This January 2021 data brief examines the steep decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in the number of infants and toddlers referred to the New York City Early Intervention (EI) program to address concerns about their development. As a result of the drop in referrals, thousands of young children with developmental delays or disabilities missed the chance for intervention at the time it is most effective.
The New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Students (NYS-TEACHS), a project of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), posted new data showing that more than 111,000 New York City students—approximately one in ten children enrolled in district or charter schools—were identified as homeless during the 2019-20 school year. In the Bronx, approximately one in six students was homeless.
Advocates for Children of New York released a set of essential recommendations for New York City’s school reopening plan, urging the Department of Education (DOE) to ensure that students with disabilities have the support they need when schools reopen, whether they are learning in a school building or remotely.
This June 2020 policy brief summarizes the proposed cuts to education funding in the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget and the devastating impact these cuts would have on schools and students. The brief urges Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to reject cuts to education and ensure schools have more resources—not less—to address the challenges caused by the pandemic.
This June 2020 policy brief shows that there are approximately 3,700 students in New York State who will age out of school this year and lose their chance to earn a diploma. They are disproportionately students of color, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners. The brief calls on the State Education Department to issue guidance directing districts to allow all students aging out of school without a diploma to return to high school next year.
As a result of years of under-investment by the State in preschool special education programs, New York is falling far short of providing all children with the preschool special education classes they need and have a legal right to receive. This policy brief shows a projected shortfall of more than 1,000 preschool special education class seats for New York City children with disabilities for spring 2020.
This December 2019 report, published in partnership with Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC), shows that State disinvestment in New York’s Early Intervention program has caused major racial and socio-economic disparities in access to services. The report shows that children under the age of three with developmental delays or disabilities are less likely to receive critical services that could help them reach their full potential if they live in low-income neighborhoods of color, and makes a number of recommendations to New York City and New York State in order to increase access to Early Intervention services.
The New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Students (NYS-TEACHS), a project of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), posted new data showing that the number of students in New York City identified as homeless during the 2018-2019 school year remained stubbornly high, topping 100,000 for the fourth consecutive year.
This October 2018 data brief finds that less than one in five of the City’s schools is categorized by the DOE as “fully accessible.” The report urges the City to use the forthcoming capital plan to reach an ambitious and attainable goal—making a third of all schools fully accessible by 2024.