Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Department of Education

Department of Education

  • Coronavirus Tests New York City Schools

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor de Blasio faced a short-answer, timed test: whether and when to close New York City's public schools. It was not an easy question. But his delay in answering and failure to adequately prepare has been costly in lives and learning. We continue to pay the price.

    Even where the coronavirus outbreak was less severe and despite ambiguous advice from the CDC, district after district, state after state, had already decided to close their schools. But de Blasio hung on, ignoring dire warnings of community spread from his own

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on the City's Shift to Remote Learning

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    Chancellor Carranza and Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    April 1, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on the City's Shift to Remote Learning

    wbai robert carranzaNew York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza joined the show to discuss the city's shift to remote learning amid the coronavirus crisis.

    Listen to the

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  • Pre-Registering 16- and 17-Year-Olds to Vote the Focus of Second Annual City ‘Civics Week’

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    The city focused on student voter registration (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    As fears of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) mounted, but before Mayor Bill de Blasio made the monumental decision to close the city’s schools for at least five weeks, New York City government held its second annual Civics Week to encourage civic participation and voter registration among students.

    After a new law passed last year to allow it, the city focused this year’s Civics Week on pre-registering 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, beginning with such a voter registration

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  • Far Too Many Classrooms are Overcrowded, It’s Time for City Leaders to Act

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    DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza visits a classroom (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    In the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, the state’s Court of Appeals concluded in 2003 that class sizes were too large in New York City schools to provide our students with their constitutional right to a sound basic education, writing that “[T]ens of thousands of students are placed in overcrowded classrooms… The number of children in these straits is large enough to represent a systemic failure.”

    And yet despite this decision, and the fact that

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  • Taking Stock of Significant Progress in New York City Schools

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The students in the New York City public schools are doing better -- so much so that the improvements offer Mayor Bill de Blasio a real opportunity for a legacy. The mayor still has two more years to go and two more budgets to invest in kids.

    Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced in November

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  • Assembly to Evaluate Mayoral Control of City Schools for First Time Under Recent Reforms

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    Mayor and Chancellor testify in May (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photo Office)


    Just six months after the state Legislature approved a three-year extension of mayoral control of the New York City school system, stretching well past the end of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term, the state Assembly is holding a hearing later this month on whether the mayor’s stewardship has been effective.  

    The hearing will be held in New York City on December 16 by the Assembly’s education committee and will be, according to a ...

  • As New York Rethinks High School Graduation Requirements, Under-the-Radar School Group May Offer a Model

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    In a process likely to last years, the New York Board of Regents is considering changing high school graduation requirements, which may include revising or creating a substitute for the Regents exams. To graduate, most students must currently pass five Regents exams. But while the education policy-setting board recently announced its exploratory plans, another path to a New York high school diploma already exists: a set of performance-based tasks that test students on an array of skills meant to be more in line with college- and

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Recommendations from the Mayor's School Diversity Task Force & What Comes Next

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    (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Setember 4, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Recommendations from the Mayor's School Diversity Task Force & What Comes Next

    gonzales treyger wbaiMayor de Blasio's School Diversity Advisory Group recently released its second and final set of recommendations for how to desegregate and improve the city's schools. The panel made

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  • School Diversity Group’s Second Set of Recommendations Expected Soon; Will Take on Admissions Policies

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Following the city’s adoption of 62 recommendations targeting diversity and desegregation in public schools, a new report expected this month from the same advisory group will aim to tackle the tough topics of screened admissions and gifted and talented programs.

    The two reports come from the Department of Education’s School Diversity Advisory Group, which Mayor Bill de Blasio formed in 2017 amid increasing demands that he take significant steps toward desegregating the city’s highly

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  • What's the [Data] Point? 98,000, Addressing New York City School Overcrowding

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 77 -- 98,000, with CBC's Riley Edwards  [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    ep77 riley edaCitizens Budget Commission recently released a new report -- Cut Costs, Not Ribbons -- about how to address

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  • Struggling with Overcrowded Schools and Large Class Sizes, City Advances $8.8 Billion Plan

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    Mayor de Blasio & others break ground for a new East New York school (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Some days, it can be hard for Arthur Goldstein to walk down the hallway of Francis Lewis High School in Queens, where he teaches English as a second language. Goldstein’s school is one of 25 overcrowded schools in the 26th school district, and has a utilization rate of 207 percent, according to a 2018 Department of Education ...

  • 'We're Moving Now': City Pursues School Desegregation Measures, with Major Looming Test

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    Chancellor Carranza & Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced on June 10 that the city will adopt 62 recommendations focused on diversity and integration in public schools, focusing on middle and elementary schools, from the Department of Education’s School Diversity Advisory Group, a new step toward school desegregation as many students, families, educators, and others have waited years for the city to make progress.

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  • Approved by City, ‘Culturally Responsive’ Charter School Alleges State Bias Against Plan to Expand

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    (image: @EmberCS_BedStuy)


    [Update (6/3/19): shortly before the Board of Regents meeting on Monday, June 3, Ember Charter School's application to expand was added to the agenda]

    [Update (6/5/19): the Board of Regents sent application back the city DOE with comments, no final decision has been made]

    The founder of a black-led charter school in Brooklyn with a focus on African and African-American cultural education is alleging the New York State Education Department (SED) is surreptitiously blocking the school’s

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  • Students for School Safety: Solutions Not Suspensions, Counselors Not Cops

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    (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Recently, many news outlets have sensationalized the declining use of suspensions in New York City, framing young people negatively and attempting to discredit the progress that has been made. These stories discount the needs of students most impacted by punitive discipline, who have been very clear about the urgency around redefining what school safety really means.

    And while suspensions are down across the city, too many schools still use ineffective tactics, choosing to exclude students

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  • Lessons from ‘Renewal’ and Beyond: What It Takes to Turn Around Our Lowest-Achieving Schools

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    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    For decades, school and district leaders across the country have struggled to answer a fundamental question: how to turn the tide for our nation’s lowest-achieving schools. Some have resorted to school closures, choosing to start anew and relocate those students to better-performing options. Others have tried to “turn around” underperforming schools, in the hopes that an influx of resources, a greater emphasis on data, and strong leadership could spur improvements in student achievement.

    Mayor

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  • Giving Our Children Tools to Eat and Live Healthily

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    (photo: 123rf rawpixel)


    It’s 10 a.m. in Ms. Montalvo-Teller’s second grade science lab at P.S. 75. A group of students are happily scarfing down kale, arugula, and bok choy leaves they grew themselves. While they enjoy their snack, Ms. Montalvo-Teller engages them in a science lesson about what parts of the plant we eat. And, Ms. Montalvo-Teller says, many will then go home and pester their parents to buy more of the tasty greens for dinner.

    These kids are getting great food and nutrition education that will help them develop as healthy eaters and

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  • Brooklyn Girl Scouts Find City Isn’t Fully Implementing Menstrual Equity Law

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    Mayor de Blasio signs menstrual equity laws (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    When a few Brooklyn Girl Scouts realized their middle school had no sanitary bins to dispose of menstrual products in the bathroom stalls, they sprung to action.

    Putting their demands into a petition, they garnered 32 signatures from students during morning recess and presented the list to their principal. Before, girls had to throw away their wadded up menstrual products in a trash can outside of the restroom. After presenting the petition, however, their principal

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  • Former Top DOE Official: Time to Move Beyond ‘Relic’ of Specialized High School Test

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    Shael Polakow-Suransky, right, with Carmen Farina (photo: Bank Street College)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan earlier this week to diversify the city’s elite specialized high schools through changes in admissions policies. The schools currently enroll very few black and Latino students, while, relative to their numbers in the larger school system, white and Asian students

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  • The Mayor’s Much-Needed Investment in Culturally Responsive Education

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    Mayor de Blasio & Chancellor Carranza visit a school (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement last week that the City is investing $23 million in culturally responsive education and anti-bias training in schools -- likely the largest investment of its type nationally -- is welcome news for New York City parents, educators, and researchers.

    Education researchers have long-known that culturally responsive education (CRE) -- the practice of aligning curriculum and instruction with students’ backgrounds, life

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  • Assignment for the New Schools Chancellor: Address Race Head-On

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    (Credit: Photographer/Mayoral Photography Office)


    When I was in 5th grade at a public elementary school in Manhattan, my teacher was Mrs. Camiji, and I loved her. She taught us about diverse cultures all over the world, and pushed us to think about what roles we could serve in our community. It was empowering to see her in front of the classroom. She was the first African-American classroom teacher I ever had, and the last African-American classroom teacher I had until college.

    Ms. Camiji was part of the reason I have been so committed to education as an

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  • Let Carranza Lead

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    Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    According to press reports, Mayor de Blasio, First Lady McCray, and First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan were the key decision-makers in appointing our new schools Chancellor, Richard Carranza. They now must let Carranza lead.

    De Blasio had worked with Carmen Fariña for decades, so her appointment was a no-brainer. But when it came to finding her replacement, his secretive process blew up. Alberto Carvalho, the mayor’s first choice, publicly repudiated the job after taking it, reportedly because

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  • Attacks on Yeshivas Present a Dangerous Slippery Slope

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    Eric Ulrich, the author, right, and Cardinal Dolan (photo: @eric_ulrich)


    In the coming months, the city and state education departments are expected to rule on an issue that may have huge repercussions for parental school choice and religious freedom. A small group of former yeshiva graduates have alleged that religious schools in Orthodox Jewish communities are failing to provide adequate education to students. As an avid supporter of parental choice, I worry education leaders will side with these critics, posing a threat to private schools well beyond the

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  • Education Adrift: New Chancellors Needed for City School, University Systems

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    Mayor de Blasio, Chancellor Fariña & others (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Lame duck chancellors now lead New York’s school and university systems. Governor Cuomo, who controls the CUNY board, and Mayor de Blasio, who appoints the schools chancellor, each show a shocking lack of urgency to fill these critical posts.

    This is intolerable. Education is the driver of our information age. Social progress and economic prosperity depend on a vibrant public sector commitment. The city Department of Education

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  • Celebrating ‘Renewal’ Success as We Acknowledge More Work To Do

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    Mayor de Blasio & Chancellor Fariña on a school visit (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)


    School is back in session after an eventful December and long break. As students returned to our community schools, so many were grateful to be back where supports and resources are in place. For many of our students, community schools provide additional support services; food pantries; mental health and social-emotional learning programs; and family support aligned to what’s happening in the classroom. In other words, they focus on educating the “whole

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  • Our School Governance Isn’t Working, and It’s the Perfect Time for Change

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    Mayor de Blasio visits a school (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)


    With the announcement that Carmen Fariña will retire in early this new year, Mayor de Blasio has an opportunity to improve the way that New York City public schools are governed, and he should take this chance.

    Many New Yorkers have lost their patience with the mayor on this important issue. In addition to Fariña’s retirement news, we learned just one day earlier that the DOE spent a mind-blowing 600 million taxpayer dollars to improve just 94 struggling schools over three

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