Alex Zimmerman
Reporter, Chalkbeat New York
Alex Zimmerman joined the Chalkbeat team in 2016. Before that, he was a staff writer at the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Village Voice, Vice and Atlas Obscura. Alex can be reached at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
Nearly half of NYC’s school districts are mandating their elementary schools use a single reading program come September.
The decision to start the new school year with steady budgets, however, doesn’t mean schools are completely immune from cuts.
Suspensions are also up 6% compared with the same period in 2019, just before the pandemic hit.
To house the influx of migrants, New York City might tap up to 20 gyms in public schools to use as shelters, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday. Tensions are rising over the plans.
Balanced literacy and word guessing are out. Phonics, science, and social studies are in.
In the next two years, all NYC elementary schools will be required to overhaul literacy instruction.
Transfer schools, which serve students who are at risk of dropping out, are in a precarious position. 70% of them now enroll fewer than 200 students.
Two-thirds of that cut, or about $650 million, is the result of Adams’ decision to reduce the city’s contribution to the education department.
Some teachers also expressed concerns about administrative work that distracts from teaching.
The new school, known as South Bronx Literacy Academy, is the culmination of years of advocacy from a handful of parent advocates.
The $78 million plan was first unveiled in January in the mayor’s preliminary budget.
City Hall did not rule out the possibility that individual school budgets could be cut.
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Education department officials are planning to rein in the city’s free-wheeling approach to curriculum. Whether they follow through is an open question.
“It is unconscionable that the city has yet to fully close the gaps for immigrants with disabilities,” one advocate said.
NYC is beefing up career programs in education, technology, business, and health care. Officials are also offering hundreds of paid, three-year apprenticeships.
Both the state Senate and Assembly called to remove Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to allow New York City to open more than 100 new charter schools.
The move is a victory for advocates who have pushed to reduced police presence in schools, but it won mixed reactions from educators and union officials.
The gap in services is particularly acute in the Bronx, where more than two-thirds of children did not receive all of the therapies they could have.
Success Academy, Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First all shrank. Still, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed to raise the NYC charter cap.
Concerns about school safety and possible shootings prompted the decision to lock school doors. Whether the policy will be effective remains a big question mark.
Lucy Calkins wrote a popular reading curriculum used in hundreds of NYC elementary schools that encourages independent reading. But the model has come under fire from schools chancellor David Banks.
Lawsuit on behalf of NYC students with disabilities who lost services during the pandemic goes ahead
The case will head back to federal court after an appeals court ruled the case had been incorrectly dismissed.
Students from nearly every demographic group saw higher rates, though some gaps among groups widened.
The proposal could face opposition in a Democratic-controlled legislature.
But some experts worry that teachers will unfairly bump up familiar students’ scores.
Adams promised a telehealth program for all New York City high school students struggling with mental health. But officials offered few details on how it will work.
Addressing student mental health is a growing concern, as many students experienced trauma during the pandemic. Banks hasn’t yet unveiled a detailed plan for tackling the issue.
NYC has used hundreds of millions worth of federal relief funding for programs with recurring costs, including pre-K and hiring more nurses and social workers.