Katie, Age 6
A place for students, parents, educators, and supporters of New York's students to connect and bring meaningful and positive reform to New York's schools.
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Parents, advocates (including the ARISE Coalition), and several of the NYC mayoral candidates held a press conference to discuss the implications of school closure policies on at-risk students, including students with disabilities. See Gotham Schools, School Book, and the Daily News.
Posted 2/2/12
Next fall the DOE will require NYC's screened and selective high schools to admit greater numbers of students with IEPs. Read more in Ben Chapman's Daily News piece.
Posted 1/30/12
Read Comptroller John Liu's "Audit Report on the Procurement of Direct Student Services by the Department of Education."
Posted 1/27/12
See Gotham Schools and SchoolBook for information about Governor Cuomo's budget proposals as they relate to preschool special education and early intervention services.
Posted 1/18/12
See Pam Wheaton's piece on Inside Schools, "Walcott okays roll-out of special ed reform."
Posted 12/7/11
See Principal Phil Weinberg's piece on SchoolBook about "The Failed Potential of the Progress Reports" and his concern that the reports create a disincentive for schools to work with students most at-risk or for schools to work collaboratively and share best-practices.
Posted 11/30/11
To read about DOE contracts with private companies and a discussion on SESIS see Adrienne Day's "10 Percent Wrong" in City Limits.
Posted 11/29/11
See Jillian Jonas' piece in Gotham Gazette on how "Barriers Keep Many Disabled New Yorkers Trapped in Poverty."
Posted 11/15/11
Mandate relief proposals from SED to the State Regents were approved - with a big change - the proposal to eliminate the school psychologist at many IEP meetings was taken off the table. See Gotham Schools.
Posted 11/15/11
For an interesting piece on the special education reform and the need for some students to remain in self-contained settings see Beth Fertig's piece, For Some Special Ed Students, Inclusion is Deferred.
Posted 11/10/11
Stuggling with Special Education Charter Schools Join Together. See Gotham Schools.
Posted 11/7/11
NYC's high school progress reports will now award extra credit to schools that move students with disabilities to less-restrictive environments. See Gotham Schools.
Posted 10/25/11
To read about Chancellor Walcott's statements on SESIS, see Gotham Schools.
Posted 10/20/11
The UFT has concerns about NYC's new Special Education Student Information System read here.
Posted 10/15/11
NYC charter schools serve lower percentages of students with disabilities and English Langauge Learners than community schools. See the Daily News.
Posted 8/24/11
Inside Schools posts information about busing questions for students with disabilities.
Posted 8/12/11
Parents need a voice in teacher evaluation. See NYC Public School Parents Blog.
Posted 8/4/11
Students with disabilities were less likely to be included in school-wide activities in the 2010-11 school year than in the prior year. See Ben Chapman's Daily News article.
Posted 7/18/11
For an interesting article on NYC charter schools and students with disabiltiies see the New York Times.
Posted 7/12/11
NYC will increase class sizes for students in Integrated Team Teaching classes. See Daily News.
Posted 5/26/11
Evaluations for students with disabilities necessary to receive special education supports and services are backed up. See Gotham Schools.
John King is the new State Education Commissioner. New York Times and Gotham Schools.
40% of teacher evaluations will be based on test scores. New York Times.
City officials agreed to restart the citywide education council voting process. Gotham Schools.
Posted 5/25/11
Elections for district and citywide parent councils, including the Citywide Council on Special Education, have been extended under criticism that the elections were flawed. See Gotham Schools.
Posted 5/10/11
Read Marni Goltsman's blog entry, When autism makes 1st grade too hard, on Inside Schools.
Posted 4/21/11
A first grade student at a NYC public school was handcuffed. See the Daily News article here.
Posted 4/21/11
Dennis Walcott begins work as New York City's new Chancellor of Education. See the story on NY1.
Posted 4/21/11
State budget cuts may force several specialized schools for students with disabilities to close. See the Daily News and NY1 for more detail.
Posted 3/4/11
Meredith Kolodner of the New York Daily News reports on the DOE's failure to provide Transition Support Services and to plan for students with disabilities exiting high school. See her article here.
Posted 3/3/11
Data just released by New York State education officials calculates that under 17% of students with disabilities in New York State graduate college and career ready. See the New York Times article for more detail.
Posted 2/8/11
A report released by the New York Civil Liberties Union shows that New York City schools have been overusing suspensions as a disciplinary tool, and students with disabilities have been particularly affected. See here to read the report. See here, here, and here for press coverage.
Posted 1/28/11
New York City’s Independent Budget Office released a report on the schools the Department of Education wants to close next year. The report shows that those schools have more students with higher needs than others in the system – including students with disabilities. Read the report here. See NY 1’s coverage of the report here. To read a statement from Advocates for Children on the closing schools see here.
Posted 1/27/11
The special education reforms which are being piloted this year in 265 Phase 1 schools will be rolled out to the remainder of all city schools a year later than was originally planned. See the Inside Schools piece here citing a memo from Chancellor Black to principals announcing the plans.
Posted 1/25/11
New York City Board of Education Chancellor Joel Klein has announced his resignation and Mayor Bloomberg has announced his intent to appoint Cathleen Black. See some of the press reports here, here, and here.
The Center for Fiscal Equity released a report, "Diploma Dilemma: Rising Standards, the Regents Diploma, and Schools that Beat the Odds" finding that: NYC high schools with similar students vary dramatically in their ability to help those students graduate, particularly with Regents diplomas; and that students entering high school least likely to graduate have poor eighth grade reading and math skills, limited English proficiency, disabilities, irregular attendance, or are overage. The read the report see here.
Posted 11/10/10
For more press coverage of the start of the school year and students with disabilities see a second article from the Daily News on busing concerns and a piece on accessibility issues in the Daily News as well. See also, the New York Post for an article on access to kindergarten.
Posted 09/27/10
See Meridith Kolodner's article about busing woes for students with disabilities at the start of the 2010-11 school year in New York City.
Posted 09/20/10
Go here to read about the September meeting of the Citywide Council on Special Education on the curent changes in special education in NYC.
Posted 09/20/10
See here for coverage of Save Our Schools, a NYC coalition of parent leaders, parents, activists, and elected officials, and their call for the city to stop relying so heavily on standardized tests.
Posted 09/20/10
To read press coverage on the new New York State standards for proficiency in English and Math, and the results of the annual exams for students in grades three through eight see here and here.
Posted 07/30/10
See Sharon Otterman's New York Times article, "A Struggle to Educate the Severely Disabled" describing the efforts of a family and school to educate a young man with significant disabilities. And see here for Letters to the Editor on the piece. (Posted 06/28/10)
Posted 06/24/10
See Lindsey Christ's piece on NY1, "Special Ed Programs May Face City, State Budget Cuts."
Posted 06/14/10
The number of students receiving special education services in New York City rose considerably this year. See the report on NY1.
Posted 06/01/10
Read about the Celebrate Inclusion event co-sponsored by Parents for Inclusive Education and the Department of Education at Inside Schools and see the report on NY1.
Posted 05/19/10
State records show that NYC's charter schools enroll far fewer of the most severely disabled students than traditional public school. See the Daily News article here for more.
Posted 05/04/10
Jennifer Medina of the New York Times reports on the progression of the special education reforms in New York City. See the article here.
Posted 04/29/10
Meredith Kolodner of the New York Daily News reports that students with disabilities are falling victim to the fierce battle to find space for charter schools inside city school buildings. See the article here.
Posted 03/23/10
For an intersting editorial on Civil Rights in Education from the New York Times see here.
Posted 03/16/10
Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio held a town hall meeting for parents of NYC public school students. Raphael Rivas from the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled spoke up on behalf of students with disabilities. See the coverage from the Park Slope Courier here.
Posted 03/15/10
New York State and New York City released graduation data for the Class of 2009 (2005 cohort). See the State's data here, and the Cit's here. See also press coverage from Gotham Schools, the New York Times, and the New York Post.
Posted 03/10/10
The Federal House of Representatives approved a bill to restrict the use of forcible restraint and seclusion, in which children are held down, drugged or isolated in a locked room to control their behavior. Read about it here.
Posted 03/05/10
See the New York Times article on resources for parents of students with learning disabilities from Saturday, Febraury 27.
Posted 03/01/10
Parents of students with disabilities are extremely concerned about the effect the City’s school closings and program re-locations will have on their children. To learn more see Maura Walz's pieces and all the related comments on Gotham Schools here and here, and read a statement from Advocates for Children here.
Posted 02/24/10
To see analyses of the Department of Education's plans to reform special education see Gotham Schools, the New York Daily News, the Staten Island Advance, and the New York Post.
Posted 02/04/10
A new study done by Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College and Jennifer Jennings, an assistant professor at New York University, shows that small high schools, particularly those that have replaced large high schools formerly housed at the same sites, don’t always enroll the neediest students including those with special education needs. See here and here for more information about the study.
Posted 09/23/09
The beginning of the school year got off to a rocky start for some students with disabilities and their families who depend on specialized bus services to get to school on time. See NY1 reporter Lindsey Whitton Christ’s piece and Rachel Monahan and Meridith Kolodner’s article in the Daily News.
Posted 09/22/09
The New York State Board of Regents voted on July 27, 2009 to elect Dr. David Milton Steiner as New York State Education Commissioner and President of the University of the State of New York. Read the press release from the Regents here.
Posted 07/28/09
On July 3, Chancellor Klein created a new cabinet level position at the Department of Education. He appointed Laura Rodriquez as Chief Achievement Officer for Special Education and English Language Learners. That same day, Garth Harries provided the Chancellor with a memorandum listing recommendations regarding New York City’s special education system. The Chancellor has made those recommendations public and is requesting comment by mid-August. To view Harries’ recommendations and learn more about Ms. Rodriquez, go to DOE’s press release here. To view the ARISE Coalition response to Mr. Harries' recommendations see here.
Posted 07/13/09
On June 8 the Department of Education made known that Garth Harries, the Senior Coordinator for Special Education, will also be leaving at the end of the month to become an Assistant Superintendent of Public Schools in New Haven Connecticut. See the DOE's press release here.
Linda Wernikoff, the Executive Director for Teaching & Learning Special Education Initiatives at the New York City Department of Education, has announced that she is stepping down at the end of the school year. For more information see the Gotham Schools article, “City’s top special ed official will leave at school year’s end.” In addition, Dr. Marcia Lyles, the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, under whose auspices the Office of Special Education Initiatives operates. Dr. Lyles will be leaving to serve as Superintendent of the Delaware Christina School District. See "City’s top educator has been offered Delaware superintendency", and the DOE's press release for more detail.
A report released by the Public Advocates office on April 30, 2009 analyzing NYC’s high school graduation and discharge trends from 2000-2007 found that the NYC high school discharge system may be artificially increasing the city’s gradation rate by excluding at-risk students, including those with disabilities, who leave school without diplomas. The report contains several disturbing findings regarding the discharge of students receiving special education services highlighting the fact that the special education discharge rate for students in self-contained and District 75 classes has increased over the years. The report can be downloaded here.
The New York City Department of Education has announced another full-scale review of the special education system. Stay tuned for more information on this topic as the DOE plans develop and the advocacy community weighs in.
See Philissa Cramer's series of entries on this issue.
Read testimony regarding this issue submitted to the City Council by ARISE Coalition members.
Over the past few months the ARISE Coalition and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) have sponsored a series of speak outs for parents and caregivers of students with special needs in each of the New York City boroughs. Parents, caregivers, grandparents, concerned educators, and community activists came in large numbers to the forums. Despite a few positive stories about concerned and dedicated teachers and principals they had met along the way, they also told stories about their children being left out of school-wide activities and programs, and a lack of progress in general. They painted pictures of being treated as 2nd class citizens, experiencing a lack of sensitivity at the school and district levels regarding their children, low expectations for their children, and segregation of youth with special needs from their general education peers. The speakers were convinced that their children were being left behind while the general education population made strides. Thanks to all of you who came and spoke as well as all who came to support others from the communities who we support. We'll be in touch soon about steps in response to the speak-outs.Click here to read the Daily News article
Click here to read the Staten Island Advance article
The Council on Great City Schools 2008 Report on improving its District 75 programs.Click here to read the Council's report
Click here to see the ARISE Coalition's letter to Chancellor Klein regarding the report.
Katie, Age 6
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