What happened to the social-emotional screening tool that NYC schools began using last year?
New York City’s education department plans to ditch a controversial social skills assessment for the coming school year, Chalkbeat has learned. The tool’s proponents believe it’s a missed opportunity to help shift school culture to become more responsive to children’s social-emotional wellbeing, particularly at a time when needs are high. In many ways, however, the […]
Diwali gains support to become a school holiday in New York and across the U.S.
Efforts to make Diwali a New York state and federal holiday gained traction this week. Such a change, which many of New York’s Indian Americans have hoped for, would impact school calendars every fall. On Thursday, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said his chamber plans to pass legislation that would make Diwali a […]
At least $391 per child in pandemic food benefits is coming to each NYC public school family
New York City public school families, regardless of income, will soon receive a new allotment of food benefits of at least $391 per child, according state officials. Known as the Coronavirus Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, or P-EBT, the federal program aims to help families whose children typically receive free meals at school — and since […]
Housing migrants in school gyms: What we know (and don’t) about NYC’s shelter plans
Up to 20 New York City public school gymnasiums could be transformed into emergency shelters for asylum seekers, a sudden move that Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he was reluctant to make. “This is one of the last places we want to look at,” the mayor said in an interview on NY1. “None of us […]
Seven school gyms are housing migrants or could soon. Parents and pols are pushing back.
Seven public school gyms are now either in use as emergency shelter for migrants or are being readied for use, all but one of them in Brooklyn — prompting pushback from parents and local officials. Over the weekend, as border restrictions known as Title 42 expired, agencies transported migrants to P721R Richard H. Hungerford School […]
Reading instruction is getting an overhaul in NYC. Here’s how that could affect your school.
Chancellor David Banks is planning the most aggressive overhaul to the way New York City schools teach students to read in nearly 20 years. The changes, announced this week, will require the city’s elementary schools to adopt one of three reading programs over the next two years. They must also phase out materials from a […]
Better pay and more hours: NYC Council leaders push for changes to 3-K, pre-K programs
Leaders of New York City Council charged Mayor Eric Adams with failing to address problems that have plagued the city’s public preschool programs, and they made several demands to improve the system. Speaking in the playground of a Lower East Side 3-K and prekindergarten center Tuesday, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, several of her colleagues, and […]
NYC school enrollment projected to remain steady after steep pandemic losses
For the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, New York City’s public schools expect student enrollment to hold mostly steady across the five boroughs in the coming year, according to education department figures released Monday. Projected enrollment is expected to drop 0.6% in K-12 across many of the city’s public […]
