Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Education

Education

  • CUNY Releases Strategic Plan with 2030 Vision

    CUNY Chancellor, left, City Council Speaker, center, and other CUNY officials (photo: William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit)


    Looking ahead to next school and beyond, the City University of New York (CUNY) announced “CUNY Lifting New York,” a strategic plan that intends to transform CUNY into the nation’s foremost student-centered university system by the end of the decade. The

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  • Lifelong Learning is How We Survive the 21st Century

    Lifelong learning in action (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)


    As I write this essay, the sky outside my window is a dull, apocalyptic orange. The disorienting sight of wildfire smoke – a familiar scene for many worldwide – is new for most New Yorkers. Perhaps this will become as seasonal as the changing of the leaves, though I hope not.

    Three years ago, in March 2020, I recall watching neighbors rush down our street, their arms full of grocery boxes. The SARS-CoV-2 virus was heading from Italy toward our coast.

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  • 15 Things to Watch as a New City Budget is Negotiated

    Mayor Adams & Speaker Adams announce a budget agreement, June 2022 (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    As the July 1 deadline looms for New York City’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year, Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Council must resolve major differences over what will be a roughly $110 billion spending plan.

    This year’s budget also closely coincides with this month’s primary elections, which has many City Council members on the ballot and may be delaying a final agreement until just before the start of the new fiscal year.

    Among the series of disputes between the two sides of

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  • A Courageous Step to Unlock the Power of Reading for New York City Kids

    NYC Reads! (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    I spent most of my kindergarten year envious of Gina and Adam. These classmates had found the holy grail of learning: they could read.

    Our teacher continually praised them for their intelligence — and dismissed mine. I remember thinking, “If someone would just show me how, I could read, too.”

    Thankfully, my first-grade teacher helped me unlock the magic code by explaining that letters stood for sounds that then blended

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  • Building Healthy Minds, One Sport at a Time

    Kids at play (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    If we want to give New York City kids the building blocks to excel academically, we have to invest in physical education — and that means recommitting to the groundbreaking, but now defunct, PE Works program. 

    In 2015 then-Comptroller Scott Stringer issued “Dropping the

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  • NYC Department of Education Fails to Plan for Mandatory Class Size Reduction

    DOE Chancellor Banks with Mayor Adams (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Class size has been an enduring concern of parents and teachers alike and a deep flaw of New York City schools for nearly a century. As far back as 1930, during the administration of Mayor Jimmy Walker, theNew York Times concluded that excessive class sizes were the

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  • It’s Time for New York State to Finally Address Our Literacy Crisis and Ensure All Kids Can Read

    Kids at school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The literacy rate amongst children is at a crisis level: two-thirds of fourth-gradersnationwide are unable to read proficiently. This represents a complete failure to prepare our students for the most basic of life skills, in part due to the continued use of flawed literacy instruction methods. 

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  • Now's the Time to Boost Social-Emotional Learning, Not Undercut It

    Students (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    It is budget season in New York City, a time when we all try to calculate the relative value of the things that are important to us. At a time when young people are struggling to cast off the psychic weight of the pandemic and great social unease, it is common to hear talk of the value of mental health, particularly for adolescents.

    If that talk is sincere (and as the Head of School at

    CUNY Funding a Key Issue in State and City Budget Negotiations

     

    Gov. Hochul speaks at LaGuardia Community College CUNY (photo: @CUNY)


    Funding for the City University of New York, CUNY, is among a number of major focus issues as elected officials negotiate a new state budget this month and a new city budget by July.

    Lawmakers, students, faculty, and others are concerned about proposals in both Governor Kathy Hochul’s and Mayor Eric Adams’ budget proposals, which are now the source of negotiations with their respective legislatures. Though Hochul included a modest increase in overall funding for CUNY in her January executive budget, she also proposed

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  • Max Politics Podcast: UFT President Mike Mulgrew on Contract Negotiations, Charter Schools, & More

    UFT President Michael Mulgrew (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    February 28, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: UFT President Mike Mulgrew on Contract Negotiations, Charter Schools, & More

    Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), joined the show to discuss his union's contract negotiations with the city, the governor's charter school expansion proposal, and more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the

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  • No More Baby Steps: Commissioner Rosa Must End the Yeshiva-Gate Scandal

    Mayor de Blasio in Williamsburg (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa’s demand for June completion of New York City yeshiva investigations is a step in the right direction. But her order will be hollow unless deficiencies are quickly addressed. Every day that ultra-Orthodox yeshivas fail to provide substantially equivalent secular instruction to their students is a day that those children are

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  • Mayor Adams, If NYC Schools are ‘Segregated Intentionally,’ Why Increase Segregation with More Admissions Screening?

    Mayor Adams talks with students (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    On September 29, the Adams Administration announced changes to the high school and middle school admissions process for the 2023-24 school year. Most significantly, middle schools, which had been unscreened for the last two academic years, can resume academic screening of fifth-grade students in admissions if the district superintendent so chooses.  

    Admissions to New York City high schools are the nation’s most competitive. The most coveted schools

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  • Fires, Storms, Covid, and Asylum-Seekers: Emergency Spending and the New York City Budget

    Mayor Adams at a City Hall press conference (photo: Violet Mendelsund/Mayor's Office)


    Earlier this year, Mayor Eric Adams pleaded with the federal government for $500 million in emergency funding to address the “humanitarian crisis” of thousands of migrant asylum seekers who have arrived in New York City in the last few months. But despite the clear health and safety risk to thousands of people, who have the right to shelter under New York law, the crisis is not the type of emergency – like the COVID-19 pandemic or

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  • Reimagine Alumni Support So It Works for All Students

    Students at school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    I was a kid from Harlem, a first generation immigrant, and the first in my family to graduate from college – the U.S. education system was not built for kids like me to succeed.

    Thankfully, along the way, I got the support I needed to excel and live out the dreams that my parents had for me as well as the aspirations I had for myself. Sadly, that is not the reality for countless kids from underserved communities just like me. But it

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  • Max Politics Podcast: How Principals are Navigating the New School Year, with Administrators Union President Mark Cannizzaro

    CSA President Mark Cannizzaro (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    September 13, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: How Principals are Navigating the New School Year, with Administrators Union President Mark Cannizzaro

    Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Council of School Supervisors & Administrators, joined the show to discuss how principals and other school leaders are navigating the new school year, budget cuts to many schools, and other challenges.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

  • Max Politics Podcast: The Start of a New School Year in New York City

    Mayor Adams says hello to students (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    September 9, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: The Start of a New School Year in New York City

    Alex Zimmerman, reporter at Chalkbeat New York, joined the show to discuss the start of the new school year, the controversy around school budget cuts, and more education news.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode

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  • Troubling Series of Uncertainties Mars Reopening of New York City Schools

    Mayor Adams visits a school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    After two-and-a-half years of a chaos and disruptions due to the covid pandemic and a change in mayoral administrations, many parents, teachers, and advocates were yearning for a steadier, supportive, and safe re-opening of a new school year, in which students would get the attention and the stability they need. Sadly, that  does not seem to be in store. 

    The pandemic is not over, no matter how much one may wish for it. The covid test

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  • The Latest Education Budget Fiasco Shows We Must Scrap New York’s School Funding Formula

    Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks, and students (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    The Trojan Horse called “Fair Student Funding” that allocates $10 billion of city funds to our 1,700 public schools needs to be scrapped. The attractively alliterative system inadequately funds the real needs of schools and, according to an unreleased 2021 Fair Student Funding Task Forcestudy

    I Started College at 16; Many Other Students Can Too

    DOE Chancellor Banks at Bard High School Early College (photo: @BHSEC)


    Although prom, soccer games, and spirit weeks are all memorable parts of my high school experience, my favorite time of the year takes place two weeks before the semester ends; course selection. Each semester, 300 students in the 11th and 12th grades refresh their mailboxes, eagerly awaiting the pamphlet filled with all the college courses that will be offered the following semester. 

    I attend Bard High School Early College Queens, so in addition to 17

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Lander on the City's Economy and Finances, School Budget Cuts, & More

     

    Comptroller Brad Lander (photo: Office of New York City Comptroller)


    July 20, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Lander on City Finances, School Budget Cuts, NYC Ferry, & More

    New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the city's chief financial officer, joined the show to discuss the city's economic and fiscal outlook, the school budget cut controversy and what to do about it, and much more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through

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  • What’s Next for CUNY After Three Tumultuous Pandemic School Years

     

    CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodriguez (third from left) visits Guttman Community College (photo: CUNY)


    The City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban public university system in the country, is at something of a crossroads. Coming out of two especially challenging pandemic school years, the university just completed a mostly in-person year, with the usual sweep of celebratory in-person graduations, and graduates entering a strong economy.

    On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic is not gone, and neither are the

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  • New York Should Increase STEM Education Funding for All Schools

    Students doing STEM


    As we close the books on another challenging school year, it’s worth recognizing a little-known state program that’s reaping big benefits for our school children.

    This year, New York funded $30 million to reimburse non-public schools for the salaries of qualified science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers for grades 3–12 as part of an innovative, first-of-its kind program first approved by the State Legislature in 2017.

    Although you might not have

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  • With the Stroke of a Pen, Governor Hochul Can Bring Smaller Classes to New York City Schools

    Gov. Hochul's signature (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)


    The families in my district need – and deserve – smaller classes for their children. The Legislature has overwhelmingly approved a measure that will set new class size limits in New York City public schools. It is now up to Governor Hochul to ensure that the city brings these benefits to our kids.

    For years New York City’s children have had to deal with class sizes among the largest in the state, and my district in Queens is no

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  • Max Politics Podcast: The State of CUNY, with Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez

    CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez (photo: CUNY)


    June 23, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez on the State of CUNY

    CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez joined the show to discuss the "state of CUNY," including his message to this year's graduates, how CUNY is working to better prepare graduates for jobs and careers, pandemic enrollment challenges, hiring additional full-time professors, and much more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

  • How ‘Gifted and Talented’ Shows the Failures of One Man Rule of Our Schools

     

    Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Last week, community school districts across New York City submitted their plans for the schools chancellor’s new, unimaginative Gifted and Talented program. Last month, the Department of Education announced that superintendents would work with local Community Education Councils to determine the sites for third grade G&T programs in their districts. While Chancellor David Banks, with support from Mayor Eric Adams, who appointed him, has claimed to value “authentic parent,

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