New York City is home to the nation’s most segregated school system, a fact that surprises those who think of the Big Apple as a progressive beacon. Deep inequities exist at every level of the NYC school system. We think more people should know about them and push to fix them.
That’s why, each semester, we bring together a team of high school interns from across the school system to tell important stories from the perspective of the real experts: students.
Miseducation is a program of The Bell. For more, visit bellvoices.org/podcast and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @miseducationpod.
Sabrina is joined by two student leaders to share a special announcement about a new citywide initiative called Journalism for All. The initiative will provide curriculum, training, funding, and other forms of support to 30 NYC public high schools that want to start journalism programs. The initiative is led by the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition, which is directed by The Bell.
The application is open now through November 4. All of the details, including information session registration links, can be found at youthjournalismnyc.org/all.
P.S. Weekly: Student Protests, Free Speech, and NYC Public Schools
Jun 10, 2024
While protests over the Israel-Hamas war have gripped New York City college campuses, we look at how high schoolers have reacted — and the student freedom of speech issues being raised. P.S. Weekly reporter Dorothy Ha speaks to Orlena Fella, whose high school was uniquely impacted by recent protests at City College. Then, Dorothy heads over to the New York Civil Liberties Union for an in-depth conversation about student rights with Racial Justice Counsel Camara Stokes Hudson. Finally, Dorothy talks to host Jose Santana about how free speech concerns have shown up at her high school.
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: Teens Want Therapy — Are They Getting It?
Jun 04, 2024
What happens when a teen wants therapy but their parents are unsure? Is NYC’s bold initiative to offer free virtual therapy to teens working? Tune in to find out.
News Bulletin — Chalkbeat's Amy Zimmer breaks down top education stories from the past week. (2 min)
Segment A — Salma Baksh interviews a mother-daughter duo as they discuss conflicting views on therapy. (11 min)
Segment B — Shoaa Khan explores Teenspace, the city's new virtual therapy initiative that provides free services for teens. Hear about the ambitious new program from Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan and therapist Dr. Jill Daino . (8 min) Learn more about Teenspace: talkspace.com/nyc
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: Cafeteria Chronicles with the Critics Who Matter
May 16, 2024
In P.S. Weekly’s food episode, fourth graders visit NYC schools’ test kitchen, high schoolers rate grilled cheese sandwiches, and students dish on having microwave access. News Bulletin — Chalkbeat reporter Julian Shen-Berro breaks down top education stories from the past week. (2 min) Segment A — Student reporter Ava Stryker-Robbins and Chalkbeat reporter Alex Zimmerman visit the NYC Public Schools' test kitchen to learn about the process food items go through before they end up in school cafeterias. Spoiler alert: they have to win the approval of some tough critics. (12 min) Segment B — Student reporter Jose Santana makes a surprising discovery when he visits the Bronx Latin school cafeteria on a recent Plant-Powered Friday. (6 min) Segment C — Student reporter Santana Roach speaks with his principal and students at his school, Frederick Douglass Academy II, about access to microwaves. (7 min)
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: An Exclusive Interview with Chancellor David Banks
May 02, 2024
In this special episode, student reporters Shoaa Khan and Jose Santana speak to Chancellor David Banks about a range of important issues that affect students. Hear what the leader of the NYC public school system had to say about a new "Hidden Voices" history curriculum, school start times, the persistence of school segregation, cell phone policies, and more.
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: A High Schooler Working at Bloomberg — Plus “Shotgunning” College Applications
Apr 18, 2024
In the first segment, student producer Christian Rojas Linares explores a new apprenticeship program through the eyes of Heidy Torres, a high school junior who works 16 hours a week for Bloomberg, the finance giant and media company. The second segment, produced by Marcellino Melika and Tanvir Kaur, focuses on a student who has devoted enormous energy to getting into a top college — submitting 23 applications requiring 50 supplemental essays.
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: Students Speak Out About Special Education
Apr 11, 2024
More than 200,000 New York City students have a disability classification that entitles them to specific learning accommodations — but do they always get them? Students share their experiences.
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: A New York Chapter on the Banned Books Controversy
Apr 04, 2024
The national wave of book bans has been coming ashore in surprising ways in New York City. News Bulletin – Chalkbeat reporter Alex Zimmerman breaks down top education stories from the past week. (1 min) Segment A – Student reporter Salma Baksh interviews her former librarian Lindsay Klemas, who received online backlash for promoting an LGBTQ+ book during Pride month. (8 min) Segment B – Shoaa Khan and Tanvir Kaur take us to an English class at the Academy of American Studies, where students read banned books — exclusively. (6 min)
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at ckbe.at/subscribe-ny.
Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
P.S. Weekly: Migrant Students Navigate a New Reality
Mar 28, 2024
Officials estimate that more than 36,000 migrant students have enrolled in New York City public schools over the past two years. What challenges are these new students facing? And what are schools doing to support them? This student-reported episode explores these questions through conversations with students, educators, and a journalist who's been covering the issue. Segment A Chalkbeat Reporter Michael Elsen-Rooney breaks down the issue and how the broader media narratives don't necessarily reflect experiences on the ground. (6 min) Segment B Student reporter Jose Santana interviews a Claremont International High School student about her transition to the school system and how one program has made a big difference. (9 min) Segment C Student reporter Bernie Carmona talks to Sunisa Nuosy, a former international high school teacher about the joys and challenges of educating immigrant students. (7 min) Additional reading: • Read this story about students from NYC’s largest school for newcomer immigrants as they push for a change in the school name • Read this first-person story from an educator advocating for more school social workers to support NYC migrant students To stay up to date on New York City schools coverage throughout the week, sign up for Chalkbeat New York's daily newsletter at chalkbeat.org/newsletters. Learn more about The Bell's student programs and podcasts at bellvoices.org.
Want to get in touch? Email us at PSweekly@chalkbeat.org.
(Re)introducing P.S. Weekly
Mar 20, 2024
Welcome to the the sound of the New York City school system.
P.S. Weekly explores pressing issues facing students and teachers in the Big Apple. The Bell's team of high school student producers work alongside Chalkbeat's seasoned education reporters to bring you stories, perspectives, and commentary you won't get anywhere else.
Episodes air Wednesday mornings, starting March 27.
Instagram, Cyberbullying and Free Speech at a Queens School
Oct 17, 2023
The threat came in an e-mailed letter from the principal to the entire student body: Stop following the anonymous Instagram accounts, or face suspension.
When Principal David Marmor of Francis Lewis High School in Queens discovered two accounts — one which posted fight videos and the other which included vulgar content that in some cases targeted specific students — he didn’t hesitate to act. In addition to threatening suspension, he promised to cancel all “celebratory events” like pep rallies and prom until the accounts were deleted or lost all their followers — a dramatic step that raised questions about the line between students’ free speech online and punishable behavior.
First reported by Chalkbeat New York, the case immediately caught our attention. Social media's impact on our lives as teens can't be overstated. Anonymous Instagram pages that share confessions, photos, and videos about school communities have become increasingly common. Sometimes the content is harmless. Other times, it feeds into vicious bullying.
We called up Chalkbeat’s Alex Zimmerman to break down what happened at Francis Lewis and discuss the broader implications of Marmor’s actions. Should schools be allowed to regulate students’ social media use? If so, did this principal go too far?
Learn more about our work at https://bellvoices.org.
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This episode was hosted by Shoaa Khan and Jose Santana. It was produced by Sabrina DuQuesnay, Mia Lobel, Mira Gordon, and Taylor McGraw, and made in collaboration with Amy Zimmer and Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat New York.
Music from Blue Dot sessions.
This episode was made possible in part by the Summerfield Foundation, the Pinkerton Foundation, FJC, and Hindenburg Systems.
Missing Voices: Part 4 – Where Do We Go from Here?
Jul 06, 2023
It’s clear that disproportionate access to high school journalism is a consequence of broader education inequities. But, what about the news industry itself? In this episode, professional journalists shed light on the lack of diversity in the news industry, which is about 80% white, and less representative of the general population than other fields according to Pew Research. The lack of journalism opportunities for students of color feeds the diversity problem in the field.
Despite the odds, this has been a year of success for school newspapers, new and old. And they get their due recognition at an annual student journalism conference held at Baruch College. Great expectations, breath-holding moments of tension and unexpected triumphs all come to the fore in this fourth and final episode of Missing Voices. All eyes – and hopefully your ears – are on these high school journalists vying for glory in between the margins.
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The Missing Voices series was reported by Wesley Almanzar, Jadelyn Camey, Fredlove Deshommes, Edward Mui and Jayden Williams. Editing and production support from Sabrina DuQuesnay, Mira Gordon, Abē Levine and Taylor McGraw.
Scoring and sound mixing from Peter Leonard. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Made possible with support from the Education Writers Association and the Pinkerton Foundation.
Missing Voices: Part 3 – Trials and Triumphs
Jun 29, 2023
In the summer of 2022, Press Pass NYC launched a fellowship for aspiring high school student journalists. A cohort of students from around NYC began their journeys in a summer bootcamp, where they learned the basics of journalistic writing and reporting.
“It brings like a huge responsibility, knowing that you're going to take all this information and bring it back to the school,” said Ashley Conde Lopez, reporter for The Writer’s Weekly at the Academy for Young Writers in Brooklyn.
Our team followed these Press Pass Fellows from bootcamp through the school year to see the results of their training and preparation. Three schools are featured here: The Institute for Health Professions at Cambria Heights; The Academy for Young Writers; and Health, Education and Research Occupations (H.E.R.O.) High School. Can these three schools overcome the obstacles of an unequal education system to create successful student newspapers? Tune in to find out.
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The Missing Voices series was reported by Wesley Almanzar, Jadelyn Camey, Fredlove Deshommes, Edward Mui and Jayden Williams. Editing and production support from Sabrina DuQuesnay, Mira Gordon, Abē Levine and Taylor McGraw.
Scoring and sound mixing from Peter Leonard. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Made possible with support from the Education Writers Association and the Pinkerton Foundation. To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Missing Voices: Part 2 — The Quest to Revive High School Journalism
Jun 26, 2023
Seemingly every New York City high school used to have a student newspaper. That’s what we learned on our trip earlier this year to the Center for Brooklyn History’s archived high school newspaper collection. Today, few NYC high schools have student publications of any kind.
What happened? Where did all the school newspapers go? To find some answers, we sat down with Keith Hefner, founder of Youth Communication, a nonprofit that has been publishing high school students’ stories for more than 40 years.
Then, we meet the adult and students behind Press Pass NYC, an organization dedicated to bringing student newspapers back. It’s an ambitious mission. What will it take for them to succeed? To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Missing Voices: Part 1 — Tale of Two School Newspapers
Jun 22, 2023
New York City is the media capital of the world, but not for its youth. Just one in four public high schools has a student newspaper these days. And there are big disparities in access by race and class.
In this system of haves and have nots Townsend Harris High School in Queens is definitely among the haves. Its student newspaper, The Classic, has received national recognition for hard-hitting reporting in recent years.
Meanwhile, at Pace High School in Manhattan, dedicated students and a veteran English teacher are defying the odds by building The Pacer from scratch. To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Ep. 10: Student Homelessness in a City of Riches
Jun 16, 2023
When you think about New York City, what do you think of? Wall Street? Fancy business ventures? The place where dreams come true? That’s certainly how I thought of it when I moved here from the Philippines at age seven.
But there’s another side to the city.
In 2021, about 1 in 10 public school students experienced some type of homelessness. That’s around 100,000 children. Quite surprising for the financial capital of the world.
In the city of billionaires and luxury brands, how could so many not have access to something as basic and foundational to life as stable housing?
In many schools across the country, high schoolers have the opportunity to take AP, or Advanced Placement, classes. These high-level courses are designed to introduce students to the rigor and expectations of higher education, and to help them get a leg up in the college application process. Some students look forward to the challenge, while others dread the stress and anxiety they bring.
In this episode, I dive into the reasons for inequitable AP access across New York City, how this reality affects students and what further actions are being taken to make change.
The transition from middle school to high school can be socially bewildering for many young people, but for New York City public school students like me it can also mean adjusting to drastically different economic and racial demographics. I went from my neighborhood school in the Bronx to a predominantly white school in Midtown, Manhattan.
At my middle school, I took an art class that had no art teacher. At my new school, the basement has ten studios completely dedicated to music. There’s also a black box theater, a dance studio, an art studio, and a film lab. These are just some of the differences I noticed.
Seeing these drastic disparities in the opportunities given to students got me thinking: if all public school students deserve an arts education, then why has a complete music and arts program become a luxury and a privilege? What do students lose when they don’t have the opportunity to explore their extracurricular passions?
Join me and a few guests as we discuss the unspoken price of creativity in New York City public schools.
Ep. 7: Food Fight — The Battle for Better School Lunches
Jun 13, 2023
In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act. It aimed to “provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.” More than 60 years later, Michelle Obama championed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which required schools to provide students with healthier lunches. Since 2017, New York City has provided free breakfast and lunch to all public school students.
These acts and reforms are great; they seek to ensure that all students receive nutritional meals at school. But in practice, let’s just say the results are… mixed.
Students sit and eat in the cafeteria every day, and yet conversations about education often leave out this crucial element of our daily lives as students.
In this episode I document the quality of school lunches through the perspective of those who eat them, students. I also chat with one of my teachers, who used to help develop school lunch menus and guided me in my search for answers about how lunchtime can be improved.
Get ready listeners, because we’re about to have a food fight!
When I was in seventh grade, something changed in my school. The administration at the Bronx Academy of Letters was implementing a strange new policy called “Yondr.” Haven’t heard of it? Neither had I.
Yondr is a company that makes lockable pouches for smartphones to create “phone-free spaces for artists, educators, organizations, and individuals.” The idea is that it helps with student learning by removing distractions from the classroom.
As you might expect, students had some questions about the new policy, many of which I was wondering myself: Is the Yondr phone policy underestimating student maturity? How is the policy affecting student-teacher relationships?
To get some answers, I talk to teachers, my principal, students who have experience with Yondr and even representatives from the company. Listen to this episode to for an inside look at the impact of restrictive cell phone policies on schools like mine.
Ep. 5: Responding to Racism in Schools
Jun 09, 2023
At my high school, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, almost two thirds of the student body identify as people of color. When students witnessed a teacher make a racially insensitive comment during class, they knew something had to be done. The administration stepped in and facilitated a restorative circle, but the impacted students left feeling unsatisfied.
This incident offers a lens into an ongoing debate about how teachers and school staff should handle acts of racial discrimination to properly protect students of color in public schools.
In this episode, I went looking for answers. I spoke with students who are active members of my school’s Black Student Union, one of my guidance counselors and my vice principal to figure out what needs to happen for our school to live up to its anti-racist commitment. Plus, I spoke with the NYC Department of Education’s Student Voice Manager to understand how the school system handles incidents of racism and discrimination in schools.
If you grew up in New York City, chances are you have heard of the Regents. The Regents are standardized exams that students across the State of New York have to pass in order to graduate and earn a diploma that’s recognized by the State Board of Regents.
Some words people I spoke to used to describe these exams: “A mess,” “stressful,” “Frankenstein” and “inequitable.” Today, there are Regents tests for ten core subjects, including U.S. History, English Language Arts and Chemistry. Most New York high school students must pass five of them in order to graduate.
New York is one of only eight states that mandate high school exit exams. As so many other states are turning to alternative forms of assessing academic proficiency, why does New York still use these standardized tests as a graduation requirement? How should graduation readiness be evaluated?
To all our New Yorkers, get ready for an educational flashback that you probably hoped would stay in the past.
Every year thousands of students fill out the FAFSA, a form designed to help working class families receive financial aid for college. Simple right? Fill out a form, get some money, go to college. Well, not quite.
The FAFSA isn’t as easy to complete as it may seem. It encompasses 180 questions ranging from your family dynamics, to how much you and your parents earn, to citizenship and immigration status.
Not only are there many questions, but they are often confusing. Those in most need of the FAFSA’s support, low-income and first-gen students, are often the ones who struggle the most. Some students’ parents don’t speak English well, so they have to take on the extra effort of translating. Others are in unique living situations, and might not fit neatly into the categories the FAFSA wants.
The process is time-consuming and draining.
Check out my episode to hear directly from students who have experience filling out the form, as well as people who provide FAFSA and college readiness support, such as the guidance counselors.
Are women more likely to contract STDs? Can HIV be cured by having sex with a virgin? Is using two condoms safer than using one?
These are only a handful of the questions about sex that exist in the minds of high schoolers across the city. But because this topic often evokes discomfort and embarrassment, from both adults and young people, questions like these often go unasked. They become misconceptions. In the age of social media, where students like myself get a lot of their information about sex from the internet, misconceptions like these can and do cause real harm.
According to the New York City Department of Education, schools are only required to teach an HIV and AIDS curriculum. Sometimes even these few lessons are pushed to the margins because of parental disapproval or time concerns.
The result? A glaring void in comprehensive instruction on safe sex and healthy relationships. That’s a problem.
In this episode, you’ll hear more about the current standard of sex education in New York City high schools, how it affects teenagers and what needs to change.
So, get comfortable listeners, because we need to talk about sex.
Ep. 1: Wake Up Call – School Should Start Later
Jun 05, 2023
My classmates are not happy with my school’s 8:20 a.m. start time, and honestly, neither am I. I’ve missed that first bell so many times. I had 12 tardies and 4 detentions in the past quarter alone, just from being late. And I’m not just late, I’m tired. When I get home, I’m physically exhausted, my bones hurt, and I just want to go to bed straight away.
But as a junior, each month is very important. College applications, SATs, and the course work keeps getting harder. I just have too many responsibilities: homework, the internships I need for college applications, and the side jobs to support my family.
School start times are a policy choice.
Who's calling the shots when it comes to school start times? Is student health and well-being even on the agenda? To get some answers, I chatted with sleep experts, fellow students and even the head of my school.
Join me as I navigate through the maze of early mornings, shedding light on the detrimental impact of sleep deprivation on our lives. Will we ever see efforts to start school later? What needs to be done? Trust me, this is one podcast episode you don't want to hit the snooze button on.
For the first time ever New Yorkers have the opportunity to vote in a citywide participatory budgeting initiative. It’s not people on the ballot. It’s people’s money — tax dollars – and how to spend them. All New Yorkers age 11 and up can have a say in how $5 million of taxpayer money is spent. On the ballot this year are projects like financial literacy classes for youth in the Bronx, revitalizing cinema deserts in Canarsie to anti-violence and restorative justice programming in the Lower East Side.
This episode of P.S. Weekly explores the People's Money initiative and the people behind it.
P.S. 17: Teens Talking to Teens About Mental Health
Apr 24, 2023
Mental health, perhaps more than ever, is a topic of conversation for the masses. Clinical terms like “triggered” and “anxiety” crop up in everyday discussion. Tik Tok channels dedicated to self-help and self-care offer tips on living your best life. And when it comes to young people, public leaders, from doctors to principals are trying new preventive approaches, like tele-therapy, to reach students before they’re in crisis. In the midst of a generational shift on mental health, we wanted to elevate the voices of young people who are thinking deeply about it. This is a conversation on mental health featuring Miseducation interns Wesley Almanzar, Fredlove Deshommes, Jose Santana and Nusrath Uddin. They discuss what mental health means to them and how they navigate the topic in their lives in and out of school.
P.S. 16: Questioning the Status Quo — Sneak Peek
Mar 27, 2023
Every year The Bell trains a group of high school students from across New York City in audio journalism. These student interns report and produce original stories for the Miseducation podcast. Over the past five months, this year’s reporters have been hard at work on their episodes. The theme of the upcoming season is Questioning the Status Quo.
Each student picked an aspect of the New York City education system that we’ve all gotten really used to. Things that students have just come to accept as normal.Through in-depth research and reporting, they are making a case for what needs to change.
On this week’s episode, we’re sharing a preview of what they’ve been working on.
Special Report from Mound Bayou, Mississippi
Mar 20, 2023
Between Clarksdale and Cleveland on a quiet stretch of Highway 61 in the Mississippi Delta lies a town called Mound Bayou.
Mound Bayou has more churches than stoplights, more vacant stores than occupied ones — a place that appears forgotten. But locals — folks who grew up here and stayed — wear these special glasses that allow them to see the town as it used to be.
Put the glasses on and an overgrown lot transforms into the first Olympic size swimming pool available to Black Mississippians. The boarded up brick building on the corner turns into a bustling bank that holds more Black wealth than anywhere else in the state. The crumbling circular drive across the street backs up with traffic into a hospital that delivered more than 100,000 Black babies. For the better part of a century, this unremarkable, hollowed-out town was an oasis of Black self-sufficiency in a state brimming with racial terror.
Last month, during mid-winter break, the Miseducation staff joined The Bell’s executive director Taylor McGraw, who recently moved back to Mississippi, for a week-long road trip from Memphis to New Orleans. We journeyed through barbecue joints, civil rights museums, blues clubs, the cold halls of the Mississippi legislature, and the windy banks of the Mississippi River. Of all the places we stopped, Mound Bayou, this tiny dot on a map, left the biggest mark.
This is the story of Mound Bayou.
To learn more about the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History, visit moundbayoumuseum.com.
Donate to our work at https://give.bellvoices.org.
P.S. 15: When Does Student Data Tracking Cross the Line?
Mar 13, 2023
This episode features “EWA Radio: Student Data Privacy as a Civil Rights Issue,” recorded live on March 9 at the SXSW EDU Conference in Austin, Texas.
Panel description
Schools collect lots of information about students – health records, attendance, grades and disciplinary actions. Many parents aren't aware the data may be shared with others, including private companies or law enforcement, and even analyzed to identify and predict student behavior. Experts explain how some of these seemingly innocuous records have the potential to put students (particularly Black and Hispanic children, students with disabilities and LGBTQ+) on a different life trajectory.
Panelists
Kavitha Cardoza (moderator)—Public Editor, Education Writers Association
Elizabeth Laird — Director, Equity in Civic Technology, Center for Democracy & Technology
Clarence Okoh — Senior Policy Counsel & Just Tech Fellow, Center for Law & Social Policy
In this week’s episode, high school senior and Miseducation intern Wesley Almanzar reflects back on his experience growing up in the New York City school system.
Coco and Bissiri go to different public high schools, a few miles apart on Manhattan’s west side. One, predominantly white and middle-class. The other predominantly Black and working class. But demographics aside, what about the quality of education? The resources students have or don’t have. The classes. The extracurricular opportunities.
This week, as a follow-up to our two-part series on the persistence of school segregation, we’re re-airing an episode from back in 2018 to illuminate the vast differences in NYC students’ educational experiences—depending on what schools they attend.
You can read the show notes from the original episode here.
P.S. 12: The Persistence of NYC School Segregation, Pt. 2
Feb 13, 2023
Last week, we traveled back in history to learn about Civil Rights-era efforts to integrate New York City’s segregated schools and we featured a speech from Reverend Milton Galamison, the leader of the 1964 NYC school boycott. In the episode, we fast forward to present day to take a look at what has changed (and what hasn’t) in the fight for integration.
Ash’aa Khan takes us to Queens to hear a conversation about school diversity between NYC schools chancellor David Banks and hosts of the School Colors podcast, Mark Winston-Griffith and Max Freedman.
P.S. 11: The Persistence of NYC School Segregation
Feb 06, 2023
It’s February 3, 1964, in New York City, and time is up. An umbrella of civil rights organizations — the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, the New York Urban League and the NAACP — have patiently negotiated and waited… and waited for the Board of Education to submit a thorough plan to integrate the city’s segregated schools. But the plan that comes forward in the 11th hour is weak: no timetable, no serious commitment to change the status quo.
So, close to half a million students stage a one-day school boycott. They call it Freedom Day. It’s the largest single demonstration of the Civil Rights era, almost twice the size of the March on Washington. And it’s rarely taught or talked about these days.
What prompted the protest? How was northern integration activism received in that era? Hear about it from the boycott’s lead organizer, Reverend Milton Galamison. This episode includes excerpts of a speech he delivered a month after the boycott, on March 5, 1964. Listen to the full speech at The New School Archives and Special Collections.
P.S. 10: Should NYC Schools Have Banned ChatGPT?
Jan 30, 2023
Quiz time. Did a human write this episode intro, or was it AI?
So, you may be wondering, what the heck is chatGPT? Well, it's basically a super smart computer program that can understand and respond to human language like a pro. And let me tell you, it's making waves in the education world!
We're going to talk about all the cool ways chatGPT is being used in schools, from helping students learn new languages to writing the most killer essays, this technology is making it easier for students to learn and teachers to teach. But, as with any new technology, there are some potential downsides that we'll also be discussing.
So, grab a notebook and a pen, because you're going to want to take notes on this one, folks!
Hard to tell, right? This week, Miseducation student reporter Bree Campbell digs into the chatGPT debates with NPR reporter Emma Bowman, who’s been covering the impact of the new AI technology on schools.
P.S. 9: Mother, Daughter and the Elephant in the Room
Jan 23, 2023
Just before her senior year of high school, Kesar Gaba did something brave. She examined a very difficult period of her life and had a conversation with her mother about it for the first time. She wanted to see if a discussion like this could help her mother open up about her own struggles.
Kesar recorded the conversation with her mother for the Summer Youth Podcast Academy in 2021. We’re airing Kesar’s story now for the first time. Afterwards, producer Mira Gordon catches up with Kesar, now a freshman in college, and asks how her relationship with her mother has changed.
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To help us bring you more important stories like this one, please consider donating to our work.
P.S. 8 : Dr. King's 6 Steps
Jan 16, 2023
We are marking this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a special P.S. Weekly episode devoted to an aspect of MLK’s legacy that isn’t as regularly studied as his “I Have a Dream” speech or his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” We’re focusing on how MLK and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement organized — a blueprint called the Six Steps of Nonviolent Social Change.
In an educational conversation with Mira, Sabrina shares analysis and examples of how these steps shaped her own organizing as a student fighting for school integration.
To learn more about the six steps and Dr. King’s philosophy, visit The King Center.
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To learn more about our work visit https://bellvoices.org.
P.S. 7: Empowering 104,000 One at a Time
Jan 10, 2023
For several years in a row, the number of students in New York City schools experiencing homelessness has exceeded 100,000. This year, city schools have the mounting challenge of welcoming a growing number of recent migrants who are entering a youth shelter system that doesn’t have enough beds.
To dig into the issue of youth homelessness, Miseducation producer Abe Levine and student reporter Fredlove Deshommes sat down with Wayne Harris, a regional manager in the NYC DOE’s Office of Students in Temporary Housing. They quickly learned that Wayne is not your average bureaucrat.
Earlier this year we collaborated with WNYC Studios on an in-depth series about a year of reporting from inside a divided Brooklyn school building trying to unite through sports. The series is called Keeping Score. If you missed it, definitely go back and check it out.
Today’s episode is an update from two of the Miseducation reporters-turned-characters in the series, Mariah Morgan and Lauren Valme.
Mariah and Lauren are members of the girls varsity volleyball team. The Keeping Score series followed Mariah, Lauren, their teammates and coaches over the course of the first season of the John Jay Jaguars. Prior to last season, there were actually two varsity girls volleyball teams in the same school building. The girls went to different schools on different floors, and were rivals. One of the teams had mostly Black and Latin players. The other – mostly white and Asian. But, in 2021 they decided — after a decade of playing on opposite sides of the net — to join forces, to merge, to integrate.
In this interview with fellow Keeping Score reporter Renika Jack, Mariah and Lauren dig into what happened in Year 2 of this experiment at the intersection of race, class, and public schools.
The volleyball season ended a few weeks ago. Did the Jaguars make progress toward integration and equity on the court? Did they reach their goal of a city championship?
P.S. 6: When Student Journalism Leads to Change
Dec 12, 2022
When the principal emails you about a story you wrote in the student newspaper, it’s usually a sign of trouble. In Denisse Merino’s case, the email she received led to something very different.
Denisse is a senior at Leadership and Public Service High School and writes for the school’s news site, Lead News. Her school is part of a small but growing cohort trying to reverse the trends in unequal school journalism access for students at predominantly Black and Hispanic high schools. Backed by training and support from the nonprofit organization Press Pass NYC, Denisse has taken on a leading role in the newspaper club.
Denisse also happens to be one of our Miseducation student reporters this school year. In this episode, she shares about her thoughts on the value of student journalism and about the story she wrote that convinced her principal to act.
P.S. 5: The Mental Health Maze
Dec 05, 2022
The New York State constitution promises “a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this state may be educated." But what happens when that word — all — is tested?
Roughly one in five NYC public school students has a learning disability. Some have particularly severe behavioral or mental health challenges requiring accommodations that the average school isn’t equipped to provide. So what then? Where do those students go?
Well, according to new reporting from Abigail Kramer, it often depends on what their parents can pay.
Listen to my conversation with Abigail about what she uncovered in her story and what she thinks needs to change.
P.S. 4: Revisiting Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers"
Nov 28, 2022
In a recent episode of his podcast Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell revisited one of the key concepts from his hit book Outliers. It deals with privilege in education, just not in the ways you typically hear about it. The story got really got us thinking, and so we thought we’d share it with you.
This week, we’re airing parts of “Outliers, Revisited” from Revisionist History. Then, stick around for a Q&A between our student reporter Fredlove Deshommes and two of the shows producers, Eloise Lynton and Lee Mengistu.
Most of us have had a teacher or teachers who made a huge impact on our lives. They helped shape us, opened our minds to new things, and took time to help us understand the world. Sometimes, it can be hard to show or really say how much you appreciate them and what they’ve done for you. In spite of the difficulties they faced during the pandemic showed up and showed out. So, we at Miseducation came up with the idea to let students share stories about the teacher or teachers they appreciate the most.
P.S. 2: Breaking Down Admissions Changes
Nov 14, 2022
By Jadelyn Camey
In late September, I attended a press conference at which schools Chancellor David Banks announced changes to the middle and high school admissions process. The headline was that students whose grades place them in the top 15% of their 7th grade class — or the top 15% citywide — will now receive priority access to about 100 “screened” public high schools. Questions have risen about how this new policy will impact student diversity in the city’s already segregated schools. To break down the news and make sense of the nation’s most complex public school admissions process, I spoke to Chalkbeat New York reporter Alex Zimmerman.
To learn more about this issue, check out Chalkbeat’s recent reporting.
P.S. 1: Students Interview Chancellor Banks
Nov 07, 2022
By Sabrina DuQuesnay
In his ten months on the job as schools chancellor, David Banks has not been shy about naming the challenges he faces. Steep enrollment declines. Pandemic recovery. Budget cuts. He’s offered harsh critiques of the NYC school system and the bureaucracy that runs it.
On Tuesday, Nov. 1 he sat down with a roundtable of student journalists, including a few Miseducation reporters, to answer questions on topics ranging from school funding to censorship of student newspapers. Hear what he had to say in the first episode of P.S. Weekly.
(Chancellor Banks ran out of time for all of the questions but promised to follow up with written responses to the ones he missed. We’ll post those questions and answers here when we receive them.)
The series ends with a final test for the Jaguars at the city championship. After the last point has been scored, members of the team try to assess their success. And what about the success of the merger? Students and coaches look at how the integration played out across John Jay’s athletics program, and ask: was it all worth it?
For stats, photos, bonus audio and more, check out our Keeping Score page.
“Keeping Score” is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Bell. Connect with us at keepingscore@wnyc.org.
For WNYC: Alana Casanova-Burgess, Jessica Gould, Joe Plourde, Jenny Lawton, Karen Frillmann, Emily Botein, Wayne Schulmeister, and Andrew Dunn.
For The Bell: Mariah Morgan, Lauren Valme, Renika Jack, Noor Muhsin, Thyan Nelson, Jacob Mestizo, Taylor McGraw, and Mira Gordon.
Fact-check by Natalie Meade. Music by Jared Paul – with additional tracks by Hannis Brown and Isaac Jones. Special thanks to Atiqa Chowdhury, Delsina Kolenovic, Giana Ospina, Adrian Uribarri, Mike Barry, Theodora Kuslan, Andrea Latimer, Kim Nowacki, Dalia Dagher, Jennifer Houlihan Roussel, Michelle Xu, Rachel Leiberman, Miriam Barnard, Andrew Golis, Christopher Werth, and the entire team at The United States of Anxiety.
Keeping Score: Part 3
Jun 23, 2022
What does it mean to lead a team in an anti-racist way? After getting strong feedback from Mariah and other players, Coach Mike Salak decides to change his tactics. But as the girls volleyball practices lead into tournaments, it’s clear that who gets to play continues to be a divisive issue.
For stats, photos, bonus audio and more, check out our Keeping Score page.
“Keeping Score” is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Bell. Connect with us at keepingscore@wnyc.org.
For WNYC: Alana Casanova-Burgess, Jessica Gould, Joe Plourde, Jenny Lawton, Karen Frillmann, Emily Botein, Wayne Schulmeister, and Andrew Dunn.
For The Bell: Mariah Morgan, Lauren Valme, Renika Jack, Noor Muhsin, Thyan Nelson, Jacob Mestizo, Taylor McGraw, and Mira Gordon.
Fact-check by Natalie Meade. Music by Jared Paul – with additional tracks by Hannis Brown and Isaac Jones.
Keeping Score: Part 2
Jun 16, 2022
Mariah Morgan, a junior at Park Slope Collegiate and setter on the girls varsity volleyball team, was an early proponent of the merger – she helped lobby for it as a member of the Campus Council. But her optimism is tested when practice starts. To understand the building’s complicated history, she explores how Millennium came to be at John Jay in the first place, and why the campaign to merge the athletics programs began.
For stats, photos, bonus audio and more, check out our Keeping Score page.
“Keeping Score” is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Bell. This four-part series will appear in the United States of Anxiety feed on Thursdays in June.
Connect with us at keepingscore@wnyc.org.
For WNYC: Alana Casanova-Burgess, Jessica Gould, Joe Plourde, Jenny Lawton, Karen Frillmann, Emily Botein, Wayne Schulmeister, and Andrew Dunn.
For The Bell: Mariah Morgan, Lauren Valme, Renika Jack, Noor Muhsin, Thyan Nelson, Jacob Mestizo, Taylor McGraw, and Mira Gordon.
Fact-check by Natalie Meade. Music by Jared Paul – with additional tracks by Hannis Brown and Isaac Jones. Special thanks to Andy Lanset, Norman Scott, Gwynne Hogan, and Afi Yellow-Duke.
Keeping Score: Part 1
Jun 09, 2022
The John Jay Educational Complex, a large brick building in Park Slope, Brooklyn, houses four high schools: Cyberarts Studio Academy, the Secondary School for Law, Millennium Brooklyn, and Park Slope Collegiate. Each school is its own separate universe, but the students yearn to connect. When the administration announces that the athletics programs will merge, they ask what it will take for the building to live up to its new motto: “We Are One.”
For stats, photos, bonus audio and more, check out our Keeping Score page.
“Keeping Score” is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Bell. This four-part series will appear in the United States of Anxiety feed on Thursdays in June.
Connect with us at keepingscore@wnyc.org.
For WNYC: Alana Casanova-Burgess, Jessica Gould, Joe Plourde, Jenny Lawton, Karen Frillmann, Emily Botein, Wayne Schulmeister, and Andrew Dunn.
For The Bell: Mariah Morgan, Lauren Valme, Renika Jack, Noor Muhsin, Thyan Nelson, Jacob Mestizo, Taylor McGraw, and Mira Gordon.
Fact-check by Natalie Meade. Music by Jared Paul – with additional tracks by Hannis Brown and Isaac Jones.Special thanks to: Afi Yellow-Duke, Rebecca Clark-Callender and Tracie Hunte.
Episode 8: "She Would Have Fallen Through The Cracks"
Jun 07, 2022
The topic of mental illnesses and disabilities has always hit close to home for me. I come from a family where mental health issues are like a tradition that gets passed down through every generation. This history with mental illnesses has made me more inclined to speak out for the individuals that live with them. In particular, I aim to shed light on the mistreatment of Black and Hispanic children with mental illnesses or disabilities in low-income public schools.
It is estimated that less than 15% of American children experiencing poverty who are in need of mental health care, receive services. My older sister Janaya falls into that 15% that did receive care. But this was after a lot of advocating on my mother’s part. Janaya only began to see therapists seven years ago after my mom took her to get diagnosed when she was in middle school. Despite receiving mental health care, Janaya’s issues didn’t just vanish. She still struggled with a set of learning disabilities.
Tune in to hear Janaya’s harrowing journey through the public school system and my mother’s steadfast determination to get her the support she deserved.
My name is Adnaan Elahi. I’m a high school senior and a Muslim student. I go to an incredibly diverse high school in East Harlem. Many of my peers are recent immigrants or first-generation students such as myself.
The New York City public school system is filled with students from numerous backgrounds. This includes race, ethnicity, and what I’ll be focusing on: religion.
The issue of freedom of religion within public schools can be a complicated one, so what does practicing one's religion look like in the nation’s largest public school system? And when you hit some obstacles, how do you address them?
Episode 6: “School Felt Like A Ghost Town”
May 25, 2022
Since the closing of the schools due to COVID in March 2020, it’s been hard on students, academically and emotionally. How can you find the desire to learn when you're staring at a screen at 8 in the morning?
After a year and a half of Zoom school, former Mayor de Blasio decided that it was time for every student to go back in person. In September of 2021, schools finally reopened. But then, when the new year came around… Omicron entered the scene. The week we got back from winter break, school felt like a ghost town.
I wanted to take you on a day of my life in school during Omicron, from the morning to dismissal, to show everyone what school really was like. This is January 14th.
Episode 5: Why I Turned Down A Specialized High School
May 09, 2022
Every student in NYC public schools goes through the high school admissions process. About 80,000 eighth graders every year researching, and ranking, and waiting, and ultimately landing in one of more than 400 high schools.
My process surprised lots of people. Not because of the school — Edison — that I got into. But because of the school I turned down.
It’s 8:40 am on a Friday. Just a 5 minute walk from Jay St MetroTech, you can find high-schoolers heading south on their way to school. Students hike up the concrete stairs leading to the red doors under the stone sign that states, George Westinghouse High school. There is a long line this morning that stretches from outside on the block all the way to the inside of the lobby. You can hear the occasional teeth suck as they watch another kid hold up the line to go through the metal detectors.
Metal detectors are a huge part of Westinghouse culture, quickly blending into the lives of students and staff. The practice of rechecking pockets and belongings, before stepping in front of one of these devices, lodges its way into the minds of kids as soon as they begin high school.
This is a story about my friend Rojuiana and her incident with the metal detectors that almost landed her in prison and left a permanent mark on her school record. But there is even more at stake here.
Episode 3: "The Chance To Be Themselves"
Apr 05, 2022
Every Tuesday after school, students rush to their bright red lockers, throw their coats on, and head for the stairs. The sound of student chatter is everywhere, while kids squeeze their way through the cramped halls. Usually everyone is heading home by now, but there are a couple of stragglers trying to find a room to stay in before Comic Arts and Illustrations Club starts. I recognize them immediately because they’re the same kids who always stay for the chance to be themselvesin a safe creative space with Ms. O’Neal… and it’s no surprise why.
In my selective high school it’s easy for students of color – including me – to feel disregarded. But every now and then you find a supportive adult who goes out of their way to make you feel seen.
Episode 2: "The Kids Have Gone Through Hell"
Mar 31, 2022
I didn’t expect for it to be this hard to navigate my high school years, but then halfway through my sophomore year, Covid hit. Everything changed. I found myself in a state of panic over my safety, my family’s safety, and on top of that, I was stressing out about school and my grades.
Do teachers realize the extent to which we, students, have been affected? What are their views on students’ mental health— and their role in helping students manage stress? I took these questions to my school and got some surprising answers.
Episode 1: "The Only Person Who Believed in Me"
Mar 28, 2022
Have you ever had that one person in your life that just kinda opened your eyes and changed your perspective? Someone who just stood beside you, always made sure you were okay –– a good supporter and encourager? Yeah, I mean that kinda person.
I met Dominique Jones when I was a middle schooler attending the Boys and Girls club of Harlem, where she was the director at the time. In this episode, I reunite with Ms. Dominique and share with her the impact she had on me.
In the final installment of “Unmuted,” we dig in to the college advising equity gap, made even worse by the pandemic. Consistently, NYC public high school students have told us that they don’t feel properly supported by their schools in the college process.
We wanted to find out how students managed applying to college at the height of a global pandemic––when students were not even in the school building. What obstacles presented themselves to seniors? Did students think college was still worth it?
We spoke with students and their advisors from the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, and representatives from College Access: Research and Action (CARA) to find out.
Since beginning to report this story back in the fall of 2020 as high school juniors, we’ve become seniors ourselves. As we’re nearing the end of our own college processes, we round out this episode by reflecting on our experience applying to college.
• For more reporting on this issue, check out the Guidance Gap series from The Hechinger Report.
In 2018, we reported a story called Who Gets to Play? that featured Bronx students, their athletic director David Garcia-Rosen and the fight for sports equity in New York City public high schools. It was a David vs. Goliath fight that culminated in a class action lawsuit.
“Without basketball, mentally I’m not there, honestly.”
— Thuron, NYC high school student
By Lauryn Matin, Sean Fowler and Aury Fernandez
School sports have never just been about the sports themselves — and when they got cancelled, people finally realized how important they actually are.
In this episode, we bring you into our worlds. We want to put you in our cleats, sneakers and boots to give you an inside view of a year without sports AND what it’s taught us about inequities that existed long before Covid-19.
By Kelvin Agyemang, Hajar Bouchour and Rabia Mahisha
NYC school officials have said a lot about the importance of supporting students’ mental health throughout the pandemic, but do their actions match their words? What resources are or are not being provided to students? In this episode, we put the adults’ words to the test.
Our investigation takes us from the depths of Google to the counselor’s office to the NYC Department of Education central office — and a lot of places in between. What did we learn? You’ll have to listen to find out.
If you or someone you know is looking for support with mental health challenges, visit NYC Well. You can also text “WELL” to 65173 or call 1-888-NYC-WELL.
“My main goal for this whole episode is to reach out and show that there’s someone who feels the same way. You’re not alone in this situation.”
— Sean
Sept. 13, 2021
As students dust off their backpacks and return to school buildings amid continued uncertainty and anxiety, Miseducation returns with “Unmuted,” a new podcast series investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the 2020-21 school year from the perspective of students.
Last year, as school communities and support systems grew increasingly fragile––affecting students’ mental health, the sports teams they cherish, and their ability to receive guidance through the college process––our team of interns reported on these issues and built a community with each other in the process.
In Episode 0, we take you behind the scenes to show how our interns pulled off this impressive feat entirely remotely.
“Some days I hear her starting to tear up. Some days she laughs and laughs.”
— Da'Ja
Da’Ja is a student at The James Baldwin School and lives in the Bronx.
By Da’Ja Gittens
Fearing my grandmother’s sudden departure from this world was the worst thing I could think of, but a few years ago when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I knew my greatest fear would be being forgotten. We both live in New York City, but with the pandemic going on, even taking the bus or the train to see her is impossible. In the final episode of this season, I share what these last few months have been like for us — and what no pandemic or disease could ever take away.
This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.
Episode 4: "Easier to not do the work"
Dec 16, 2020
“Presence. That’s what I think people are missing at this time.”
— Amanda Marzan, teacher, Institute for Collaborative Education
Gilana reported this story as a sophomore in high school. She lives in Brooklyn.
By Gilana Steckel
In Room 522C, the second smallest in the school, where twenty-five tenth graders sat knee to knee at small tables, we had the richest discussions. The class was about human rights, and the teacher, Amanda Marzan, was in her first year of teaching in New York City. On March 13, when the pandemic forced schools to close, Amanda, along with the 75,000 other public school teachers in the city, had to scramble to adapt to the new reality of remote learning. Earlier this year I talked to Amanda one on one, to understand the challenges she has faced.
This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.
Episode 3: "Don't even know where to find it"
Dec 01, 2020
“As a part of the Class of 2020, I am ready for anything.”
— Toli
By Toli Begum
Toli reported this story as a high school senior. She lives in the Bronx.
When school went remote last spring, it also meant that the college process went remote. This was only an added challenge for immigrant students like me who are the first in their families to apply to and attend college in the United States. I had to navigate language barriers, confusing websites, financial aid forms, and decision deadlines with only the help of my college counselor, who became harder to reach when the pandemic struck because she was understandably juggling work and home life. In this episode I share what it’s like to be an immigrant student going through the college process during a pandemic.
This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.
Episode 2: "No laptop and no internet"
Nov 18, 2020
Titilayo Aluko reported this story as a junior in high school. She lives in the Bronx.
“Doing research on an iPad with no keyboard is almost impossible. Seriously, you try it.”
— Titilayo
By Titilayo Aluko
All one million of New York City’s students were thrown into online learning when schools closed back in March. But for a lot of us, adapting to Google Meet and trying to stay on a regular schedule while not being able to see friends weren’t the only challenges. I began virtual school without a laptop, or even internet access in my home. In this episode, I share my first hand experience of what it's like to be a low-income student in a pandemic, and speak about my struggles to receive technological support from the Department of Education in the midst of working to complete my AP classes and get through junior year.
This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.
Episode 1: "Suddenly, everything changed"
Nov 11, 2020
Isabel (left) and her older sister Luisa have grown closer during the pandemic.
““I thought it was going to be closed for like a week and we were going to get back to normal.”
— Luisa, 19
By Isabel Gonzalez
Isabel Gonzalez reported this story as a freshman in high school. She lives in Brooklyn.
Roughly 200,000 — 20 percent — of New York City public school students have diagnosed learning disabilities. It can be very difficult for these students to obtain adequate support and accommodations, as learning disabilities are commonly misunderstood among the general public. Throw in a global pandemic and learning becomes even more of a challenge. In this episode, you hear my older sister Luisa’s story, from her early difficulties in school, to my family’s struggle to ensure that she received proper assistance for her learning disabilities, to the moment in March when Covid-19 forced everything to change.
This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.
Episode 5: Brady
May 28, 2020
Photo by Dulce Michelle Marquez
“I mean clearly I was a screw up. I got the degree, but if I hadn’t fallen in love and had a kid I might still be playing music and pounding nails.”
— Brady Smith, principal co-director, The James Baldwin School
Miriam is a 2019 graduate of Bard High School Early College Queens.
By Miriam Entin-Bell
The day I first visited The James Baldwin School, I met Nia, a confident young woman whose path to a high school diploma was not what we might call traditional. Like so many other Baldwin alums, Nia found a home at this small transfer high school, which is built on the principles of project-based learning, restorative justice, and student-teacher trust. In fact, her attachment is so strong that she still drops by all the time, even though she graduated a few years ago. Where does Nia’s fierce devotion to the school come from? When I peeled back the layers, all signs pointed to the principal’s office. Brady Smith, Baldwin’s principal co-director, grew up in Seattle and spent his early adulthood “playing music and pounding nails” — not exactly the one you’d have imagined in the leadership role of a second-chance high school for New York City youth. However, it turns out that Brady's own story helps him empathize with the students he now serves. Miseducation podcast’s season three helps us understand how the principles of Baldwin impact students like Nia even after graduation day. In this final episode, we reflect on the unjust New York City school system and return to important questions we have been asking throughout this season. Do transfer schools like James Baldwin help students succeed? And how do they define success?
This podcast season about transfer high schools is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
The music for this season includes original tracks from Elijah Goodman, a.k.a. Ejcali, born in Santa Clarita, California, and now living in Brooklyn. He is an upcoming music producer self-taught in piano, inspired by creating various genres of music. In addition to working with Building Beats, Elijah is a member of S.I.M.B.A., a youth empowerment program in Brooklyn.
“They give you that freedom. It’s like, ‘We’re not going to force you to do anything.’ But then they also have this conversation with us like, ‘You know, you need to be on top of your (stuff).’”
— Aiyanna, The James Baldwin School student
Taylor McGraw is The Bell’s executive director.
By Taylor McGraw
In 2016, when I was teaching writing at a high school in Brooklyn, I formed a bond with a student named Aiyanna. Every Friday after the last bell, Aiyanna and I would sit down for a recorded conversation about school, life, food — whatever came up.
Our school was called Achievement First University Prep, part of a network of 37 charter schools across the northeast. Aiyanna, who had attended Achievement First schools since kindergarten, struggled to get good grades and stay out of trouble. She said in middle school she had a reserved seat in detention.
By the time I got to know Aiyanna during her 10th grade year, she had started to doubt her abilities as a student.
“I’m not going to make it,” she told me in one of those Friday conversations toward the end of the year. “I’m really not. I’m going to get left back. I’m going to be retained.”
I told her not to think that way, that she could still pass if she buckled down and did her work. It turned out to be wishful thinking. That next year, Aiyanna had to repeat the 10th grade, but I was not around for it. I left teaching at the end of that school year to launch The Bell.
So, you can imagine my surprise — and Aiyanna’s — when, after two years apart, I ran into her in the hallway of The James Baldwin School, where my student interns and I had been reporting Season 3 of Miseducation. It turns out that after another rough year at Achievement First, Aiyanna had transferred to Baldwin in the fall of 2018.
Aiyanna and Taylor at The James Baldwin School in December 2019. Photo by Dulce Michelle Marquez
“I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I miss Mr. McGraw,” Aiyanna told me that day while we caught up in a spare classroom. “But I was actually wondering why you were here at the same time.”
Baldwin is one of New York City’s 51 transfer high schools, which are designed specifically to serve students like Aiyanna, who have fallen behind. The Miseducation team has been profiling its students to better understand what causes them to transfer, how Baldwin attempts to get them back on track, and whether it works.
I was reluctant to include Aiyanna’s story in the season because I knew it would have to include my own story as her teacher, as well as critiques of a school where many former colleagues and friends still work. Ultimately, I decided the story needed telling.
Tune in to the latest episode of Miseducation to hear about Aiyanna’s transition from a school where they “pick up the fork and feed you” to a school with more freedom than she’d ever imagined. Along this serendipitous journey, you’ll hear about special education, “professionalism” and contrasting approaches to school discipline.
This podcast season about transfer high schools is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
The music for this season includes original tracks from Elijah Goodman, a.k.a. Ejcali, born in Santa Clarita, California, and now living in Brooklyn. He is an upcoming music producer self-taught in piano, inspired by creating various genres of music. In addition to working with Building Beats, Elijah is a member of S.I.M.B.A., a youth empowerment program in Brooklyn.
Episode 3: Adriana
Feb 20, 2020
“I didn’t like the fact that I was being doubted because, over time, I really started to doubt myself.”
— Adriana, The James Baldwin School student
Maria De Los Santos is a senior at Comprehensive Model School Project 327 in the South Bronx.
By Maria De Los Santos
To Adriana, school was a happy place — at the elementary level.
During her middle-school years, though, she eventually stopped going to school, started hanging out with the “wrong crowd” and was “sent away.” She was in the foster care system and did not have a calm, supportive household to support her.
I met Adriana at The James Baldwin School, where she introduced herself as “bacon on a stove.” I wanted to know more about the challenges she faced and how transferring to Baldwin impacted her.
I learned that Adriana became involved in the restorative-justice practices that Baldwin offers, and the open-minded culture at the school helped her become a role model to others. She turned her life around from almost dropping out of high school to being a leader, the “go-to” person at James Baldwin. The school became like her home.
To learn more about restorative justice, I attended a workshop during the summer with several students from James Baldwin and City-As-School High School. The conversations and community spirit really moved me. All schools should provide restorative justice, especially those with students who have experienced pain from institutional systems, such as the educational and political systems.
I admire Adriana's strength and resilience. She didn't allow her struggles to stand in her way as she graduated from high school this past June and enrolled in a SUNY school to study criminal justice.
To hear more of Adriana's story and the ways that restorative justice can help students, listen to the Miseducation podcast.
(left to right) Zion, MJ, and Cevon participated in a restorative justice workshop at The James Baldwin School this summer led by Peer Connect, a firm that focuses on spreading restorative practices.
This podcast season about transfer high schools is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
The music for this season includes original tracks from Elijah Goodman, a.k.a. Ejcali, born in Santa Clarita, California, and now living in Brooklyn. He is an upcoming music producer self-taught in piano, inspired by creating various genres of music. In addition to working with Building Beats, Elijah is a member of S.I.M.B.A., a youth empowerment program in Brooklyn.
Episode 2: Javi
Feb 04, 2020
Javier Mata was never the homework type. When all those missing grades caught up with him, he knew he needed a fresh start. That's exactly what he found at The James Baldwin School in Manhattan.
Episode 1: Steph
Jan 28, 2020
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Gaweda
“I ended up doing literally nothing all day but playing guitar in the hallway and cutting class... and just, like, being a truant dropout.”
— Stephanie Gaweda
By Zoe Markman
Zoe reported this story as a high school senior. She is from Manhattan.
After getting expelled from two middle schools and "doing literally nothing all day" at a Brooklyn high school for aspiring artists, Stephanie Gaweda decided she wanted to turn her life around. But her guidance counselor told her that there was no way she would be able to graduate by age 21. Gaweda’s math teacher had another idea: he suggested she go to a school specifically designed for students not on track for graduation. These schools, which serve 13,000 students across New York City, are known as transfer high schools.
To find out how transfer schools came about — and their impact on students — I sat down with Paulette LoManaco and Rachel Forsyth of Good Shepherd Services, a citywide nonprofit that supports marginalized youth. Good Shepherd was working in Red Hook in the 1990s, during a time when Life Magazine called it the “crack capital of America.” In an effort to reengage recent dropouts, Good Shepherd founded South Brooklyn Community High School. South Brooklyn emphasized social-emotional learning, a high counselor-to-student ratio, and paid internships. “The early days were tough,” said LoManaco. “We would be broken into. Computers would disappear over a long weekend.”
By the time Michael Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, though, South Brooklyn was showing signs of promise. In an attempt to raise New York City’s dismal graduation rate, which hovered around 50 percent, Bloomberg teamed up with Good Shepherd and the Gates Foundation to spread the model around New York City.
Today, there are more than 50 transfer schools across the five boroughs. Every year, they give students who otherwise wouldn’t graduate — students like Gaweda — a second chance.
The music for this season includes original tracks from Elijah Goodman, a.k.a. Ejcali, born in Santa Clarita, California, and now living in Brooklyn. He is an upcoming music producer self-taught in piano, inspired by creating various genres of music. In addition to working with Building Beats, Elijah is a member of S.I.M.B.A., a youth empowerment program in Brooklyn.
Preview: Season 3
Dec 23, 2019
“Everybody in this school has scars that can’t be seen.”
— Brandon, student at The James Baldwin School
In the nation’s largest school system, what happens to students who fall off track or need a fresh start?
That question led us to The James Baldwin School, a small high school in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Part of a network of 51 transfer high schools across New York City, Baldwin serves students who are at risk of not graduating from a comprehensive high school and come looking for a second chance.
What does Baldwin do differently than other high schools, and is it working?
Don’t miss Miseducation Season 3, coming in early 2020.
Miseducation is produced by The Bell in partnership with The Hechinger Report and is supported by the Pinkerton Foundation and the Solon E. Summerfield Foundation.
Music for this season comes from the students at Building Beats.
Extra Credit: Chancellor Carranza
Mar 06, 2019
Photo by Ayana Smith
“I didn’t expect the level of acceptance of the inequality that I have found in some corners of our city.”
— Chancellor Richard Carranza
New York City's new schools chancellor Richard Carranza has faced criticism for the integration policies he's pushing for in one of the nation's most segregated school districts. But in an exclusive interview, he said he would stand his ground.
Hear Carranza’s latest thoughts on specialized high school reform, his commitment to student voice and two issues that he said “keep him up at night.”
Extra Credit: One Homeless Student's Journey
Dec 27, 2018
A record 115,000 New York City students live in temporary housing, according to state data published by Advocates for Children. At some schools, more than 40% of students are considered homeless. City and school officials have been vocal about this crisis, but solutions will likely take time. To better understand the challenges homeless students face and how best to support them in the classroom, we sat down with Amya Shaw, a high school senior who has lived in and out of shelters since she was nine years old.
You can read a text version of Amya’s story at YCTeen.org, where it was originally published.
Episode 4: Three Stops on the A Train
Oct 31, 2018
“We do fundraisers, but nothing too crazy. A party probably raises a little over $100.”
— Bissiri Diakite, Thurgood Marshall Academy
“The Parent Association budget is ridiculous. It’s a crazy amount of money.”
— Coco Rhum, Beacon High School
Two schools. Five miles. A world apart.
Bissiri Diakite (left) and Coco Rhum (right) are high school seniors. The physical distance between their schools is five miles, a short trip up the west side of Manhattan. But if you measure the distance in resources and opportunities, they wouldn't fit on the same map. Take a look at the graphics below for a glimpse of the disparities.
Thurgood Marshall and Beacon are representative of New York City’s dual school system, split along lines of race and class. A seemingly endless supply of resources flow into schools like Beacon, while schools like Thurgood Marshall struggle to offer students after-school sports and clubs.
But inequitable resources aren’t the only by-product of school segregation. By definition, segregated schools fail to expose students to cultural and intellectual diversity, breeding unhealthy and dangerous school environments.
Case in point: Read this letter the Beacon Parent Association sent to the school’s administration earlier this year outlining what the group described as “incidents of bullying, insensitivity and racial and cultural intolerance.”
To be sure, these issues are not unique to Beacon. Similarly, Thurgood Marshall is not the only school with significant resource gaps.
Listening to Coco and Bissiri helps us understand what’s lost when a city chooses to educate its students separately — but also what’s possible if we realize that three stops is not so far, after all.
While the Miseducation team gears up for the second half of Season 2, Sabrina and Taylor check in with a few updates and some listening recommendations to get you through summer.
Episode 3: Who Gets to Play?
Jul 02, 2018
“When I moved to the U.S., I was like, okay, this is going to be a life-changing opportunity. Who knows, maybe I could become the next Usain Bolt.”
— Shaffiou Assoumanou, Alumnus of International Community High School
By Sabrina DuQuesnay and Terrence Freeman
Watch any movie about high school. The plot line will include, if not revolve around, sports. It's a defining part of the high school experience. But, according to a new lawsuit, more than 17,000 black and Hispanic New York City students attend a high school with zero sports teams. Tens of thousands more attend schools with just a handful of teams. Meanwhile, Tottenville High School, one of the whitest public high schools in the city, has 44 sports teams.
A group of students and advocates in the Fair Play Coalition is seeking to change these facts and ensure that all students, regardless of ethnicity, have the ability to play any sport the Public School Athletic League offers.
Among Mr. Garcia-Rosen's inspirations: Tommie Smith and John Carlos, black sprinters who staged a "black fist" protest at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico; former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and racial justice activist Colin Kaepernick; and Martin Luther King, Jr. With the support of his students, he founded the NYC Let 'Em Play movement to raise awareness of sports inequity in New York City high schools. Pictured here in his dean's office at Bronx Academy of Letters
At the center of it all: David Garcia-Rosen, a 20-year veteran of the Department of Education who has inspired his students to join him in the David-versus-Goliath fight. Their tactics over the years have been as bold and creative as Mr. Garcia-Rosen's use of school facilities (think: baseball in the auditorium) to provide his Bronx students the athletic opportunities that the city has denied them.
The primary purpose of high school is to prepare students for college and careers, but some schools do way better than others. Nationwide, white 25-29-year-olds are twice as likely as their black and Hispanic peers to have a bachelor's degree. Asians in the same age bracket are three times as likely. These gaps in college completion mirror the college readiness gaps in our high schools.
In Episode 1, we dove into the debate about specialized high schools. Now, we want to know what happens to the students on the other end of the spectrum. How well are they being prepared?
Episode 1: The Price of Specialized High Schools
May 31, 2018
Introduction: 64 Years Late
May 17, 2018
Preview: Miseducation
Mar 22, 2018
This spring, our team of student interns is taking you inside NYC's segregated high schools to investigate the policies that perpetuate this dual system.
We're looking at the lack of diversity in specialized high schools, unequal access to sports teams, racial disparities in college readiness rates, and lots more.
Be sure to subscribe on your app of choice, sign up for our newsletter below, and follow @miseducationpod on social media.
“By refusing to even use the word segregation I worry that we’re whitewashing the historical context of racism that explains why our schools have been so inequitable for so long.”
— City Council Member Ritchie Torres
At the City Council hearing on school integration December 7, student members of Teens Take Charge and Integrate NYC wore shirts and sunglasses honoring Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine. Watch the Teens Take Charge testimony here.
Six months after the NYC Department of Education released its long-awaited "diversity plan," the City Council hosted a hearing on school integration to assess progress. Editor Taylor McGraw and student members of Teens Take Charge joined close to 200 advocates in the audience and spoke during the public testimony portion of the meeting, urging the city to move faster on the issue. Taylor sat down with Whitney and Nelson (featured in Episode 3) to recap the highs and lows of the hearing, including several excerpts of the students' testimony.
Extra Credit: Brian
Nov 12, 2017
Even though we've wrapped up Season 1, we will continue releasing Extra Credit segments that feature material we weren't able to squeeze into our episodes. If you are a student with a story to tell – or if you're an adult who wants to help us amplify students' voices – visit bellpodcast.com and click "Get Involved."
Episode 6: Testimony
Oct 13, 2017
“I will remember those who fought for racially integrated schools in a segregated nation.”
The students I interview often tell me that most of their peers do not think of their schools as segregated. "School is school," they say. Or, "White kids just don't live around here."
When it comes to school segregation, its antecedents and its present symptoms, there is a major awareness gap among the public as well. That's why we are ending the season with testimony from a dozen high schoolers in the student-led group Teens Take Charge, which we help facilitate. Who better to educate us about this issue than the ones experiencing it every day?
Here is a list of featured students, in order of appearance:
Jederick Estrella | Victory Collegiate High School (intro)
Hebh Jamal | City College
Whitney Stephenson and Nelson Luna | Democracy Prep Charter High School
Marquies Smith | The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice
Muhammad Deen | Victory Collegiate High School
David Coghiel | Explorations Academy High School
Shenir Dennis | Vanguard High School
Taiwo Fayemi | Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists
Wyatt Perez | Eagle Academy for Young Men
Chantell Osei | Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists
Brianna Flores | Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies
Sabrina DuQuesnay | Brooklyn College Academy
SOURCES
Former sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony at the 1964 Democratic National Convention is so powerful that President Johnson calls an impromptu press conference to get her off the air. But his plan backfires. Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS.
In this segment of "This Is America," journalist and child activist Jonathan Kozol discusses his 2005 book, "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America." Kozol pushes us to launch a "new civil rights movement" to address school segregation.
Hebh Jamal grew up in the Bronx but attended an elite public high school in midtown Manhattan. That experience gave her a sense of just how big of a difference five miles can make when it comes to schooling – and it prompted her to start asking questions about race, class, and enrollment. Eventually, she teamed up with a youth-led group called IntegrateNYC, and together, they found some answers.
Now, Hebh is an activist on a mission to integrate the nation's most racially segregated public school system. This present fight echoes of a similar one, six decades earlier.
Will the result be different this time around?
EARLY INTEGRATION BATTLES: NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINES (1956–1964)
TENSIONS BOIL OVER
On January 29, 1964, New York City Board of Education president James Donovan outlined a comprehensive school integration plan, which you can listen to below. The Board hoped the release of the plan would avert a boycott organized by civil rights groups frustrated by years of false promises and inaction. It didn't. Five days later, nearly 460,000 black and Puerto Rican students boycotted the public schools to protest segregated and unequal education. It was and remains the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history.
As for the city's integration plan? Among other initiatives, it included changes in school assignment policies, staff integration, culturally responsive training for teachers, and the creation of a citywide council on integration. But most of it never came to pass because school leaders bowed to pressure from white parents' associations who opposed "forced integration." They said "normal, natural integration" would be okay. Decades later, we're still waiting for it.
The audio comes from the New York Public Radio Archives.
For more coverage of the 1964 school integration battle, check out audio stories here and here, from WNYC's Yasmeen Khan.
“I was introduced to an elite education system that had no space for me.”
— Yacine, 18 | Harlem
“I only know black people. There’s nothing wrong with black people, but can I learn something else about other people?”
— Tonie, 18 | East New York
Some scholars, including Malcolm Gladwell, think the Supreme Court overstepped in 1954 when it labeled segregated schools as "inherently inferior." There are plenty of examples of 100% non-white schools that have produced tremendous results. In college I recall reading David Brooks' 2009 New York Times column "The Harlem Miracle," which praised the Harlem Children's Zone schools specifically, and "no excuses" charter schools generally, for finally cracking the code on educating low-income children. Three years later I found myself teaching in a "no excuses" Harlem charter school that dwarfed the HCZ results and even outpaced scores in Scarsdale and other wealthy enclaves. It was clear that poor black and brown kids didn't need to be in the same classrooms as rich white kids to be successful. So, why raise a fuss about integration? This episodedives headfirst into that debate. It features two black scholars with a core disagreement about integration and two black New York City teens who attended very different high schools.
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• "Why New York? Our Segregated Schools Epidemic, Part Two: Tales from the Front Lines," Panel. Brooklyn Historical Society. September 2015. (View to the right)
“My mom said that this is a white world, so I need to learn how to work with white people.”
— Ashé, 18
Nelson (left) and Whitney (right) are rising seniors at Democracy Prep Charter High School in West Harlem. They, along with their graduating classmate Ashé, helped kickstart the student-led group Teens Take Charge.
In its unanimous Brown v. Board opinion in 1954, the Supreme Court clearly outlined the negative psychological impact of segregated schooling on minority children – but it did not mention the harm done to white children.
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, perhaps the most influential psychologist involved in the case, thought this was a great mistake. Dr. Clark and his wife Mamie, a fellow psychologist, are best remembered for their infamous "doll tests," which demonstrated that young black children in segregated schools develop feelings of self-hatred. In the decades after Brown, Dr. Clark said he regretted not studying more closely the psychological impact of segregation on white children. In a 1982 interview, which you can watch below, he claims segregation "dehumanizes" white children and leaves them "morally animalistic." We no longer see the same degree of overt racism displayed during the integration of Little Rock Central in 1957 or the Boston busing riots in the mid-1970s, but the question remains: How does school segregation affect white kids?
This episode provides an in-depth look at how three students in a racially isolated Harlem school interact with white students today. From a testy encounter in a church youth group to a long-distance video game friendship, these stories remind us that diverse peer interactions are crucial for everyone, white kids included.
Click to read this excerpt from the social science statement submitted by the NAACP to the Supreme Court in 1952. Kenneth and Mamie Clark and 30 other social scientists signed it. Read the entire statement here.
Last week the city announced flawed school integration goals. A better approach? Move the median.
The plan, released June 6, calls for incremental steps toward racial and socioeconomic integration over five years. You can read it in full here.
TEXT VERSION:
For months, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his schools’ chancellor Carmen Fariña have promised a comprehensive plan to address the segregation that has plagued the city school system for decades. Last week, the plan finally arrived in the form of a 12-page document that contains not a single reference to “segregation” or “integration."
The diversity plan is the policy equivalent of a last-minute gift delivered sans wrapping paper or card. The question now among integration advocates: Can we exchange it?
Critics have called the plan “small-bore,” “meek,” and "unlikely to make a dent.” But the plan’s modest ambition isn’t the only problem. The city’s metrics and terminology also represent a troubling lack of seriousness toward the issue.
The plan puts forth just two quantifiable diversity goals: one racial and the other socioeconomic. The race-related goal, which has received the most attention, is as follows:
In five years, the city aims to increase by 50,000 the number of students who attend “racially representative” schools, which it defines as schools with student populations greater than 50 percent but not more than 90 percent black and Hispanic.
The mayor claims the target will “make a very big difference in terms of diversification” for “tens of thousands of kids.” Even some critics have conceded that it is a positive first step.
But a close inspection of the goal reveals how it would likely have no significant effect on racial diversity and could be achieved even if the school system becomes more segregated. Let me explain.
Overall, 67.8 percent of public school students are black or Hispanic. Strangely, the city rounds this figure up to 70 percent, explaining how it set the bookends of the "racially representative" range (plus or minus 20 percentage points from the rounded mean), but not why. In a system of more than 1.1 million students, 2.2 percentage points is significant. In any event, only about 30 percent of students attend schools inside the 50-90 percent black-and-Hispanic range. An additional 50,000 students would boost that to 35 percent, hardly a major shift.
But to really make sense of the goal, it’s important to know that the current distribution of black and Hispanic students skews dramatically toward the upper extreme. This is most evident when looking at the percentage of black and Hispanic students in each of the city’s 1,856 public schools. The distribution looks like a hockey stick, with the great mass of schools having an extremely high percentage of black and Hispanic enrollments.
In more precise terms, half of the public schools (928) have black and Hispanic enrollments of at least 90.1 percent — the median. A quarter (464) are at least 95.9 percent black and Hispanic.
Because so many schools are clustered just north of the “racially representative” zone, the slightest demographic nudge — in some cases, the addition of a single white or Asian kid — could drop a cusp school into the zone, thus contributing its entire enrollment toward the 50,000-student goal. If the 105 schools currently between 90.1 percent and 92 percent black and Hispanic fell to 90 percent (moving an average of just one percentage point), the city’s goal would be reached.
Let’s say it happens. What would this allow us to claim?
Well, for the 50,000 students who move inside the zone, the demographic shift of their schools would likely be imperceptible. More importantly, it would tell us nothing about the racial diversity experienced by the 65 percent of students still outside of the zone. As a small percentage of schools inch closer to the mean, the poles could drift even farther apart.
In other words, the city could reach its goal even if the system at large were to become more segregated.
To illustrate this concept, imagine Lebron James’ goal next season is to score within five points of his points-per-game average more often — say, three more times than he did this season. He could achieve his goal while having an even more scattered overall scoring distribution. Measuring the point totals that fall within an arbitrary zone provides no information about point totals outside of the zone.
Now, before proposing a better metric, I must first comment on the term “racially representative,” which is inaccurate and misleading. Most of the schools in the city’s “racially representative” zone have at least two races that are heavily underrepresented or overrepresented. P.S. 28 in Queens is 89.9 percent Hispanic but meets the definition because it has zero black students. P.S. 398 in Crown Heights meets it, too, even though it has just two white and four Asian students (13 percent of the school identifies as “other”).
Why would the city choose such a flawed term? My guess is that they thought “racially representative” would evoke thoughts of diversity, as opposed to segregation, a word the mayor hesitates to use in reference to schools. But, no matter how they label it, what they are really assessing is the degree to which black and Hispanic students are racially isolated — which is exactly what school segregation researchers measure.
So, how to fix the goal? Focus on moving the median.
As I mentioned, the median percentage of black and Hispanic students in city schools is 90.1 percent. Anything done to move the median toward the mean (67.8 percent) would result in a less segregated system overall. Setting targets related to the distance between the mean and the median would also control for possible demographic shifts that static goals, such as the current one, do not take into account.
As you can see, the distribution is skewed heavily toward the upper end of the range. Moving the median toward the mean would result in a more normal distribution (i.e. the system would become less segregated).
“Moving the median” could also be applied to socioeconomic and academic segregation, which are just as severe and harmful as racial segregation.
While choosing appropriate metrics is important, so too is language. The city should be more transparent about its mission, which, beneath the veneer of “diversity,” appears to be (and should be for now) reducing the stark segregation of black and Hispanic students.
To its credit, the diversity plan established a School Diversity Advisory Group that will, over the next year, "evaluate initial goals and policies" put forth in the report. We should be prepared to push that group to adopt more ambitious goals with sound metrics, and then hold the city accountable for meeting them. For, as anyone with public policy experience knows, the true work comes after a policy has been made.
“If I can get out now, of course I will. Quicker the better, honestly. It makes no sense to waste another year here.”
— Noah
The School for Classics is located on the top floor of a junior high building in East New York, Brooklyn.
The Cypress Hills housing project is across the street from School for Classics.
In Part Two of Noah's story, we dive into New York City's "open choice" high school admissions process, a driver of school segregation. On May 5, the New York Times ran a feature called The Broken Promises of Choice in New York City Schools, which provides an in-depth look at how the process fails low-income students of color across the city.
Below, find two excerpts from the 2017 New York City high school directory: the description of Noah's school and the "Action Steps Checklist" for families. Click here to see a PDF of the full 626-page document.
This is the 1-page overview of Noah's school in the 2017 high school directory. He was surprised to learn that the stats are two years old and much of the other information is misleading.
These are the suggested action steps for families to take when going through the high school selection process. I've found that many students, including Noah, have to navigate this complicated process on their own.
Noah is 16 years old, laid back, persistently late to school. His friends call him a genius. He shrugs off such praise – says he just does "what he's supposed to do." He's right. He passes his classes and state tests when he's supposed to pass them.
But, in a segregated school accustomed to remediation, passing can be a rare feat.
Noah's educational journey – full of twists and turns, successes and setbacks – provides an introduction to New York City's separate and unequal schools.
This is the first in a two-episode series on Noah.
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