School Climate
As students continue to recover from the pandemic, mental health and social-emotional support are critical. We also need inclusive school cultures that prioritize recruiting and retaining educators and school staff of color, which is essential to meeting the needs of New York State’s diverse student population.
As schools continue to recover from the pandemic, mental health and social-emotional support and inclusive school cultures that prioritize recruiting and retaining educators, school leaders, and counselors of color are essential to meeting the needs of New York State’s diverse student population.
Our Equity-Centered Approach
We support policies that increase the number of counselors, educators and school leaders of color in school buildings, provide mental and health services in schools, holistically address chronic absenteeism, implement restorative justice practices, and other positive alternatives that keep students in the classroom. Such policies mitigate disruption in learning and dismantle barriers that prohibit children from attending school and feeling welcomed once there.
Latest Resource
Report: School Leader Diversity in New York State
School leader diversity benefits students from all backgrounds and is an important factor affecting students’ success in schools. Attending a school with a principal of color has positive impacts on academic outcomes for students of color. Yet school leader diversity statewide reveals that more than half of students attend schools without any leader of color.
Featured Reports and Resources Over the Years
Blog: In NYCPS, Brown v. Board remains…unfulfilled
Statement: EdTrust-New York Denounces New Policy on Immigration Arrests in Schools
Report: New York State’s Suspension Crisis
Blog: 5 Things to Know About the Influx of Migrant Students in New York
Data Snapshot
Only
of young adults in New York State said they had access to mental health supports in high school.
In the 2022-23 school year, nearly half of Black (46.4%) and Latinx (43.7%) students were chronically absent, compared to just 24.7% of White students.
More Resources
How Ibero-American Action League is working with newly-arrived families in Rochester
We recently spoke with Shalym Náter Vázquez, Director of Special Projects, at Ibero-American Action League, a member of The New York Equity Coalition, about the work the organization does in Rochester with newly arrived asylum seeker families.
Invest in EdTrust-New York’s collective advocacy this Giving Tuesday
With your support this Giving Tuesday our work can continue to advance educational justice in New York State.
Better Localized Data Needed to Support Migrant Students and Families in New York
Data from the city and state departments of education about which districts have experienced the biggest increases in enrollment considering the influx of migrant students could begin to illuminate where greater targeted support is needed.
5 Things to Know About the Influx of Migrant Students in New York
Migrant students may face and present unique challenges to education systems, and they add to the great diversity of our state and our history of resilience and opportunity. It is important to keep their strengths as well as their needs in mind as we welcome them into our communities and advocate for their educational needs so that they too can share in all that schools have to offer.
School Leader Diversity in New York State
While New York is one of the most diverse states in the nation, a new by the New York Equity Coalition shows school level leadership does not represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the student population in New York State public schools. The analysis reveals more than half of students attend a school without any school leaders of color.
Teacher Retention in New York State
An analysis of educator retention data in New York State (NYS) from SY 2018-19 to 2021-22 shows that New York State public schools are challenged to retain teachers of color, in particular Black, American Indian, and Latinx teachers.