2017 - 2018 Diversity Report Diversity Efforts

Elementary School - High School

Revised A-101 to ensure diverse populations have equity in access to schools and programs

The DOE revised A-101 to include a number of measures to ensure that diverse student populations have equal access to schools and programs:
- Added in a pre-K admissions priority for continuing 3-K students, to ensure that students from the neighborhood who attended in 3-K have top priority for educational continuity
- Created a non-hardship transfer category to ensure that students who are experiencing bullying & harassment but do not want to or are unable to produce documentation are not penalized or prevented from transferring schools
- Stated outright that students with disabilities are to be placed in exactly the same way as their general education peers, without consideration of their IEP status or program recommendation

Equity & Excellence for All

Elementary School - High School

Affirming Schools for LGBTQ Students, Families, and Staff

Conducting 48 PD sessions reaching a total of 2,182 individuals. Each PD session was conducted at a minimum 1 hour with max being 3 hours and covered LGBT terminology, best practices, etc. These sessions were at various all-staff PD sessions, superintendent meetings, and parent coordinator sessions.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

WNET LGBT Identity PD

Professional development session for 72 staff to learn about incorporating LGBT identity into their classroom.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Ackerman Institute Transgender Supports Training

Ackerman Institute for Gender and Family and the NYC Department of Education partnered to offer CEU earning workshops for social workers on Creating Gender Inclusive School Communities. The full-day training was facilitated by The Ackerman Institute.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Trevor Project Suicide Prevention Training

The Trevor Project partnered with the NYC Department of Education to create a custom, full-day training on recognizing the signs of suicidal ideation. This training was conducted by their Senior Training Manager from their California office. There were four trainings scheduled, each hitting capacity for registration.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Sexuality, Women, and Gender Instructional Equity Conference

Over 300 educators attended the inaugural Sexuality, Women, and Gender Instructional Equity Conference.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Pride celebrated in schools & DOE Central Offices

The DOE held the third annual Pride Celebration, honoring students, families, and staff who are creating LGBT inclusive environments. The DOE marched in Queens and Brooklyn Pride marches and had a float for the Manhattan Heritage of Pride March.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Resource provision at Youth Pride

The DOE distributed resources at NYC Youth Pride.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

NYCDOE Advisory Council for LGBT+ convened

The LGBT+ Advisory Council has existed since June 2015. There are currently 38 organizations that serve on the council, up from 34 during 2016-2017.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Cops and Conversation

The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) and New York Police Department (NYPD) partnered to offer the Cops + Conversation program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) student clubs commonly called Gender and Sexuality Alliances or GSAs.

The presentation brought officers from the Community Affairs Bureau - LGBT Outreach Unit into the GSA meeting to build an understanding of law enforcement, reporting of possible bias incidents, and building ties between GSAs and their local precinct. The program was piloted in September 2017. Thirteen visits were conducted reaching 232 students and 26 adults.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Healthy Relationships Academy and GSA Events

The LGBT Community Liaison and Gender Equity Coordinator partnered to bring the Health Relationships Training Academy to gatherings of Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSAs) across the 5 boroughs. In each borough a host GSA was chosen and worked closely with OCSP staff to plan 1 hour of programming for GSAs coming to the training. In some cases the activities were purely social (i.e. “Get to Know You Bingo” and t-shirt decorating) and in other boroughs the host GSA planned educational activities (i.e. LGBT trivia game).

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Allowed school schedule flexibility and encouraged sharing of best practices to support diverse school communities

As part of Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE), schools are allowed flexibility in how their school day is organized and encouraged to implement models of teacher inter-visitation, with many schools centering this work on the goal of meeting the needs of a diverse student body. Many schools have implemented teacher inter-visitations, encouraging the sharing of best practices in how to most effectively serve a diverse school community. Survey results show that of the schools surveyed, 76% feel that the scheduling flexibility created more opportunities for teachers to collaborate. Other benefits include: increased instructional time for students, additional time for parent engagement, and more opportunities for student advisory support.

Targeting Funding to Foster Diversity

Elementary School - High School

Brought together schools working on diversity initiatives to share ideas

During three professional development sessions, Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE) brought principals and teachers together to discuss the implementation practices/challenges of their diversity plans. Topics discussed included recruitment strategies, tracking student data, professional development, and parent outreach.

Targeting Funding to Foster Diversity

Elementary School - High School

Expansion of Just Say Hi

“Just Say Hi” is a cross-curriculum inclusion resource that was made possible through a collaboration between the Department of Education, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and New York University. The program's second year of implementation was 2017-18, during which it significantly expanded its reach from 8 schools in 2016-17 to 51 schools in 2017-18.

Inclusion/ Equity and Excellence

Elementary School - High School

Expansion of the Collaborative Schools Community Initiative

The Collaborative School Communities Program highlights schools (District 1-32 along with their collaborating District 75 partners) striving to achieve inclusion for all students by sharing resources to serve all students in the school building. These schools serve as model lab sites so that they can further develop inclusive practices within their communities to share strengths and improve outcomes for all students. During the 2017-18 school year, 65 schools in 34 buildings across New York City participated in the program.

Inclusion/ Equity and Excellence

Elementary School - High School

Annual Inclusive Education Student Summit

The summit brings together students with and without disabilities for a day of learning and capacity building to be leaders of inclusion within their school communities. The summit is hosted in collaboration with Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) and is aligned to the National Inclusive Schools Week theme. This year’s theme is “A Kaleidoscope of Friends”. The 2017 Summit was attended by 53 schools, with participation from all five boroughs.

Inclusion/ Equity and Excellence

Elementary School - High School

Disability Pride Parade and Art Contest

The NYC Department of Education is committed to ensuring that every child is seen and accepted for who they are. All children and their families should feel confident that they have equal access to an excellent education. For that reason, the DOE has participated in this annual parade for the past three years, giving students, families, and educators with and without disabilities a chance to show their pride and join in solidarity. This celebration of inclusion sends the message that all students, regardless of disability, are welcome, embraced, and celebrated within NYC schools. In 2017-18 over 400 people registered to attend the parade and over 120 students participated in the art contest by submitting artwork that represented what disability meant to them.

Inclusion/ Equity and Excellence

Elementary School - High School

Expansion of ASD Horizon program

ASD Horizon programs serve students on the autism spectrum whose academic abilities are approaching or are below grade level and who may benefit from instructional and interpersonal supports grounded in the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. During 2017-18, 82 ASD Horizon sections served students citywide. In 2018-19, 15 new sections will be opened, resulting in a total of 97 ASD Horizon sections citywide.

Planning for Diversity When Opening New Schools and Programs

Elementary School - High School

Expansion of ASD Nest program

ASD Nest programs serve students with autism whose academic abilities are on grade-level and whose primary need for support is in the areas of language and social skill development. During 2017-18, 284 ASD Nest sections served students citywide. In 2018-19, 21 new sections were opened resulting in a total of 305 ASD Nest sections citywide.

Planning for Diversity When Opening New Schools and Programs

Elementary School - High School

Expansion of Bilingual Special Education programs

Bilingual Special Education (BSE) programs serve students who need a special class or Integrated Co-Teaching classroom with instruction in English and another language. In 2017-18, 213 BSE sections served students citywide. During 2018-19, 21 new sections will be opened.

Planning for Diversity When Opening New Schools and Programs

Elementary School - High School

DOE launches new family-focused and more accessible website

The DOE launched a new website at www.schools.nyc.gov, providing families and communities with improved access to critical information about our public schools. The new website is mobile-ready and was designed for easy family and community use. The website continues to be translated into nine languages (Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu). The use of plain language text supports more accurate translation, and the DOE Translation & Interpretation Unit will work to strengthen translation quality by reviewing and fine-tuning the language provided by machine-translation. Site pages are also available in the more than 100 languages provided by Google Translate.

Streamlining and increasing access for families to learn about school options and apply

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Provided students with disabilities the opportunity to participate in athletic competitions

Throughout the course of the year, approximately 150 students with disabilities participated in 14 state-wide athletic events comprised of basketball, floor hockey, volleyball, bowling, and the annual New York Special Olympics Summer and Winter Games with various track and field events.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary School - High School

Launched a new, parent-facing online application for all admissions processes

In September 2018, the DOE launched a new online application platform for families participating in 3K, pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Middle School and High School admissions for enrollment in fall 2019. This new platform is designed to simplify the admissions process for families by creating alignment across grade bands and simplifying access to information about school options.

Simplifying Admissions Methods and Processes

Elementary School, Middle School

Expanded Dual Language programs

The DOE continued to support schools in expanding and opening new Dual Language programs. For the 2017-18 school year, the DOE offered 545 bilingual programs across the city, including 244 Dual Language programs. During the 2018-19 school year, the DOE plans to open 48 new bilingual programs, 32 of which are Dual Language programs. Overall in the 2018-19 school year, the DOE will offer approximately 600 bilingual programs across the city, including approximately 270 Dual Language programs.

Planning for Diversity When Opening New Schools and Programs

Elementary School, Middle School

Continuation of Federal Magnet school programs

Magnet schools offer a wide range of distinctive education programs and partnerships capable of attracting substantial numbers of students of different backgrounds. The primary purpose of magnet schools as defined in federal legislation is to assist in the desegregation of schools. In the federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program for 2017-18, the DOE implemented magnet programs at 31 elementary, PK-8 and middle schools across 12 districts.  This includes magnet programs that launched in the fall of 2016 in Districts 14, 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, 30 and 32, and programs that launched in the fall of 2017 in Districts 6, 8, 11, and 28.

Targeting funding to foster diversity

Elementary School, Middle School

Encouraged Students in Temporary Housing (STH) to take the Gifted and Talented (G&T) and Specialized High Schools Admission (SHSAT) tests.

The DOE conducted outreach throughout the five boroughs to encourage STH to test for G&T Programs and the Specialized High Schools (SHS). Students were taken on tours of the Specialized High Schools in their respective boroughs to motivate students and expose them to SHS environments. The DOE collaborated with STH school based liaisons to recruit eligible students for the DREAM program and conducted direct outreach and application support at shelters for students interested in taking the G&T test.

Improving Efforts to Support Students in Temporary Housing

Elementary School, Middle School

Partnered with DHS to implement a new School Proximity Project to support families living in shelter

The DOE in partnership with Department of Homeless conducted outreach to families giving them the opportunity to transfer to a shelter closer to the youngest child's school of origin. The School Proximity Project's goal is to reduce tardiness and absenteeism for students in temporary housing.

Improving Efforts to Support Students in Temporary Housing

High School

Specialized High Schools Diversity Initiative - Offer the SHSAT during the school day to ease the burden of weekend testing

The DOE expanded the SHSAT School Day program to a total of 15 middle schools for fall 2017 SHSAT administration. All schools experienced an average ~50% increase in the number of testers in their first year of the program. A total of 50 middle schools will offer the SHSAT during the school day for fall 2018 SHSAT administration.

Improving Diversity at the Specialized High Schools

Elementary Schools

Supported professional development focused on creating affirming environments for LGBTQ students and families in K-5 school

The Office of School Wellness Programs offered two full-day trainings reaching 47 K-5 educators through partnership with Welcoming Schools, a project of the Human Rights Campaign. The training covered creating gender and LGBTQ-inclusive spaces, preventing bias-based bullying, embracing family diversity, and supporting transgender and non-binary youth.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle and High School

Professional learning offered to district 75 pool of Adapted Physical Education teachers to introduce them to newly created resources that support teachers in designing learning experiences to access general curriculum for students with disabilities

The Office of School Wellness Programs partnered with district 75 to offer a session on Election Day 2018 for District 75 Adapted Physical Education teachers. The session focuses on introducing teachers to a newly developed scope and sequence that supports teachers in designing lessons that allow students to access the general education curriculum for physical education and health.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Provided OUT for Safe Schools training and badges to school staff

The Office of School Wellness Programs trained 291 school staff to implement the program through 15 professional development sessions, distributing 7,831 Out for Safe School badges in total. OUT for Safe Schools is a national initiative that helps educators, administrators, and other school district employees “come out” as visible allies for LGBTQ students. As part of the program, participating staff wear badges identifying themselves as allies in order to make school a safer, more welcoming place.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Provided professional development focused on creating affirming environments for LGBTQ students

The Office of School Wellness Programs offered 6 full-day trainings reaching 116 individuals. These trainings are part of the Health Education Professional Learning Pathway, but are open to all school staff. The trainings were tailored by grade level (K-5 or 6-12) and covered LGBTQ terminology, classroom and school-wide strategies to support LGBTQ students and families, and DOE policies, and give participants an opportunity to practice knowledge via role plays and case studies.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Held first citywide GSA Summit

The DOE held a Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Summit, which brought together more than 650 middle and high school staff and students from across the city for a full day of keynote speakers, workshops, networking, and a community resource fair, all focused around celebrating LGBTQ students and allies and supporting GSAs.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Professional Learning offered to citywide pool of Adapted Physical Education teachers

The Office of School Wellness Programs offered a full-day conference and a training for Adapted Physical Education teachers to strengthen the Adapted Physical Education instruction professional learning community with several breakout sessions on quality IEPs and best practices for co-teaching in Physical Education.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Students with disabilities engaged in a variety of indoor track and field events throughout the school year

Throughout the course of the year, the Office of School Wellness Program engaged approximately 8,000 student athletes with physical and health-related disabilities in 26 city-wide track and field events and an annual DOE sponsored Adapted Winter Games where 125+ students from 48 schools participated in a variety of indoor track and field events and 150+ families attended. These events provide students with disabilities the opportunity to participate in physical activity in an environment that promotes success and emphasizes the ability to participate.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Professional learning offered to citywide pool of General Education Physical Education teachers to provide developmental and functionally appropriate physical education experiences for students with disabilities

The Office of School Wellness Programs offered various trainings throughout the year to General Education Physical Education teachers to adapt and modify their physical education curriculum to effectively engage students with disabilities. Attendees learned about creating an inclusive environment, how to adapt activities and equipment to specific disabilities, and accommodate students during skills‐based instruction to better meet the needs of their students. The Office of School Wellness Programs also partnered with the Division of Special Education to design a workshop focusing on the IEP process, goal writing and co-teaching strategies for adapted physical education teachers. This session will be offered beginning in November 2019.

Fostering Welcoming School Climates for All Students

Gifted & Talented

Conducted additional outreach to populations that have participated in Gifted & Talented at lower rates than students citywide

In addition to standard modes of outreach, OSE sent a postcard highlighting the opportunity to test for Gifted & Talented to all students citywide entering kindergarten who were eligible to take the test. The Committees on Preschool Special Education (CPSEs) also conducted additional outreach to students participating in the Turning 5 process.

Increasing Access to Screened Schools

Gifted & Talented

Expanded Diversity in Admissions pilots to six gifted and talented programs for Fall 2018 admissions

Six gifted and talented programs participated in Diversity in Admissions, including two citywide G&T schools, for fall 2018 admissions. Each of the six schools met or exceeded their diversity goal.

Increasing Access to Screened Schools

Gifted & Talented

Provided accessibility information for testing sites.

In 2017-18, families continued to have the opportunity to select testing sites that met their accessibility needs.

Increasing Access to Screened Schools

High School

Grew four alumni mentoring programs

To continue its efforts to connect former and current NYC public school students, the DOE expanded to four different alumni mentoring programs to provide one-on-one mentoring for high-needs high school students from lower-income backgrounds and lower-performing schools, and students of color. The programs emphasize college and career readiness and include alumni-led college tours and college application workshops.

Equity & Excellence for All

High School

Participate in NYC Career and Technical Education (CTE) Gender Equity Committee

The DOE continues to participate in meetings of the NYC CTE Gender Equity Committee, which meets three times a year. In 2017, the committee focused on recruitment, retention, and engagement. Per suggestions of the Committee, the DOE created and launched online Gender Equity Training modules targeting middle school guidance counselors in their efforts to encourage underrepresented student populations to pursue careers in CTE and STEM

Increasing Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM and Other Rigorous Courses

High School

NYSED Socioeconomic Integration Pilot Program - Brooklyn STEAM Center

The Brooklyn Navy Yard serves as the cooperative service and technical hub (the Brooklyn STEAM Center) for high-quality Career and Technical Education programs serving students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn STEAM Center is a NYSED grant funded program aimed at providing socioeconomic diversity for all students and schools within the pilot. This program opened in Fall 2015 and continued to expand in 2017-18.The Brooklyn STEAM Center will expand to offer 5 CTE programs during 2018-19 and in January will move to the Navy Yard.

Increasing Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM and Other Rigorous Courses

High School

Expanded work-based learning opportunities for underrepresented students

In 2017-18, the DOE was awarded funding from City Council's Young Women's Initiative to expand work-based learning opportunities. This was the second consecutive year of funding.  Using this funding, the DOE scaled the Career Mentoring in Construction program and a Career Mentoring in Architecture and Engineering program launched in 2016-17. Both programs had retention rates of 99% and recruited and engaged underrepresented student populations in these Career and Technical Education clusters. For 2018-19, the DOE will continue these career mentoring initiatives and will add another mentoring initiative in partnership with operating engineers.

Increasing Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM and Other Rigorous Courses

Elementary School - High School

Created video animations showing students how to apply

In an effort to simplify admissions processes, animations were created to show how students get offers to DOE public schools. DOE currently has two animations available on the DOE public website:
• How Students Get Offers to NYC Public Schools: https://vimeo.com/288796889
• Middle and High School Admissions: How Students Get Offers to Screened Schools and the Specialized High Schools: https://vimeo.com/288797789

Simplifying Admissions Methods and Processes

High School

Worked with school staff to establish programs with an admissions method that promotes academic diversity

The DOE worked with school staff to establish programs with an admissions method that reserves seats for students in low, middle, and high ELA categories, to promote academic diversity through the Educational Option (Ed Opt) admissions method. Some of these programs were previously Screened and Limited Unscreened. For fall 2019 admissions, 264 schools will use the Ed Opt admissions method, up from 107 in 2017.

Simplifying Admissions Methods and Processes

High School

Eased the High School Admissions appeals process for high-needs students

In 2017-18, the DOE continued to implement an improved High School admissions appeals process for (1) students in temporary housing or foster care who moved or were expecting to move and (2) students requiring a different High School as a result of their gender identity, including transgender students who were transitioning. These students were able to submit formal appeals through the HS admissions process and thereby obtain new High School offers before the end of their 8th grade year.

Simplifying Admissions Methods and Processes

High School

Eliminated "limited unscreened" as a high school admissions method and replaced with admissions method that will promote greater diversity

As part of the DOE's diversity plan, the Limited Unscreened admissions method was removed beginning with the 2018-19 admissions cycle, as it creates barriers to entry for families. For fall 2017 admissions, there were 245 high school programs and 94 middle schools using this admissions method. For fall 2018, 59 programs across 49 schools opted to change their limited unscreened admissions method. The DOE worked with school leaders, school communities, and superintendents to transition all limited unscreened high school programs for students entering high school in fall 2019. The majority of these programs moved to the Educational Option admissions method, which fosters academic diversity.

Simplifying Admissions Methods and Processes

High School

Display seat targets and demand information for both General Education and Students with Disabilities in 2019 New York City Middle and High School Directories

All middle and high schools that participate in the DOE's centralized admissions process have seats allocated for Students with Disabilities (SWDs). This enrollment target is set in proportion to the overall percent of SWDs by borough (for High School) and by district (for Middle School). In the annual school directories, the DOE continued to provide information about seat availability and prior-year demand for each program for General Education and SWDs separately in order to highlight the fact that all schools serve SWDs.

Increasing Access to Screened Schools

High School

Specialized High Schools Diversity Initiative - Expand Discovery, a preparation program for disadvantaged rising 9th graders

In summer 2018, all eight Specialized High Schools hosted a Discovery Program to give disadvantaged NYC students with demonstrated high potential the opportunity to gain admission. For the first time in several years, Stuyvesant High School hosted a Discovery Program. Across the eight schools, approximately 250 students were served in the summer of 2018. Beginning in summer 2019, the DOE will begin to expand the Discovery program at each school, reaching a goal of 20% of seats reserved for Discovery at each school by summer 2020.

Improving Diversity at the Specialized High Schools

High School

Specialized High Schools Diversity Initiative - Leverage existing middle school after school programs to implement new Specialized High School Admissions Test preparation programs

In 2017- 18, the DOE continued the Capacity Building Initiative (CBI) with 30 schools participating in the program. The CBI program launched in March 2018 and offered SHSAT preparation in two parts; 6 weeks in spring 2018 and 6 weeks in fall 2018 until the day of the SHSAT administration. The additional fall prep component is an improvement from last year and will help ensure continuity of the CBI program at participating schools.

Improving Diversity at the Specialized High Schools