Every school in New York was impacted by the pandemic and every educator has worked to support their community through these challenging times. As we return to pre-pandemic routines and expectations, schools must have the resources to support students and families in need and must establish best practices in teaching and learning.

We have the chance to provide a solid foundation for our students, one that helps them thrive academically, socially and emotionally. As we begin the slow return to normal, let’s make the smart choice. Let’s give public schools the resources they need to help students, their families and our communities succeed.

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Public schools in New York are the center of our communities. Unfortunately, too many of our communities are dealing with poverty, a lack of access to health and social services, housing and food insecurity, and a lack of reliable transportation and internet services. These conditions create a barrier against success in school and the workplace. Fully funded schools and well-designed, community-based wraparound services can provide much-needed support for communities and families in need.

When a family struggles with food insecurity, poverty or lack of access to health care, a student’s academic performance can suffer. Community schools offer a valuable coordination of services to support students and families in need. This model goes beyond serving just the academic needs of students. Families are provided with support services which can include dental care, food banks, and mental health and preventative care. Families can access job and career resources and some community school programs even offer cooking or technology classes for adults to help them develop valuable personal and professional skills.

In a recent study of successful community school programs in New York City, community schools were proven to have a positive impact on student attendance, credit accumulation and on-time progression. Students experienced an increased sense of connectedness to adults and peers and there was a reduction in disciplinary incidents.^[1]

At the core of effective community school initiatives is a well-planned coordination of services by a dedicated community school director/coordinator who helps support the unique needs of each community.

Funding for community schools has also been proven to be a sound investment. For every $1 invested in establishing a community school and hiring a site coordinator, the national average of return on investment (ROI) is more than $7.^[2]

The Rome Connected Community Schools program — which serves Rome and eight neighboring districts — reports the average ROI is upward of $20 for every $1 invested in community school initiatives.​ In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers’ United Community Schools data shows $100,000 investment in a Community School director can bring in $600,000 in services and grants.​

Unfortunately, out of 731 school districts statewide, only about 296 utilize the community school model, with offerings that vary.

Every district in New York should have access to resources to develop a community school model, including a designated community school director/coordinator – an essential resource to link pre-existing services and develop community partnerships.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

The COVID-19 pandemic made clear what educators already knew: Schools feed kids. Once the pandemic struck, families could no longer rely on in-school breakfast and lunch to offset the food insecurity they faced at home. School food pantries and regional food banks were overwhelmed.^{[3] [4]}  Educators sprang into action, preparing tens of thousands of meals for families in need and distributing food throughout their communities.^[5]

Even though children are now back in school, food insecurity continues to be one of the most significant challenges facing families of all sizes and socioeconomic statuses in New York. ^[6]

In many cases, assistance to families through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs simply isn’t enough. Studies find that 75 percent of these benefits are depleted within the first two weeks of a family receiving them^[7] underscoring the fact that these supports simply don’t meet the needs of families facing hunger. 

Schools need the resources to provide meals to all students. Period.

“I once had a student ask me, ‘Can I take some of the leftover food home for my little brother? He’s not in school yet.' I recognized she was telling me that his not being in school meant he was not eating breakfast, or at least there was hunger in her home. I made sure she always went home with as much as I could send. Since then, I have kept the leftovers to be sent home as wanted and needed with any child who asks. Rochester actually started offering universal free meals pre-pandemic, and we’ve seen a big difference. In four or five years, I have had maybe five instances where a kid was acting out because they were hungry, whereas before universal meals, I had maybe five instances a week. When kids are hungry, they’re unable to learn because they can’t focus, and they can be a source of class disruption. We’re talking about a huge shift.”

~ Jason Valenti, 5th Grade Teacher, Rochester

Teachers report that when students have access to regular nutritious meals, their focus on their work increases, incidents involving discipline decrease and students’ perceptions of school safety increase.^[8]  Research has demonstrated that nutrition directly affects students’ thinking skills, behavior and academic performance. Poor nutrition can also indirectly impact student health, leaving them more susceptible to illness and resulting in increased school absences.^[9] Healthy meals for all can be a game-changer for all students.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

Many students provide primary care for younger siblings before and after school due to the lack of adequate childcare in our communities. During the pandemic, that responsibility extended into the school day as families found themselves at home together juggling work, school and childcare. The problem was exacerbated when childcare providers were unable to operate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kenmore Teachers Association 1st Vice President and high school math teacher Jeff Orlowski had a student during the pandemic who had to care for six siblings while they were all home for remote learning.

“This was one of our top students, but when things started off remote, I had a hard time even getting her to sign on. When she did start coming on, she was in a closet or hiding in her room in this little two-bedroom apartment, and you could hear what was going on every time she had to answer questions in class. And it had an impact on her grades. She couldn’t wait to get back to the classroom. The hurdles many families face are just insurmountable under the current situation.”

~ Jeff Orlowski, Kenmore Teachers Association 1st Vice President, math teacher

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

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Students thrive academically when their social and emotional needs are met. In a study of over 200 school-based, universal Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs, participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance – reflecting an 11 percent gain in achievement – compared to students who did not participate in the SEL programs. ^[1] In-person public schools are the best resource to support the whole child as students grow and develop.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) refers to a set of skills – including cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy and self-control – that students develop to help them learn effectively, overcome challenges and interact with one another in and out of school.

Many schools have implemented SEL practices to meet the expanding needs of students and families and support the transition back to in-person learning, but these practices have not been implemented universally across all districts, nor do all districts have access to resources needed to implement SEL initiatives.

SEL practices are proven to make a difference in the culture of learning in our schools and often result in strengthened community partnerships. For instance, 80 percent of restorative practices – an effective strategy that strengthens relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities – revolve around community-building activities which reinforce student learning. ^[2]

It is important to continue these practices beyond the pandemic and include dedicated time for educators and students to learn from and relate with one another.

The beginning of the 2021-22 school year has driven home the need to bolster SEL skills for all students. In particular, violent incidents in some schools have left students, educators and parents alike stressed, burned out and anxious.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

The most effective way to prepare children for entering public school is to provide accessible, well-funded Universal Pre-K (UPK) opportunities for communities in every region of the state. UPK is a necessary first step for children entering kindergarten.

“We have many students who come to kindergarten without basic skills, such as eye contact, conversation skills, how to play together, sharing, listening, and basic independence skills like toileting, unpacking a bag, managing tools, sitting in a seat, following simple directions. Literally daily we are getting crying kids out of cars or off buses because they don’t want to come in the building. Then the first hour of the day is spent helping them adjust to being in class. So much of this could be developed in a UPK program.”

~ Adrienne Cohan, Starpoint Teachers Association vice president and elementary school social worker 

New York state funds universal prekindergarten programs through a series of grant programs that are allocated annually to school districts. While the law requires school districts to spend a minimum of 10 percent of these funds on community-based organizations (CBOs) to run these programs, often the entire district Pre-K allocation is distributed to such organizations. This means that while the programs are publicly funded, most of the program is not administered by public school districts.

Since the funding is distributed via annually awarded grants, districts do not have an incentive to create capacity within their district to operate these programs.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

Every school needs school psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses and qualified school-related professionals (i.e., teacher aides, teaching assistants, nurses’ aides) to provide regularly available critical support to all students at all grade levels. Too often, educators report that only secondary students — if any students at all — have access to building-specific counseling services, and younger students are left to share the services of psychologists, nurses and social workers between buildings. Statewide, the average student-to-school counselor is 361:1, 101 students higher than the American School Counselor Association’s recommended 250:1 ratio.^[4]

Where school psychologists and social workers are available, their ability to provide direct student services is hampered by crisis management and student assessment demands. This significantly reduces or completely eliminates the time available to meet proactively with students and families.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

Many schools separated classes into small cohorts of students during the 2020-21 school year to accommodate social distancing requirements. These small class sizes brought on by pandemic-related restrictions helped offset some of the challenges students faced by improving the student to staff ratio and providing more one-on-one attention to students’ needs

The start of the 2021-22 school year brought some much-needed normalcy back to education. However, some pre-pandemic practices, including large class sizes, have returned as well. What’s more, this comes at a time when students’ academic and social-emotional needs are at their highest levels.

What’s been made clear, and what educators and researchers knew long before COVID-19, is that establishing smaller class sizes in all grades is one of the most effective ways to achieve and maintain the highest level of student learning and engagement in our schools. Students in smaller classes perform substantially better by the end of second grade in test scores and grades, and have fewer disciplinary referrals. They are more likely to graduate in four years, more likely to go to college, and more likely to get a degree in a STEM field.^[5]

“My own daughter’s reading and math skills are on grade level for the first time in elementary school because she had a fantastic teacher and a class size of 11 during the pandemic.  In my classroom, it was a much more intimate experience. I could spend much more time with students figuring out what their weaknesses were in a way I couldn’t always do that consistently when there was 30 of them in the same class.”

~ Jennifer Wolfe, Oceanside Federation of Teachers member and high school social studies teacher 

In many cases across the state, pandemic-triggered smaller class sizes were achieved by reassigning library, art, music and PE teachers outside their certification area . This decimated the special area curriculum for kids. The reduction, and in some cases the complete loss of these opportunities for students, has had a lasting impact.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

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No matter their color, background or ZIP code, every student deserves an equitable shot at success in our schools. Students deserve an education that imparts honesty about who we are, integrity in how we treat others, and courage to do what’s right to build a better nation and future for all. As stewards of future generations, we must not shy away from this responsibility. We must work to find common ground among our students, families and educators to ensure the next generation has the skills needed to better understand biases in our society and develop collective solutions to address those biases.

In April of this year, the Board of Regents adopted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Framework^[1] to encourage, support and guide school districts on this critical work. The framework touches on important issues, including diversifying the workforce and inclusive and culturally responsive teaching and learning. This framework is a call to action and should be implemented by all school districts.

Culturally responsive teaching and learning provide welcoming and supportive learning environments for all students, foster student success and bridge cultural divides in the classroom. These equitable practices, which may include simple measures like updating resources and implementing student-centered practices, are focused on sustaining safe, nurturing and engaging learning environments for all students.

“Counter to what you'd expect, not all schools have updated literature resources for our students in the early grades. I end up having to buy books myself. We need to introduce these in the lower levels – vary the materials, allow students to see themselves in the literature we teach. These are simple measures that can be adopted right now. What are we waiting for?”

~ Doreen Green-Pearl, United Federation of Teachers member and elementary classroom teacher

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

Practical, effective professional learning initiatives that address diversity, equity and inclusion are readily available for adoption by school districts. A commitment to staff training and thoughtful discussions around DEI initiatives demonstrates an understanding of the importance of this work in our schools.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

All students benefit from a diverse educator workforce.^[2] As New York’s student population has grown increasingly diverse – students of color make up 56 percent of the total enrollment – the teacher workforce remains 80 percent white. Additionally, New York is facing a teacher shortage evidenced in part by a 50.4 percent decline in enrollment in New York state teacher education programs since 2009.^[3]

NYSUT, through its Take a Look at Teaching initiative, is working to develop a robust educator pipeline in New York state to encourage young people and career changers to pursue careers in teaching and to increase diversity in the educator workforce. At the core of the initiative is the development and expansion of grow-your-own (GYO) initiatives that cultivate relationships between P-12 school district, higher education and community partners. These GYO programs provide valuable early experiences for students considering a career in education and help strengthen ties to community groups supporting students and families outside of school.

As we look to address the current educator shortage, New York must support and strengthen pathways for aspiring educators – including new students, career changers and teaching assistants – and remove impediments to preparation and teacher certification. These include:

• Scholarship opportunities for education majors at SUNY and CUNY institutions. These programs should cover not only tuition, but fees and books as well;

• Career ladders that provide education and certification pathways for teaching assistants (TA’s). Many Teaching Assistants have their associate or bachelor’s degree and need the financial assistance and supports to become certified as a teacher;

• Programs designed for career changers. School districts should partner with higher education institutions to design programs tailored to career changers in high shortage areas, such as career and technical education. These individuals come to the classroom with a wealth of working knowledge developed through their employment history;

• Fellowship opportunities within school districts. These programs provide pre-service training covering core teaching skills, customized academic programs, and support and guidance for fellows to obtain their teaching certification. New York City currently has a NYC Teaching Fellows program. 

• Residency programs developed through partnerships between State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY) programs and public school districts. Residency programs provide students with educational and teacher training and preparation as well as financial assistance in the form of stipends which allow students to fully focus on their studies and student teaching. Candidates are placed within a school building paired with a mentor and provided with a stipend to cover living expenses (which should be adjusted for regional cost of living factors) for the duration of the program. Such a program is being run in partnership with SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Empire State College and Russell Sage College.

• Improved educator certification process. Over the past year, reports from the field describe delays in educators receiving their teacher certification. This backlog, caused by NYSED staffing challenges, is an unnecessary barrier to getting educators in the classroom. As part of the Board of Regents recently adopted budget and legislative priorities for 2022, the Regents are requesting $1.5 million for staffing needs to improve the certification process and timeframes to improve and speed up the certification process.

Future Forward Task Force Recommendation

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