Miseducation

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.—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.

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.——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.

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.——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.

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.

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.

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?To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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. To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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!To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.Reporting resources for students:Report student-to-student discrimination, intimidation, and harassment, including sexual harassment and/or bullying: https://www.nycenet.edu/bullyingreportingOffice of Equal Opportunity reporting form (for adult-to-student discrimination): https://www.nycenet.edu/oeoYou can also call 718-935-2288 or email the Office of Safety and Youth Development (OSYD) at RespectforAll@schools.nyc.gov—To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

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.To vote, go to participate.nyc.gov. Voting closes June 25, 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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to The Bell.

As we kick off our first ever spring fundraising drive, one of our student reporters shares what working with The Bell has meant to him.Donate at give.bellvoices.org.

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. To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher

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.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | StitcherDonate to our work at https://give.bellvoices.org.

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 descriptionSchools 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.PanelistsKavitha Cardoza (moderator) — Public Editor, Education Writers AssociationElizabeth Laird — Director, Equity in Civic Technology, Center for Democracy & TechnologyClarence Okoh — Senior Policy Counsel & Just Tech Fellow, Center for Law & Social PolicyMarika Pfefferkorn — Solutions Sustainability Officer, Twin Cities Innvoation AllianceTo join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher

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. Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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. Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.Oh, and if you guessed human, you're wrong.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.—To help us bring you more important stories like this one, please consider donating to our work.

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.—To learn more about our work visit https://bellvoices.org.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.—Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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?—Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.

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.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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.—Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

By Jadelyn CameyIn 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.NYC overhauls high school admissions, leaves middle school changes up in air Sept. 29, 2022NYC schools chief criticized for saying some kids deserve top schools more than others Oct. 13, 2022New NYC high school admissions rules could slow pandemic-era diversity gains Oct. 14, 2022Applying to NYC high school? Here's what you need to know. Oct. 20, 2022—Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher

By Sabrina DuQuesnayIn 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.)—Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Never miss an episode! Subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.* * *“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.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.* * *“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.

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.

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.”Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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?

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.

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. Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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 themselves in 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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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.• To learn more about CARA, visit caranyc.org.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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.Nearly four years later, we have news to share.To join the conversation, send us a message and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Want exclusive content from Miseducation? Join us on Patreon.

School sports have never just been about the sports themselves — and when they got cancelled is when 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.