Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz is a professor at Teachers College Columbia University. Yolanda brings her knowledge of Culturally Responsive Education to ESI teachers. On May 19th Yolanda gave the keynote address at the ESI Conference. Seeing is an immediate response to sense impressions. Through seeing, we match images with established schemata. Noticing, however, involves experiencing and exploiting […]
Michael Prayor was principal of Brooklyn High School for Law and Technology, an ESI school. He is now HS Superintendent for Districts 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. Why did your school apply to ESI? We saw the benefits of being part of the initiative: At Brooklyn High School for Law and Technology (BKLAT), 70% of […]
What is All Star Code? All Star Code (ASC) is a nonprofit organization that attracts, prepares and places talented young men of color on pathways of leadership and success within the technology sector. Understanding the achievement gap between African-American and Latino boys and their peers, ASC exists to close the gap and cultivate untapped talent. […]
For the last two years, I have participated in several CRE workshop Sessions facilitated by Dr. Michelle Knight. I am a social studies teacher at The School for Human Rights in Brooklyn. The CRE workshop sessions truly helped me to work better with my ninth and tenth grade students. These sessions have been some of […]
I sat down with NY1 news anchor, Cheryl Wills on March 28th. It was a cold evening and the sun was starting to set. When I arrived at the 6th floor of the Chelsea Market building, Ms. Wills was waiting for me at the front desk of the New York 1 News Studio. Wearing a […]
Ramon Abreu, Jr., Senior Since the time I joined the Restorative Justice League, I can say my mindset changed for the better. From being a hothead and not caring about the situations I would get myself into with my group of friends, to now thinking two steps forward and having self-control, Restorative Justice gave me […]
ESI is committed to eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline. Several studies have shown that students with higher numbers of suspensions are more likely to end up in prison, with young men of color disproportionately suspended relative to other groups. To combat these statistics, several ESI schools have implemented Restorative Justice (RJ) practices. The goal of restorative […]
On March 5, 2015, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the Change Direction campaign, a new mental health initiative designed to raise mental health awareness. This builds on President Obama’s call two years ago where he urged educators to help “bring mental illness out of the shadows.” This national spotlight on mental illness, in conjunction with […]
By Erica Pretel
What is the role or vision of YMI? Why is this work so important right now? The role of YMI is to help the government. The best way I can really describe it is to relate it to football. I’m an old jock and I used to play football; when you want to improve on […]
The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), a public-private partnership between the New York City Department of Education and Open Society Foundations, held a summer two-day intensive workshop on Restorative Practices at OSF Headquarters in Manhattan. 16 out of the 40 ESI schools participated in the training. In 2011, 40 schools were selected through a competitive application […]
For school year 2013-2014, Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) remained a key focus of ESI. During the summer’s CRE Immersion Week, teachers received an even deeper understanding of how a culturally relevant lens can be infused into and throughout a curriculum in History/Social Studies (led by Felicia Pride), Math (led by Prof. Danté Tawfeeq), Science (led […]
