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Dear Colleagues,
It is with great excitement that we welcome you back to school. This time of year gives us all the chance to start fresh while also providing the opportunity to build on progress from prior years. The Board of Regents and State Education Department are deeply committed to supporting New York’s excellent teachers, school leaders, and staff as you work to provide all students with the instruction, supports, and opportunities they need to grow and learn.
Our mission is to inspire and ignite teaching and learning, and you make that happen in schools across the state year after year. As New York educators, you provide world-class instruction in your classrooms every day by drawing inspiration from the deep human connections you form with your students. By making those connections, teachers, administrators, and school staff have a unique opportunity to ignite excitement and cultivate natural curiosity in their students, helping them explore and expand their horizons. That natural curiosity will allow students to make their own connections in and outside the classroom throughout their academic career, improving academic outcomes and preparing them for college, career, and civic readiness.
The State Education Department is also dedicated to prioritizing students' mental health and well-being. Although we have come a long way since the start of the pandemic, we recognize the continued need to address pandemic-related trauma and meet the needs of students still struggling with academic, attendance, and mental health issues. With our students' mental health and social-emotional well-being in mind, we are committed to creating and sustaining safe, nurturing, and engaging learning environments for ALL students. This includes providing students with an environment free from harassment, bullying, and discrimination. Earlier this year, we released an updated framework to support schools in fostering educational environments that are safe, supportive, and affirming for everyone – including transgender and gender expansive students. We also ended the use of demeaning Indigenous names and mascots in our public schools. We understand and recognize the need to remain steadfast and undeterred in these efforts, and we will continue to move forward with initiatives aiming to provide greater opportunities for children to thrive.
We know that students learn better when they feel safe and supported. In this video, New York students explain that learning becomes possible – and joyful – when they are seen, heard, and valued for who they are. It is our responsibility to give students learning spaces that are welcoming and inclusive, and we are proud of the progress we have made toward this goal. Over the summer, in partnership with New York Attorney General Letitia James, the State Education Department issued guidance offering recommendations and resources to schools for upholding the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We will continue our work to advance DEI in schools across the state, including the implementation of the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CR-S) Education Framework, which marks the evolution toward leveraging difference as an asset and creating student-centered learning environments.
At NYSED, equity and access are paramount to all we do across the P-20 continuum of learning, with a focus on improving service. Access to high-quality early learning programs with literacy and numeracy at their core is crucial to level the playing field, allowing all children to develop the critical cognitive, social, and emotional skills necessary to be successful. To that end, the Department held its annual P-3 Institute in August focused on literacy, P-3 instructional tools, cultural education resources, and supporting English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities. At the other end of the P-20 spectrum, New York’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures held its final meeting over the summer to develop recommendations on which measures best demonstrate readiness for college or career for all students in New York. The final recommendations will be submitted to the Board of Regents this Fall 2023.
Working together, we will advance equity, excellence, and access to foster lifelong learning and academic success for all New York state students.
Be sure to check out the Department’s Back to School website, which includes messages from state lawmakers and agency commissioners, and links to social media posts with back-to-school tips and resources.
Please enjoy our welcome back videos to kick off the 2023-24 school year.
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