Messages for Families July 8, 2021: Letter to Families from Chancellor Porter
Letter to Families from Chancellor Porter
July 7, 2021
Dear Principals,
NYC schools have worked to advance equity over the past decade with marked successes in areas ranging from the highest rate of graduation in the d
, disproportionality data continues to highlight existing opportunity gaps, and there is still more to be done to ensure that all students, diverse in race, culture and learning and language needs, have expanded opportunities to experience academic and social emotional success.
Over the past year, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on the stark inequities our students and schools are grappling with, and we listened to learn what we as a city – central DOE, boroughs, communities, districts and schools – need to do better. We heard from principals, teachers, central office staff, families, and students who shared with us their experiences over the last year and their hopes for how we move forward.
Your voices were clear: We have the opportunity to transform our system in ways that welcome every student, staff, and family back, and confront the inequities that continue to exist in our system.
Transforming our system means lifting academic expectations and creating and sustaining school cultures where students, staff and families can experience joy and thrive, particularly communities that have been underserved within our school system. This moment is about ensuring school communities are places where all students are safe and well-cared for and where they can learn and grow socially, emotionally and academically for post-secondary success.
To achieve this vision, school leaders must partner with their staff, students, families and other community members to co-create the necessary conditions where all students’ and their families’ experiences, hopes, and dreams are centered in all aspects of teaching and learning. As leaders engage in this work, particular attention should be given to groups who have been undervalued and systemically marginalized.
We, as a system, also need a focus—one that describes what we want our students to experience and serves as a guidepost as we reimagine what teaching and learning look like for the future together to support and accelerate learning for every single student. Through the integration of academic and social emotional learning rooted in a culturally responsive approach, we will redefine teaching and learning to transform our system with a special focus in 2021-2022 on early literacy, curricular materials that meets the needs of our NYC students, digital literacy, special education investments, supports for multilingual learners and their families, and college and post-secondary readiness.
There has never been a time of greater clarity and urgency for our work, and the 2021-2022 Instructional Principles for Reopening sets the annual expectations for how we will accomplish our goals by setting
Our path to reopening, and reimagining, our schools and system, starts here with these Instructional Principles for Reopening. We look forward to launching this new journey during our annual Principals Conference from July 13 through July 16. We will unpack this work together and lay out our path on how we will continue our work together throughout the next academic year to best serve our students in this year of homecoming.
In partnership, Meisha
Meisha Porter Chancellor
have made major inroads
epartment’s history, to expanded access to advanced course offerings for students, to decreased
suspensions as a result of deep policy shifts, to the youngest learners having access to a full range of services. While we
high expectations and rigorous
instruction that begins with a welcoming and affirming environment and uses inclusive curricula and assessments, all
supported by ongoing and targeted professional learning for educators.
