This report was very eye opening to me because of how little I know about the diversity statistics of NYC public schools especially after having attended them my whole life. To read that the NYC DOE’s expects only an 80% high school graduation rate and only 2/3 of graduates being college ready after the implementation of these policies was shocking. In my high school, not going to college was not an option – we spent all four years preparing for college. Reading that at least a third of students are not ready and that the reasoning behind that number is tied to a lack of diversity in NYC schools is disappointing. It is 2018 and I believe that this report was very well overdue.

I think that the comprehensiveness of this report is what people liked about it. The DOE provided goals and defined them, as seen on page 4. I think another good feature of this report is the hopefulness of the NYC DOE. It lists many steps to achieve diversity and provides descriptions as to how diversity will be achieved. It also continuously promises throughout the report that they will prioritize making schools diverse. As a specialized high school alum, I am glad to see that SHSAT preparation courses are being provided in certain middle schools through the DREAM program. It takes a lot of money to send a child to SHSAT preparation courses and having the courses provided at schools for free is a great help for the parents and for the child’s future.

This report has a lot of plans for the future, but it seems that some of these may be easier said than done, which may be why people have criticized this report. For example, Policy 8 reminds me of the New York Times article we read by Nicole Hannah-Jones, “Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City”. Just like the parents of the children attending P.S. 8 did not agree with the re-zonings and called a meeting with school officials, who is to say there will not be a great pushback on the re-zonings mentioned in Policy 8. The report also uses a lot of numbers to show statistics to validate the legitimacy of the DOE’s statements, however some are not that promising. For example, the 10th policy is vague and includes numbers of staff trained and number of schools these programs have been implemented in (which is 400 out of the 1,800 schools). The approach to increase these numbers is unclear and there are no specifications as to what creates a welcoming school climate or what the reform in school discipline is.

While this report is hopeful, there is still a lot that the DOE can clear up on their end and expand further upon.