The closure of New York City public schools is affecting students and families across all five boroughs, but the impact on the city’s most vulnerable children is difficult to overstate. While our students have the drive, determination, and work ethic it takes to succeed, and we, as a school community, tackle narrowing the achievement gap, without the structure, facilities, and resources normally available through the school building, our kids are in very real danger of falling behind in more ways than one.
Particularly problematic is our students’ lack of access to the technology necessary for remote learning. Over 300,000 New York City public school students lack access to the internet and the electronic devices at home required to engage with the remote learning platforms being implemented by schools across the city. Many of our students are among them. As a school community, we are banding together in a joint effort to ensure that our kids have the technology they need to continue to pursue their educational goals and meet their learning needs with new laptops throughout the rest of this crisis and beyond.
With these laptops, students will have access to assignments and resources in all content areas; they’ll have learning opportunities ranging from virtual field trips to group discussions about what they’re studying to inquiry-based projects that allow them to explore topics they’re passionate about and help shape their own learning. These devices will provide them a greater understanding of what opportunities are available to them and how to pursue them, and most of all, a powerful tool to help them grow and develop the skills and knowledge they need now and will need in the future in order to build fulfilling lives, stronger communities, and a better world.
About my class
The closure of New York City public schools is affecting students and families across all five boroughs, but the impact on the city’s most vulnerable children is difficult to overstate. While our students have the drive, determination, and work ethic it takes to succeed, and we, as a school community, tackle narrowing the achievement gap, without the structure, facilities, and resources normally available through the school building, our kids are in very real danger of falling behind in more ways than one.
Particularly problematic is our students’ lack of access to the technology necessary for remote learning. Over 300,000 New York City public school students lack access to the internet and the electronic devices at home required to engage with the remote learning platforms being implemented by schools across the city. Many of our students are among them. As a school community, we are banding together in a joint effort to ensure that our kids have the technology they need to continue to pursue their educational goals and meet their learning needs with new laptops throughout the rest of this crisis and beyond.
With these laptops, students will have access to assignments and resources in all content areas; they’ll have learning opportunities ranging from virtual field trips to group discussions about what they’re studying to inquiry-based projects that allow them to explore topics they’re passionate about and help shape their own learning. These devices will provide them a greater understanding of what opportunities are available to them and how to pursue them, and most of all, a powerful tool to help them grow and develop the skills and knowledge they need now and will need in the future in order to build fulfilling lives, stronger communities, and a better world.
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