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    NYC schools from pre-K to eighth grade are still teaching mostly white authors.

    Corinne Segal
    By 
    December 5, 2019, 2:21pm

    Today in unacceptable news: a report from the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice shows that New York City public school students from 3-K and pre-K to eighth grade are reading a disproportionately large percentage of white authors.

    Researchers looked at 1,205 books from 15 widely-used curricula and found that more than 80 percent of them were written by white authors; additionally, more than half of the books featured a white main character. White authors represented an even wider share of the reading for 3-K and pre-K students. About 15 percent of New York City’s public school students are white.

    This lack of representation in reading is demonstrably bad for educational outcomes, the study noted: “Research demonstrates that for students of color and white students, culturally responsive education decreases dropout rates and suspensions, and increases grade point averages, student participation, self-image, critical thinking skills and graduation rates.”

    The coalition held a rally in New York City on Wednesday to call for greater equality in New York City curricula:

    [h/t New York Daily News]

    curricula diversity education NYC representation

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