‘One of the biggest challenges’: Mamdani vows to prioritize special education – Chalkbeat

Report on Zohran Mamdani’s Educational Platform and Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

An analysis of Zohran Mamdani’s proposed educational agenda indicates a strong focus on the system’s most vulnerable student populations. The platform’s priorities demonstrate significant alignment with key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). The core of the agenda centers on improving support for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness, aiming to create a more equitable and inclusive educational environment.

Advancing SDG 4 (Quality Education) through Inclusive Policies

The candidate’s platform directly addresses several targets within SDG 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. The proposed initiatives are designed to strengthen the public education system’s capacity to serve every child effectively.

• Target 4.5 (Equal Access for the Vulnerable): The primary commitment is to improve special education. The campaign identifies the need to strengthen support for the more than one-fifth of students with disabilities as one of the school system’s biggest challenges.
• Target 4.2 (Early Childhood Education): Specific attention is given to preschool children with disabilities, a group often underserved. In the 2021-2022 school year, 37% of these children did not receive all legally mandated services, a gap the platform seeks to close.
• Target 4.c (Qualified Teachers): A central pledge is to recruit more special education teachers, addressing a longstanding shortage area that directly impacts the quality of education for students with disabilities.
• Target 4.a (Inclusive Learning Environments): The agenda aims to reduce the number of students placed in private schools at the city’s expense. This goal implicitly supports the objective of building the public system’s capacity to provide adequate, inclusive placements, thereby creating more effective learning environments for all.

Addressing SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) in the Education System

The platform’s focus on marginalized student groups is a direct effort to fulfill the mandate of SDG 10, which calls for reducing inequality within and among countries by empowering and promoting the inclusion of all, irrespective of disability or economic status.

• Focus on Students with Disabilities: By prioritizing special education reform, the agenda targets a significant source of educational inequality, aiming to ensure students with special needs are no longer marginalized and can be well-served within general education classrooms.
• Support for Homeless Students: The platform recognizes the city’s 154,000 homeless students as a highly vulnerable population. The proposed expansion of mentorship programs seeks to reduce disparities in attendance, well-being, and academic outcomes for these students.
• Re-evaluating Gifted Programs: The intention to phase out gifted programs for the youngest students can be interpreted as a strategy to reduce early-childhood educational stratification and promote more equitable opportunities from the start.

Proposed Strategies and Initiatives

The campaign has outlined several key strategies to achieve its goals of a more equitable and inclusive school system.

1. Strengthen Special Education Services
   • Increase the provision of special education services for preschool-aged children.
   • Launch a recruitment drive for special education teachers and provide them with necessary resources.
   • Reduce the number of “Carter cases,” where the city reimburses private school tuition, which cost an estimated $1.3 billion last school year.
   • Improve language access for families navigating the special education system.
2. Expand Support for Students Experiencing Homelessness
   • Expand the “Every Child and Family is Known” pilot program, which pairs students with adult mentors.
   • Set a goal to make the program citywide to serve every student in the shelter system.
3. Bolster Community Schools
   • Support the current network of over 400 community schools.
   • Leverage these schools to provide wraparound services, including medical care, mental health services, and academic support, which have shown promise in improving attendance and graduation rates.

Broader Implications for Interconnected SDGs

The proposed educational policies have implications that extend beyond SDG 4 and SDG 10, contributing to a holistic approach to sustainable development.

• SDG 1 (No Poverty): By providing hands-on support and basic needs services to students experiencing homelessness, the platform contributes to social protection systems for the poor and vulnerable.
• SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): The emphasis on community schools that host mental health clinics directly supports student well-being, a critical prerequisite for learning and development.
• SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): Addressing the needs of homeless students is integral to creating inclusive, safe, and resilient communities where all citizens have access to essential services like education.

Assessment and Areas for Further Clarification

While the platform’s focus on vulnerable students is seen as encouraging by advocates, certain areas require further detail to assess potential efficacy.

• Need for Concrete Plans: Observers have expressed a desire for more specific, concrete steps on how the administration would implement reforms to the special education system and make schools more inclusive.
• School Improvement Strategies: The platform does not outline new strategies for the city’s lowest-performing schools, instead vowing to support and scale existing models like community schools.
• Overall Vision: A comprehensive, overarching vision for improving the nation’s largest school system has not yet been fully articulated beyond the key priorities identified.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 4: Quality Education

  The article is fundamentally about improving the public school system, with a specific focus on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all students. It discusses challenges and proposed solutions related to special education, teacher shortages, school improvement strategies, and support for vulnerable student populations.

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

  The article highlights the disparities faced by specific groups within the education system. The focus on strengthening support for students with disabilities and the 154,000 homeless students is a direct effort to reduce inequalities and ensure these vulnerable children are not left behind.

• SDG 1: No Poverty

  The article directly addresses the issue of student homelessness, which is a key dimension of poverty. By discussing a program that pairs homeless students with adult mentors (“Every Child and Family is Known”) and aims to meet their basic needs, the article connects educational support to broader social protection systems for the poor and vulnerable.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 4: Quality Education

  • Target 4.2: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education…” The article explicitly mentions the need to improve services for “preschool children who often languish at home without seats” and do not receive entitled services.
  • Target 4.5: “By 2030, eliminate… disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education… for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities… and children in vulnerable situations.” The entire focus on improving outcomes for students with disabilities and homeless students aligns with this target.
  • Target 4.a: “Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.” Mamdani’s pledge to make “general education classrooms more inclusive so that students with special needs are no longer marginalized” directly supports this target.
  • Target 4.c: “By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers…” The article identifies a “longstanding shortage area” and mentions Mamdani’s pledge to “recruit more special education teachers” and invest in “teacher training.”

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

  • Target 10.2: “By 2030, empower and promote the social… inclusion of all, irrespective of… disability… or other status.” The proposals aim to improve the educational and social inclusion of students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness, who are described as “the system’s most vulnerable children.”
  • Target 10.3: “Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome…” The article notes that vulnerable children are “often far behind their peers in reading and math” and “much less likely to graduate on time.” The proposed interventions, such as community schools and mentoring programs, are aimed at reducing these inequalities of outcome.

• SDG 1: No Poverty

  • Target 1.3: “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all… and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.” The “Every Child and Family is Known” program, which provides “hands-on support to students and their families” experiencing homelessness, is an example of a social protection measure aimed at a vulnerable population.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• SDG 4: Quality Education

  • Proportion of children receiving required services: The article explicitly states that in the 2021-2022 school year, “37% of preschoolers with disabilities went the whole year without receiving at least one of the services the New York City Department of Education (DOE) was legally required to provide.” This percentage is a direct indicator of access to early childhood services.
  • Student attendance and graduation rates: The article mentions that community schools have shown “better attendance and graduation rates” and that the mentoring program for homeless students resulted in “reduced chronic absenteeism.” These are clear indicators of educational success.
  • Number of qualified teachers: Mamdani’s pledge to “recruit more special education teachers” implies that the number and proportion of qualified teachers in this shortage area is a key metric for improvement.
  • Cost and number of private school placements: The article mentions the goal to reduce “Carter cases” (private school tuition reimbursements). The cost, which ballooned to “$1.3 billion last school year,” serves as a financial indicator of the public system’s capacity to serve students with disabilities.

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

  • Disparities in academic achievement: The article implies the existence of indicators by stating that vulnerable children are “often far behind their peers in reading and math.” Measuring the gap in test scores between students with disabilities/homeless students and the general student population would be an indicator of inequality.
  • Disparities in graduation rates: The statement that vulnerable students are “much less likely to graduate on time” points to the graduation rate gap as a key indicator of educational inequality.

• SDG 1: No Poverty

  • Number of homeless students served: The article identifies “154,000 homeless students” and Mamdani’s goal to expand the support program, “doubling the number of students and families served.” This number is a direct indicator of the reach of social protection measures for this vulnerable group.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Table

Source: chalkbeat.org