Our inaugural campaign, The Empire State Strikes Back, will advocate for three powerful, urgent and commonsense reforms to strike back against our cavernous achievement gaps.
First, we must “Equip parents with a trigger” to “take over” their children’s struggling schools and put transformative power into the hands of the people most affected by and invested in our public schools.
Second, we must “Recruit teaching talent into the Empire State” by increasing interstate reciprocity rules for teacher certification so we can get great teachers who have been certified by high-quality alternative programs in other states into New York classrooms.
Third, we must help kids “start college early, finish college strong” by supporting the proven, inventive early college high school programs in our states. Outside of our three campaign goals, we will also work this year with coalition partners to support vital reform efforts in areas such as teacher evaluation and charter school facilities funding.
I challenge you to join this movement. Collectively, we can move the needle for children in the state of New York.
-Christina Grant
Founding Executive Director, NYCAN
