Welcome to the NYC Parents Speak Out project. We are the Urban Education Research Collective, a team of researchers at the Graduate Center, City University of New York’s PhD programs in Urban Education and Sociology who are parents, teachers, school leaders, community organizers, and activists dedicated to social and racial justice. We value families’ perspectives and gathered their insights to learn more about their experience in education and schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic amidst the increased attention on racial injustice and systemic racism. Parents engaged in an interactive survey, which centered their voices. We also conducted interviews, where parents elaborated on their survey responses.

Click here to learn more about our findings to support policy makers, school leaders, educators, and families as they make decisions that will impact the upcoming school year. We are offering recommendations to begin a dialogue about the need to: improve communication through family and community engagement; give greater attention to social-emotional and mental health; and teach about systemic racism and racial justice.

The video below explains how the survey worked:

In addition to the survey, we invited parents to participate in a follow-up interview by entering their email address below:

Participants were able to take the survey, and revisit to respond to new statements: