NYC: Eight elem schools to participate in project to address emotional/behavioral needs
At the beginning of last school year, a second grader in Emily Levin and Christina O’Connell’s class at P.S. 105 in Far Rockaway kept walking out of the classroom during lessons.
When students repeatedly refuse to stay where they are supposed to be — a behavior teachers call “eloping” — it often becomes a discipline issue or power struggle, leading to worse behavior and bigger problems over time. For some kids, the situation escalates so intensely that staff call school safety agents or police officers to intervene.
But this Queens elementary school is one of eight schools across New York City participating in the Path program, a four-year-old project designed to serve students with emotional and behavioral difficulties that interfere with their education. Rather than punishing the student or trying to force him to stop leaving, Levin and O’Connell had training and support to focus on the motivation behind the behavior: What was making him uncomfortable in the classroom and how could he feel safe to stay?
It’s a new approach to a population of kids that faces extraordinarily poor outcomes in city schools. Federal law requires districts to keep students with disabilities in general education settings whenever possible, but New York City sends nearly 30% of its 8,000 kids classified as having emotional disabilities to separate, special-education schools run by the city’s District 75, according to an analysis of 2024-25 data published Thursday by the New York City Independent Budget Office at Chalkbeat’s request.
Concentrating students with behavior problems into a few schools leads to chaos and makes it hard to learn, advocates and educators say. Almost 40% of students with emotional disabilities drop out of school. Just over a third graduate with a standard diploma.
A significant number end up in juvenile detention facilities or jail: More than 90% of students in the city’s schools for incarcerated youth have disabilities, and of those, 40% are classified as emotionally disabled, the Independent Budget Office analysis found. . . .
In the Path program, the goal is to help kids learn to manage challenging behaviors while keeping them integrated with general education classmates. Outcomes are promising, educational officials say, but the program is resource-intensive and remains very small. This year, the program costs about $14 million to operate 35 Path classrooms in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Each classroom serves 16-20 students, four of whom are classified as having emotional disabilities. Students have two teachers and daily support from a social worker and occupational therapist, all of whom are trained in evidence-based emotional and behavioral support for kids. Staff meet weekly with coaches from New York University’s Trauma Informed Schools Institute, who observe classrooms, get to know students, and help develop strategies for each child.. . .
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