National Center for Youth Law

Education

The National Center for Youth Law seeks to defend the civil rights of students nationwide. NCYL works to ensure that low-income children get the education they need and are no longer funneled into the juvenile justice system. NCYL has a special project to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care and on probation.

Campaigns

Alternative Education Settings in California

January 24, 2020
California students who experience the “school to prison pipeline” often find themselves in alternative education settings, such as continuation high schools, community day schools, county-run community schools, juvenile detention schools, and independent study programs. While alternative education settings are intended to provide additional educational options…

Defending the Civil Rights of Students

February 28, 2018
NCYL is participating in a wide range of strategies to defend the civil rights of students and to make schools safe places for where everyone can learn and thrive.. Today, far too many students face bullying and other barriers to education based on their race, religion, national origin, gender identity, disability, first language, or sexual orientation.

Shutting Down the School to Prison Pipeline - California

December 21, 2016
NCYL has launched a campaign to interrupt the “school-to-prison pipeline” through early interventions focused on creating positive school environments that address students’ academic and behavioral needs.

Ensuring Vulnerable Students Can Attend Their Community School - Texas

December 21, 2016
By improving probation agency and school district policy and practice; and building the capacity of community based organizations, this project will ensure students exiting juvenile detention are quickly enrolled in their community school and vulnerable populations of students remain in their community school.

Improving Education Outcomes for Children in the State’s Care - New Mexico

December 21, 2016
FosterEd New Mexico is working to improve the educational outcomes of children in New Mexico’s care by implementing promising practices; forging and bolstering partnerships at a local system level to establish infrastructure for cross-sector engagement, and working at a state and regional policy level to address large scale systemic barriers.

Latest News

Are Minorities Overidentified for Special Ed? Or Underidentified? As DeVos Implements Obama-Era Regulation, Research Suggests a Third Answer: ‘It’s Complicated’ - The 74

November 7, 2019
In March, a federal judge ordered the Education Department to implement Obama-era regulations designed to address a troubling notion: Students of color, especially those who are black, are disproportionately identified as having disabilities and placed in segregated classrooms. Though the department appealed the decision, a…

DeVos vs. DeVos: The Education Department’s Response to Chicago’s Sexual-Misconduct Scandal Contradicts Its Proposed Direction for Title IX, Experts Say - The 74

October 9, 2019
When a senior Education Department official recently outlined years of harrowing findings against Chicago’s public school system, attorney Seth Galanter saw a blatant contradiction. Officials trumpeted an investigation that found widespread failures in the district’s response to sexual misconduct complaints — while relying on…