New Releases by Ellen Schwartz

A writer and educator reflects on the idealistic, tumultuous, and eye-opening time she spent as a back-to-the-land hippie homesteader in Kootenays in the 1970s. What compelled a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs of New York to spend a decade of her life as a hippie homesteader in the BC wilderness? Galena Bay Odyssey traces Ellen Schwartz’s journey from a born-and-raised urbanite who was terrified of the woods to a self-determined logger, cabin-builder, gardener, chicken farmer, apiarist, and woodstove cook living on a communal farm in the Kootenays. Part memoir, part exploration of what motivated the exodus of young hippies—including American expatriates, like Ellen and her husband, Bill—to go “back to the land” in remote parts of North America during the 1960s and ’70s, this fascinating book explores the era’s naivety, idealism, and sense of adventure. Like most “back to the land” books, Galena Bay Odyssey describes the physical work involved in clearing land, constructing buildings, and living off of what they produced, but it also traces the complicated journey of discovery this experience brought to Ellen and Bill. Now, nearly half a century later, Ellen reflects on what her homesteader experience taught her about living more fully, honestly, and ecologically.

Students with disabilities (SWDs) educated in traditional public schools alongside general education students (GENs) typically move to middle school in sixth grade, rather than continuing in a K-8/12. The documented negative effects of this move on GEN academic outcomes suggests similar negative--and perhaps larger--effects on SWDs. Using an instrumental variables strategy and NYC data on nine cohorts of students, we find the middle school transition causes a 0.30 (0.16) standard deviation decline in SWD math (ELA) performance and increases grade retention. Low-income SWDs and SWDs with a specific learning disability or emotional disturbance fare worse. However, the move does not widen the SWD-GEN gap, suggesting the need to ease the middle school transition for all students.

Prior research has provided little evidence that subsidized housing investments generate significant external benefits to their neighborhoods. This paper revisits the external effects of subsidized housing, exploring the case of New York City. Relying on geocoded administrative data, we estimate a difference-in-difference specification of a hedonic regression model. We find significant and sustained external benefits. Spillovers increase with project size, and decrease with distance from the project sites and with the proportion of units in multi-family, rental buildings. Our results are robust to alternative specifications. Some of the benefit appears due to the effect of the replacement of existing disamenity.

Daily life experiences provide the subtexts for the poems and stories of this book. Hopes, dreams, and disappointments are woven into the authors’ story lines. Fantasy and humor provide exclamation points on the pages. This book is an enjoyable read as you curl up with a cozy cup of coffee.

Senescent cells are one source of the chronic inflammation associated with the diseases and debilities of aging. Whereas cellular senescence in fibroblasts is well documented, how this process is orchestrated in epithelial cells, the origin of human carcinomas, is much less understood. I used normal primary human oral keratinocytes (NOKs) to elucidate senescence programs in a prototype mucosal epithelial cell that undergoes senescence spontaneously. Widely-accepted assays were used to characterize senescence phenotypes in these cells, and showed that p21WAF1/CIP1 is not a reliable marker of senescence for NOKs, as it is for fibroblasts. Transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq, and analysis by mass spectrometry of secreted proteins, both soluble and those associated with extracellular vesicles (EVs), were performed. Findings regarding NOK senescence were buttressed using other methods, including microscopy and immunoblotting. Identification of top upregulated and downregulated genes at the mRNA level emphasizes the pro-inflammatory and cancer evasion aspects of NOK senescence. Two of the donors displayed an expected repression of DNA repair genes, correlating with downregulation of E2F1 mRNA and protein, but a divergent result was evidenced for the third donor. Analysis of RNA-seq results within the context of the canonical senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and inflammatory pathways (NF-[kappa]B, interferon, and p38MAPK) known to operate in senescence was conducted, and secretion of elements of the canonical soluble SASP was measured. RNA-seq results highlighted potential senolytic targets, including immune evasion mechanisms. The secretome analysis identified a number of pro-inflammatory damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and other molecules that likely contribute to the deleterious effects of senescent cells. The data enabled me to propose additions to the senescence associated secretory phenotype, including HSP60, which was found on the surface of EVs. A co-incubation experiment showed that EVs from senescent NOKs can create inflammation by stimulating STING-dependent interferon pathway signaling in THP-1 monocytes. Sequencing of DNA from these EVs showed that they are associated with mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. These results highlight important senescence changes in epithelial cells in terms of how these cells contribute to chronic inflammation and age-related diseases, and how this inflammation might be alleviated.

This paper examines the relationship between the timing of SNAP benefit payments and participation in school lunch and breakfast using the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). An event study approach examines participation over the five-day window before and after the SNAP payment. We find that school lunch participation decreases 17 to 23 percentage points immediately after the SNAP payment among 11-18 year olds while breakfast drops 19 to 36 percentage points. The decline begins the day prior to payment. We find no effects for 5-10 year olds. Models examining participation over the full SNAP month using individual fixed effects yield similar findings. Among teenagers, participation in school lunch and breakfast decline in the first two weeks of the SNAP month, increasing afterwards. Non-school meals show the opposite pattern. Overall, results indicate SNAP households rely more on school lunch and breakfast toward the end of the SNAP month. Adolescents substitute away from school meals to non-subsidized meal options earlier in the SNAP benefit cycle.

Set in Vancouver''s Japan Town in 1942 and following two close friends, a Jewish 10-year-old girl named Esther and a Japanese Canadian 10-year-old girl named Michiko who fall in love with two dolls - Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth. Needless to say there are tears and drama, involving the forced resettlement of Michiko and her family and the disappearance of Esther''s great-aunt Anna, who remains in Germany.

A poignant coming-of-age novel for middle-grade readers about a young boy obsessed with baseball whose life changes drastically when war comes to his Vancouver Japanese community. Ten-year-old Kenny (Kenji in Japanese) worships his older brother, Mickey (Mitsuo), a baseball hero whose outstanding performance on the Asahi baseball team has given him fame and popularity. Despite Kenny''s suspected heart condition, he is determined to practice secretly with Mickey so he, too, can one day try out for the Asahi. But world events soon overtake life in this quiet community. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in 1941, everything for Kenny and his family spirals out of control: schools are closed, businesses are confiscated, fathers are arrested and sent to work camps in the BC interior and mothers and children are relocated to internment camps. When Mickey is arrested for a small act of violence, Kenny manages to keep his family''s spirits up, despite the deplorable conditions in camp. Coming across a "vacant" field covered with scrap wood, broken shakes and torn tar paper, Kenny gets permission to clear it and convert it into a baseball field. One by one, the boys in the camp pitch in, and the work gives purpose to their long days. Kenny''s persistence, hard work and big dreams shape the teen he is to become in this story of happiness found despite all odds.

This study examines the role of school sub-city districts in determining the performance/efficiency of their member schools. The study identifies low and high performing schools and sub-city districts using a three- year panel of data on New York City elementary and middle schools. The results suggest that districts "matter" to school performance, even when they have no revenue raising responsibility. The implication is that accountability systems need to be designed to recognize the role of school districts, and hold them accountable for their performance as well.

The plight of urban schools and their failure to adequately and efficiently educate their students has occupied the national discussion about public schools in America over the last quarter century. While there is little doubt that failing schools exist in rural and suburban locations, the image of city school systems as under-financed, inefficient, inequitable and burdened by students with overwhelming needs is particularly well entrenched in the modern American psyche. As the largest school district in the country, New York City attracts particular attention to its problems. To some extent, this image reflects realities. New York City school children, like many urban students around the country, are more likely to be poor, non-white and immigrants, with limited English skills, and greater instability in their schooling, and the new waves of immigrants from around the world bring students with a formidable array of backgrounds, language skills, and special needs. The resulting changes in the student body pose particular challenges for schools. At the same time, despite a decade of school finance litigation and reform, New York continues to have trouble affording the class sizes, highly qualified teachers and other resources that suburban neighbors enjoy. Finally, there is evidence of continuing segregation and disparities in performance between students of different races and ethnicities.

High school reform is currently at the top of the education policy making agenda after years of stagnant achievement and persistent racial and income test score gaps. Although a number of reforms offer some promise of improving U.S. high schools, small schools have emerged as the favored reform model, especially in urban areas, garnering substantial financial investments from both the private and public sectors. In the decade following 1993, the number of high schools in New York City nearly doubled, as new "small" schools opened and large high schools were reorganized into smaller learning communities. The promise of small schools to improve academic engagement, school culture, and, ultimately, student performance has drawn many supporters. However, educators, policy makers, and researchers have raised concerns about the unintended consequences of these new small schools and the possibility that students "left behind" in large, established high schools are incurring negative impacts.

Using the literature on achievement differences as a framework and motivation, along with data on New York City students, we examine nativity differences in students'' rates of attendance, school mobility, school system exit, and special education participation. The results indicate that, holding demographic and school characteristics constant, foreign-born have higher attendance rates and lower rates of participation in special education than native-born. Among first graders, immigrants are also more likely to transfer schools and exit the school system between years than native-born, yet the patterns are different among older students. We also identify large variation according to birth region.

The majority of existing research on mobility indicates that students do worse in the year of a school move. This research, however, has been unsuccessful in isolating the causal effects of mobility and often fails to distinguish the heterogeneous impacts of moves, conflating structural moves (mandated by a school''s terminal grade) and non-structural moves (induced by residential mobility or by access to a better school) for example. Moreover, there is little evidence on the effects beyond the first year of a move. In this paper, we obtain credibly causal estimates of the impact of mobility on performance in both the short and long run, addressing heterogeneity in the impacts of mobility and the endogeneity of moving. We do so using richly detailed longitudinal data for five cohorts of New York City public school students making standard academic progress from grades 1-8. We estimate the impact of moving to a new school in a model with student fixed effects and two alternative sets of instrumental variables--the grade span of a student''s first grade school and foreclosure/building sale--to isolate the causal effect of mobility that is likely planned and mobility that is likely due to unanticipated shocks, respectively. We find negative short-term as well as long-term effects of the structural moves built into the school system. Non-structural moves, however, have a positive effect on academic performance if they are made to join a new school at the beginning of that school''s grade span and, thus, more likely made for strategic reasons. Robustness checks indicate results are not sensitive to inclusion of school quality measures, pre-move trends in mobility, or alternative samples. In the conclusions, we discuss the importance of findings on the heterogeneous impact of school moves to the literature and to policy makers.

Participation in the federally-subsidized school breakfast program often falls well below its lunchtime counterpart. To increase take-up, many districts have implemented Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC), offering breakfast directly to students at the start of the school day. Beyond increasing participation, advocates claim BIC improves academic performance, attendance, and engagement. Others caution BIC has deleterious effects on child weight. We use the implementation of BIC in NYC to estimate its impact on meals program participation, BMI, achievement, and attendance. While we find large effects on participation, our findings provide no evidence of hoped-for gains in academic performance, nor of feared increases in obesity. The policy case for BIC will depend upon reductions in hunger and food insecurity for disadvantaged children, or its longer-term effects. The following are appended: (1) Mean Annual Breakfast and Lunch Participation Rates: Balanced Panel of Elementary and Middle School; (2) Impact of BIC adoption on meals program participation, 2001-2012--models using school specific linear time trends; (3) Impact of BIC on obesity and BMI--using grade-specific BIC treatment; (4) Impact of BIC on ELA and math achievement--using grade-specific BIC treatment; (5) Impact of BIC on obesity and BMI--using percent of BIC classrooms treatment; and (6) Impact of BIC on ELA and math achievement--using percent of BIC classrooms treatment.

We evaluate the effectiveness of small high school reform in the country''s largest school district, New York City. Using a rich administrative data-set for multiple cohorts of students and distance between student residence and school to instrument for endogenous school selection, we find substantial heterogeneity in school effects: newly created small schools have positive effects on graduation and some other education outcomes while older small schools do not. Importantly, we show that ignoring this source of treatment effect heterogeneity by assuming a common small school effect yields a misleading zero effect of small school attendance.

We evaluate the effectiveness of small school reform as systemic reform in the nation''s largest school district, New York City. Using rich administrative data for four cohorts of students, we examine the extent to which graduation and testing outcomes improved for all students, not only those in small schools. Our findings show that high school outcomes improved overall, that these improvements were not driven solely by the positive effects observed in small schools, and that the results are robust to student characteristics and selection. Importantly, this paper provides insight into how the introduction of new small schools improves outcomes district-wide.

Whether it’s for health, humane, or taste reasons, many young people are vegetarians. This is the perfect book to help them be healthy ones. It provides a history of vegetarianism, advice on balancing one’s diet, yummy food ideas, and, best of all, ways to cope with sticky situations. How do you handle the inevitable trips to the local burger joint? How do you resist Grandma’s attempts to get you to try just a bit of her famous roast turkey? How do you respond to dire predictions that it’s meat that makes you strong? For young people who are vegetarians, or for those who are thinking about making the switch, this is an invaluable resource.

We evaluate the effectiveness of small high school reform in the country''s largest school district, New York City. Using a rich administrative dataset for multiple cohorts of students and distance between student residence and school to instrument for endogenous school selection, we find substantial heterogeneity in school effects: newly created small schools have positive effects on graduation and some other education outcomes while older small schools do not. Importantly, we show that ignoring this source of treatment effect heterogeneity by assuming a common small school effect yields a misleading zero effect of small school attendance. The following are appended: (1) Regents Examinations; (2) Definition of variables; (3) First stage, likelihood of attending a small high school; (4) Relationship between minimum distance to small schools and average student characteristics, by residence zip code; and (5) Full OLS and IV regression results.

"When Jesse finds some mementos for a project about his ancestors, he is transported back in time to Russia for an exciting adventure, and a better understanding of his family" Cf. Our choice, 2001.

Take a dash of colorful characters, a pinch of danger, and generous scoops of adventure and you have a terrific culinary mystery for young readers. Five cousins are looking forward to their annual vacation at their grandmother’s cottage. None of them knows that this may be their last such summer. A mining company has set its sights on the land and is determined to seize it. Grandma must produce the deed to prove that the property is really hers, but her memory is not what it used to be, and she can’t find it. The children suspect there may be clues to the deed’s whereabouts somewhere in the family’s cherished trove of recipes. But can they solve the mystery in time? Adult mystery buffs have had many culinary mysteries to choose from. Ellen Schwartz introduces her young readers to a delicious genre. She even provides easy-to-follow and yummy to eat recipes.

New York City (NYC) is home to the largest school district in the U.S., with over one million students and more than 1,600 schools. While it is only one of approximately seven hundred school districts in New York State (NYS), the city educates about one-third of the state''s students. In recent work examining school finance during Mayor Bloomberg''s first two terms, Stiefel and Schwartz (2011) compared NYC''s funding sources with those for the rest of the state in entirety. The NYS statistics presented in that chapter were, therefore, averages for all other school districts in the state--including the fiscally-stressed "Big Four" (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers), rural districts with their own, unique challenges, and relatively wealthy suburban districts. This brief builds upon that research--describing the changes in revenues for the city, other large urban districts, wealthy downstate counties surrounding NYC, and the rest of the state. This analysis uses revenue data from the New York State Education Department''s (NYSED) annual fiscal profiles to compare the educational resources available to NYC relative to other districts in New York State and probe the differences in greater detail. Specifically, the authors examine the change in total revenue, total state revenue, local revenue, and total expenditures excluding debt service and transportation expenses for New York City, the other Big Four, two wealthy downstate counties (Westchester and Nassau), and the remaining schools districts in New York State. An appendix contains supplemental tables.

Schools are not static entities--reforms are enacted, curriculums change, new principals and teachers arrive and others leave, and, importantly, students exit and enter the school system. These students may be graduating or reaching a terminal grade, beginning school, entering from local private or parochial schools, moving from another district, or emigrating from another country. This brief focuses on the latter group: the immigrant students in New York City (NYC) public elementary and middle schools over the past decade. As the largest and most diverse school system in the country, it is particularly important that education professionals in NYC have a comprehensive understanding of their students and how they are changing. This report presents a statistical portrait of the demographic characteristics and educational experiences of immigrant students in NYC''s elementary and middle school grades (1st-8th grades) during the 2008-09 academic year. It documents the size and diversity of the immigrant population; compares differences between the native-born and immigrant students across a series of socioeconomic, demographic, and academic performance variables; examines differences within the immigrant population related to time in the U.S. and differences in region of origin; and notes similarities and differences between the foreign-born student population in 2009 compared to 2000. Two appendices are included: (1) Differences in School Performance of Region Groups within Poverty, Racial/Ethnic, and English Proficiency Groups [Tables]; and (2) Countries Included in Regional Groupings.

The recent foreclosure crisis has plagued nearly every city in the U.S., including New York City. Despite considerable attention to the causes of these mortgage foreclosures and the consequences they have had for communities, we know little about their impacts on individual families and children. Given that more than 2.8 million U.S. property owners received a foreclosure notice in 2010 alone; it is likely that large numbers of children are leaving their homes and moving schools, as well. This policy brief examines the prevalence of foreclosure among buildings housing New York City public school students and explores the relationship between foreclosures and student mobility. Specifically, the authors examine whether children who live in properties entering foreclosure are more likely than their peers to switch schools. Such mobility is of potential concern because research suggests that changing schools is often damaging to children''s academic performance (Hanushek et al., 2004; Schwartz et al., 2007). This brief also explores how the new schools the children attend after moving differ from their origin schools, in terms of student demographics and performance. Our research focuses primarily on elementary and middle school students who attended New York City public schools in the 2003-04 and 2006-07 school years. For additional information on our data and methods, see Been et al. (2011), "Kids and Foreclosures: New York City." Key finding include: (1) 20,453 public school students lived in buildings that entered foreclosure in 2006-07; (2) 61 percent of students living in buildings that entered foreclosure lived in 2-4 family or larger multi-family properties; (3) 57 percent of students living in buildings that entered foreclosure in 2006-07 were black, compared to 33 percent of all other students; (4) Public school students living in buildings in foreclosure were more likely to change schools in the year following a foreclosure notice than other students, and the effect was amplified for children in multi-family buildings; (5) Students living in properties that entered foreclosure were significantly less likely than their peers to leave the New York City public school system in the subsequent year; and (6) Students who moved to new schools after a foreclosure moved to lower-performing schools on average. The change in school quality was no more dramatic, however, than that experienced by other students who moved schools.

Gwen lives for dancing. When she has the chance to take an intensive - and expensive - course far from home, she knows her parents will object. She also knows that she can usually convince her father to support her. She raises the subject when they''re together skiing, but the discussion turns into an angry confrontation that is cut short by a sudden dreadful avalanche that almost kills her dad. The avalanche leaves terrible damage in its wake. Gwen is left wracked with guilt and injuries that may end her career as a dancer. Her life is complicated by her best friend, Molly. Molly has her own demons, and may either be a danger to Gwen or part of her salvation. Gwen must find a way to make peace with Molly, with her family, and with her own conscience if she is ever again going to experience the freedom that dancing brought her.

Brendan has it all—captain of the basketball team, good friends, a beautiful girlfriend and a loving family—until he is diagnosed with leukemia. Terrified and convinced that no one understands what he is going through, Brendan faces chemotherapy alone, until he meets Lark. She is also in treatment, although her condition is much worse, and yet she remains positive and hopeful. Brendan is torn between feeling sorry for himself and the love for life that Lark brings to even the simplest thing. Through Lark, he discovers the strength to go on, to fight for survival and to love. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

The mortgage foreclosure crisis has affected millions of households around the country. Researchers and policy makers have begun to pay attention to the external costs that these foreclosures impose on surrounding properties and neighborhoods (Schuetz et al., 2008; Harding et al., 2009). But few have considered the collateral costs for children, who may, as a result of foreclosures, be forced to leave their homes, communities, and schools. Moreover, even children whose families are able to stay in their homes may experience considerable stress from the foreclosure process. In this report, the authors use a unique data set on New York City students to examine the characteristics of the City''s students and schools that have been affected by foreclosures. Specifically, they link student-level academic records to building-level foreclosure data in New York City to address three questions about children living in properties entering foreclosure. First, how many students live in properties entering foreclosure? Second, what are the characteristics of those students and how do they compare to those of the full population of students attending New York City''s public schools? Third, are students living in properties going through foreclosure concentrated in particular schools, and if so, what are the characteristics of those schools? The focus is on students from the 2003-04 and 2006-07 academic school years. Key findings include: (1) The number of public school students facing foreclosure has increased over time; in the 2006-07 school year, the number of students living in homes that received a foreclosure notice rose to 18,525; (2) 57 percent of students facing foreclosure are black, as compared to just 33 percent of public school students in New York City as a whole; (3) Students facing foreclosure are no more likely to be poor than other public school students in New York City; (4) Half of the students living in properties entering foreclosure in 2006-07 attended just 17 percent of all City schools; (5) A small number of schools--mostly located Brooklyn and Queens-- educate a large number of students facing foreclosure; and (6) The schools with larger shares of students facing foreclosure on average have: (a) Larger percentages of black students; (b) Higher shares of students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch; and (c) Lower shares of students scoring proficient on standardized math and reading tests. "Identifying Students Affected by Foreclosure" is appended.

Selected for inclusion in the Best Books for the Teen Age 2004 List by the New York Public Library. Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years, but its surge in popularity among young people is new. I Love Yoga is not a how-to book. It is the book for those who are already hooked, as well as for those who are just curious about this ancient activity. Ellen Schwartz – author of I’m a Vegetarian – presents the history of yoga, different styles, yoga benefits, concerns, cautions, misconceptions, equipment, and basic postures. There is information for those with physical disabilities and tips on yoga as part of a lifestyle – even for those who do not use the poses – especially to de-stress. Fascinating information is offered in a teen-friendly format.

It is 1947 and Yankee fever grips the Bronx. Nine-year-old Joey Sexton joins the neighborhood kids who flock to the park to team up and play. However, Joey is of mixed race and his skin is lighter than the other kids’. He is seldom picked. When Joey’s mother dies, he is sent to live with his mother’s estranged family. Joey is whisked away to Brooklyn. Though it’s just across town, it might as well be a different world. His grandfather, his aunt Frieda, and his ten-year-old cousin Roberta are not only white, they are Jewish. Joey knows nothing about Brooklyn or Judaism. The only thing that’s constant is the baseball madness that grips the community. Only this time, the heroes aren’t Joey’s beloved Yankees. They are the Brooklyn Dodgers, especially Jackie Robinson, a man whose struggle to integrate baseball helped set the stage for black America’s struggle for acceptance and civil rights. Joey’s story takes readers to a time when America’s favorite pastime became a battleground for human rights.

In the United States, public housing developments are predominantly located in neighborhoods with low median incomes, high rates of poverty and disproportionately high concentrations of minorities. While research consistently shows that public housing developments are located in economically and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, we know little about the characteristics of the schools serving students in these neighborhoods. In this paper, we examine the characteristics of elementary and middle schools attended by students living in public housing developments in New York City. Using the proportion of public housing students attending each elementary and middle school as our weight, we calculate the weighted average of school characteristics to describe the "typical" school attended by students living in public housing. We then compare these characteristics to those of the typical school attended by other students throughout the city in an effort to assess whether public schools systematically disadvantage students in public housing in New York City. Our results are decidedly mixed. On one hand, we find no large differences between the resources of the schools attended by students living in public housing and the schools attended by their peers living elsewhere in the city; on the other hand, we find significant differences in student characteristics and outcomes. The typical school attended by public housing students has higher poverty rates and lower average performance on standardized exams than the schools attended by others. These school differences, however, fail to fully explain the performance disparities: we find that students living in public housing score lower, on average, on standardized tests than their schoolmates living elsewhere- even though they attend the same school. These results point to a need for more nuanced analyses of policies and practices in schools, as well as the outside-of-school factors that shape educational success, to identify and address the needs of students in public housing.