Giving Compass' Take:

• The Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) located in Queens, NY, shares promising ways to promote diversity in school districts. 

• How can donors help advance the mission of the NYCDOE initiative? How can communities get involved? 

• Read more about how schools can achieve integration


After reading recent articles regarding diversity initiatives kicking off across the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), one might think that there are no diverse schools achieving strong student outcomes within some of the districts mentioned.

Our school, the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS), is located in District 28 in Queens, one of the districts featured in the diversity initiative within the NYCDOE, and is also one of the most diverse schools in New York. Our rich diversity is one of the primary reasons our students succeed in school and into their postsecondary lives. Heading into our 10th year as a school, our data supports this claim, with graduation and college data that rivals some of NYC’s screened schools but is almost unheard of for unscreened, Title I schools.

Similar to the stated goals of many diversity initiatives, the classrooms at MELS don’t reflect any one neighborhood in the district. Instead, our classes are full of students who reflect the richness in diversity of languages, religions, ethnicities, income levels and performance levels of students throughout Queens. Using the racial categories provided by the NYCDOE, the MELS student body is 20% Asian, 17% Black, 40% Latinx,17% white and 6% in multiple smaller groups.

As MELS was being built, we began with outreach to all of the stakeholders throughout neighborhoods to spread the message that our school was not for any one group, but instead was a space for all students throughout the entire district. We made efforts to reach out to all of the elementary schools in the area, to all of the elected officials and to many important voices across all areas of the district.

Read the full article about school leaders can promote diversity by Patrick Finley and Damon McCord at Education Dive.