Schools serving the largest shares of poor and nonwhite students in New York State are more likely to be staffed with teachers who have no experience, according to the state's first comprehensive look at teacher equity in almost a decade.
Seventy percent of the more than 69,000 families that applied for a seat in the city’s rapidly expanding pre-kindergarten program will receive their top choice program and 12 percent of applicants will get an offer to their second or third choice, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.
In a move to bring more financial stability to the childcare system, the de Blasio administration has agreed to make several changes to Early Learn, the system that serves 36,000 children under age 5, including funding hundreds of programs by actual expenses instead of annual enrollment.
Concerned that kindergarten has become overly academic in recent years, states around the country are pushing back against the effects of federal testing requirements in the earliest grades.
New York City has taken Common Core implementation seriously, with two-thirds of elementary and middle school principals switching to English or math curricula recommended by the Department of Education, and educators frequently consult EngageNY, the state's popular Common Core curriculum web site, according to a new paper from the Manhattan Institute.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña deserve a round of applause for the successful expansion of pre-kindergarten for nearly 70,000 children, and the city should implement the same rollout strategy for its other initiatives, the Daily News writes.
