• ... as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature initiative — public pre-K for all 4-year-olds in New York City — gets bigger, it is also improving.
The way it should be in the ENTIRE USA (not to mention THE WORLD) as the starting point of the much touted, never achieved "equal opportunity", impossible without equal education for all.
“Do not raise your children the way [your] parents raised you, they were born for a different time.”
~ ALI IBN ABI TALIB
(601 or 607 – 661 CE)
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If these programs work well enough maybe these children will someday raise their own kids who will not need these services.Ideally, families--not the state--raise young children and teach them to read, feed them and care for them.
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@Frued Why do you think families would do a better job than a partnership between families and schools? As a mother of three, I am all for excellent Pre-K and 3-K schools, as well as excellent childcare cnters for younger children, to supplement the time my child has with the family.
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As a third and fourth grade teacher, I am eager to see how universal pre-K prepares my students before they get to me. Anecdotally, I think my students who've been to pre-K do better than those who started school in kindergarten, but I will be curious to see if there's a noticeable difference when the vast majority have been to pre-K.
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free pre-k,,, is one of the biggest evolutionary steps for women who choose to have a child... it provides the same independence afforded to men..
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My daughter is in NYC pre-K and I my wife and I are thrilled with the program. It's full day, from 8:40 to 2:50 and the school provides free breakfast and lunch for them. They have at least one specialty class per day in either science, art, music, PE, or library. Almost every day they go on a "journey," walking as a group off the school grounds and into our Brooklyn neighborhood; visiting a farmer's market, Prospect Park, a garden where they grow herbs, or local mom & pop stores where they learn what grownups do at work. My daughter loves going to school and can't wait for Monday morning. She has three teachers for a class of 19 kids, and it's obvious that they are passionate about what they do for a living. My wife are incredibly grateful that this high quality, Reggio Emilia-inspired public education is provided by our fellow New Yorkers!
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Unless there's follow up to pre k , it's baby sitting. And NYC schools from k on are iffy at best. And this is on the mayor. Education is all of one cloth.
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Bravo! This is wonderful news. High quality preschool means that you have kids ready to learn in Kindergarten, which will pay big dividends later. Now focus hard on both ends: getting 3 year olds into these preschools and making sure all kids are good readers by the third grade. That will eventually solve the problem at the Renewal schools
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This is an amazing win.
Every bit of research shows that 3K, PreK and K are some of the most important years for children because brain development and social skills are developed at this age.
Studies have shown that lower income and disadvantaged kids that have a good education at these ages are more likely to succeed because skills developed at this age are carried throughout their life-time. Conversely, studied have also shown that children that do not develop proper skills at this age are behind the moment they step into school and either struggle or never catch up.
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What great news for those kids. Every year that they have access to quality education counts, and every kid counts.
I would love to see follow-up on how this works for working parents. Do the Boys and Girls clubs and YMCA pick up the slack after school? How do parents get their kids to school?
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@L
Hi L,
As a parent of a 4-year old currently enrolled in one of NYC's Pre-K for All programs, I can tell you that getting my child to and from school definitely poses challenges.
My spouse and I both work full-time (but thankfully enjoy flexibility when it comes to needing to leave early to pick up our child).
But in answer to your question, the majority of programs offer an early drop-off and late pick-up option that we use for a fee payable directly to the program and not the City. We wouldn't be able to make it happen any other way. It means that our child is there from about 8am until 6pm but he absolutely loves the place and it's a struggle to get him to leave.
:)
As far as getting to and fro?
The subway or bus or sometimes we walk (about 25 minutes).
Overall, we are highly satisfied with the mayor's initiative and grateful our son gets to benefit from it.
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@L
Thanks for your interest! My daughter is in the PreK facility Mayor de Blasio is visiting in the photo. My wife and I both work. The school really goes out of their way to help the diverse schedules of NYC parents. There are multiple after school programs; some are right on site, and others pick up your kid and transport them in a small group to care facility. The school provides early drop off as well.
To get to school, parents and kids either walk, take a public bus, ride the subway, drive their car, or put their kid on the back of a bike and ride. The walk is often about 30 minutes, the train or bus ride often 10 minutes.
NYC is so dense, where could the parents possibly park in such a rush? In a surprisingly grand gesture, the NYPD actually leaves a large window of time where it is *legal* to double park your car in the street during drop off and pick up! This means you can just pull up right in front of the school without having to look for parking and hop out.
All in all you feel like the other grownups are really trying to lend a hand.
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