The Adams administration has introduced a new curriculum for the city's youngest students, which officials say will make them better readers, but early education providers and advocates say the mayor's They fear the proposed budget will undermine that effort.
The curriculum changes are part of the government's focus on overhauling reading and writing instruction in a school system where only half of primary and secondary school students reach proficiency.
“If we really want our children to be able to read well by grade 3, we have to start at an early age,” says Kara Ahmed, deputy prime minister for early education. “We owe it to them to make it right because they can't be undone.”
But starting in November, Mayor Eric Adams proposed cutting a total of $170 million from next year's early education budget, saying capacity in the city's free preschool programs is outpacing parental access. While the City Council is currently considering the mayor's proposal as part of budget negotiations, advocates are concerned that these cuts will ultimately lead to less access to new reading instruction.
“The mayor cannot achieve his goals of improving education and cutting early childhood education.” [education] At the same time,” said Gregory Brender, policy director for the New York City Day Care Council. He said classrooms or entire providers may have to close if the proposed cuts go through.
Officials said the plan is to adjust early education slots to meet demand.
Education Ministry spokesperson Sian Tal said: “We will retain all the seats we need and will continue to work to optimize the number of seats.''
But critics say it's only making it harder for Mr. Adams to fulfill his top education priorities.
“The Adams administration is focused on literacy,” said City Councilman Lincoln Ressler. “But the problem is that we have reduced the number of children who can benefit from these programs.”
All elementary schools must adopt a vetted curriculum that aligns with the “science of reading.” Ahmed said the administration is expanding its efforts to early childhood education this year, infusing infancy-to-preschool programs with a similar focus on best practices.
On a recent morning at Isaac Remsen School PS 147 in Bushwick, teacher Sandra Gomez pulled a letter out of her bag and her class of 3-year-olds repeated the sound, tracing the air with their fingers.
Mr Ahmed said the new early childhood curriculum, called the Creative Curriculum, was better aligned with research into how young children learn to read and write. Emphasis on phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.
“Children can recognize letters, match letters with names, and expand their vocabulary,” says Gomez, who intersperses songs and dances between lessons.
Like many other elementary schools in the city, PS 147 taught the unit of study, a popular curriculum from Columbia University Teachers College, which taught students to guess words from pictures and context clues, Banks said. It is said that it was not effective because they were cheating on phonics while teaching the children. This year, teachers were given new materials through Creative Her Curriculum and Training.
Ahmed said the creative curriculum has been implemented in 90% of the city's early childhood programs, with the remaining 10% planning to implement it next year. Schools across the system are expected to use the same screening tools to assess whether children are reaching developmental milestones, Ahmed said, and teachers will be supported in shifting their pedagogies. He is reportedly receiving coaching for this purpose.
“You can’t build a house from the second floor,” she said. “This is really where the basics start.”
The mayor said the funding cuts to early education will come primarily from the reduction of unused seats.
According to officials, there will be a total of about 53,000 3K seats and about 75,000 pre-K seats. Of these, as of December, about 10,000 3-K seats and 15,000 pre-K seats were available, officials said.
But Ressler said if the seat is empty, it's because the administration isn't doing enough to reach out to parents.
“I hear from parents in my district every week about their inability to find affordable programs in their area,” he said.
“We understand that parents are panicking that their children will not be offered programs come September. We are doing everything we can to show that there is.”
Rebecca Bailin, executive director of the advocacy group New Yorkers United for Child Care, said it would be harder to meet literacy goals if the mayor cuts kindergarten slots. Ta.
“Learning early literacy skills thoroughly is very important. But if he really cares about it, he will meet universal 3-K and pre-K,” she said. Told.
