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The New York state board of regents is recommending 12 components for its early-childhood education policy for children from birth through grade 3.
- • Services for children with special needs, from birth through age 2, using through “expanded and consistent” outreach from school districts and from health officials.
• Statewide prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds in all school districts.
• A lowering of the compulsory school age from 6 to 5.
• A requirement that all school districts to provide full-day kindergarten.
• Stronger connections in curriculum between prekindergarten and the primary grades.
• Integrated classrooms for young children with disabilities.
• Partnerships with family members that include information in native languages, parent training, and family-literacy programs.
• Greater collaboration between agencies working to help on from birth to age 8.
• Better alignment between pre-K and K-12 standards, curriculum, assessment, and data reporting, including expansion of the student tracking system to include 3- and 4-year-olds.
• Improvement of professional development and preservice education programs to make sure teachers are knowledgeable about recent research and how it translates into instructional practice.
• Use of the New York state university system as a resource to address academic-achievement gaps through public television, library materials, museums, and other programs.
• Creation of a “stable approach” to funding by linking financing to the state aid formula.
SOURCE: New York State Board of Regents
