De Blasio’s education plan focuses on early reading
Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the next phase of his education agenda Wednesday, touting his massive pre-K expansion as the foundation for a series of new policy initiatives aimed at improving standards and leveling the playing field for students in the nation’s largest school system.
De Blasio outlined a series of expansive new proposals meant to achieve three major goals: to have all children reading by third grade, to improve on-time graduation rates and to give all students a shot at attending college.
To reach those ambitious benchmarks, he detailed a number of policy initiatives, including hiring reading specialists to make sure all students are reading at grade level before third grade, mandating that all schools offer computer science within 10 years, creating a mandatory algebra curriculum for ninth-graders and ensuring that all schools offer Advanced Placement classes.