SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher testified today at a legislative hearing on the 2012-13 Executive Budget proposal. But it was her off-budget remarks about SUNY’s efforts to repair the education pipeline that held the room’s attention.
“I’m an educator. And I can say, unequivocally, we do not have a system of public education in this country.
“We do not adequately connect the preparation of early childhood to kindergarten readiness. Forty to 50 percent of the children in this country come to kindergarten underprepared, and I’m not talking about taking an SAT test. There are variables that tell you whether children, young children, have the vocabulary and the sensitivities to do kindergarten work.
“We have attrition in third and fourth grade. Even though third and fourth graders typically don’t physically walk out of school, they walk out of early math and early English instruction. And then they fail early on in the pipeline. Where we’re catching this is in the transition from high school to college, but trust me, it starts a long time before that.
“Rather than rewrite the law of who’s in charge of which grades, I have been a profound proponent of working collaboratively with early childhood educators, elementary and secondary educators, we at the college level, and even the workforce development people to say: This is a pipeline.
“SUNY is on record as trying to meld that pipeline into a more systematic way of educating our young people and it brings everybody to the table.
“Part of our job is to create these partnerships at the local level. We are doing this in Albany. We’re doing this in Rochester. We’re doing this in Harlem. We have a rural partnership in Clinton County. We have 23 early college high schools where students take college courses – students that you would never expect to be going on to college.
“I actually think it would be really important that we have a discussion – maybe even a hearing – about this issue, where we can put the pieces together that are ultimately going to serve New York’s young people. And that’s all I think I can say today, but we are all over this issue.”
100% agree. And I would add: if you are interested in connecting the dots between elementary, middle, high school and college, get the federal government to issue FERPA regulations that allow schools to keep track of their alumni as interested parties. There is no potential harm, and the effect is to create the opportunity for kids in traditionally underserved communities–who have the least access to a social safety net and a professional peer culture–to be supported in a manner that wealthier kids take for granted.
Dear Chancellor Zimpher,
Many of those 40–50% of "unprepared" kindergartners, and then 3rd and 4th grade "drop-outs" are struggling readers. They need to be able to play and socialize in kindergarten, and be exposed to pre-reading activities, plus early math activities such as blocks and cooking! (What better grounding for learning fractions later on!) Then they need the specialized reading help that "Response to Intervention" is supposed to provide, but that is currently not being adequately provided in NYS, and not at all in NYC. See my article on this subject at http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/education/20…