New York City officials on Thursday unveiled a post-pandemic recovery plan that includes a “mosaic” curriculum to standardize English and math instruction across all 1,600 city schools.
The e🉐ffort will focus on diversi♛fying educational materials to “better reflect” the demographics of the nation’s largest school system, officials said.
“It’s meant to be for the whole system,” Mayor Bill de B🐟lasio said at his daily briefing Thursday. “Which will simplify and clarify the work of our educators and better represent our kids.”
The campaign will provide “an unprecedented infusion of books into every classroom for next school year that reflect the variety of histories, languages and experiences that make up the city,” the Department of Education said in a statement.
The overhaul will cost $202 million and is expected to roll out by the fall of 2023 — long after de Blasio and the current chancellor are out of their jobs.
“It will reflect who our children are,” DOE Chancellor Meisha Ross-Porter said Thursday. “Because students are more engaged when they see themselves in their lessons and materials.”
De Blasio said that a DOE-designed universal curriculum will “simplify things” by allowing teachers to focus on instruction, rather than devising educational frameworks.
“It’s going to free up a lot of teacher time for the work teachers do best with their kids,” he said.
Teachers union chief Miܫchael Mulgrew heartily backed the plan alongside de Blasio and Ross-Porter Thursday.
“New York City, hands down, is the most diverse school system in the entire United States,” he said. “If not the world. In order to engage students — which is the basic key to all education — we need a curriculum that is responsive and they recognize and have their own interest in.”
Mulg🍌rew said that the DOE would now be responsible for selecting and distributing class🔯room materials.
“Teachers have struggled for decades to find these materials,” he said. “What we’re saying here is that the school system is taking on the role and responsibility of bringing all these materials together that represent all of the different children and populations and cultures that we teach.”
The overall spending package — to be disbur🍨sed over several years — also includes fund🦩ing for device purchases, lowering class sizes, and conducting literacy screens and remedial programs.
The plꦛan includes money for 500 literacy coaches and 140 new teachers at 72 high needs elementary schools, the DOE said.
A total of $251 million would go towards bolstering special education offerings — including the expediting of evaluations and the establishment of after school and weekend programs.
The package will provide college counseling for a⭕ll juniors and seniors, 48 new remote AP college-prep classes, and application and financial aid a✅ssistance.