City will now serve 26,000 three-year-olds across all five boroughs in 2020-21 school year
As part of the Mayor’s 2020 State of the City address, Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza are announcing that 3-K is expanding to Districts 1 (Chinatown, East Village, Lower East Side) and 14 (Greenpoint, Williamsburg) in the Fall, bringing the total number of Districts to 16, spanning every borough across the City. In the Fall of 2020, 3-K will also expand to Districts 12 (Central Bronx) and 29 (Cambria Heights, Hollis, Laurelton, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, St. Albans) as announced in 2018. 3-K and Pre-K applications open today.
Through this expansion, 3-K for All will serve 26,000 children citywide for the 2020-21 school year. This includes all 3-year-old children served citywide in Head Start and Child Care programs, which transferred from ACS to management by the DOE this summer to create a single early childhood system for families.
"Every family should be able to give their child the world, and expanding 3-K will help us set even more of our students on the path to success,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “3-K and Pre-K for All are unlocking the potential of every child and creating more opportunity for families.”
"I'm so excited to make 3-K bigger and better than ever this fall, serving a total of 16 districts and up to 26,000 three year olds. We know that the City's youngest learners and their families benefit tremendously from getting in the classroom earlier, and I thank Mayor de Blasio for his leadership and support in growing early childhood education each year,” said Chancellor Richard A. Caranza.
3-K for All is the nation’s most ambitious effort to provide universal, free, full-day, high-quality early childhood education for every three-year-old child, and builds on the success of Pre-K for All. Research has found every dollar invested in high-quality early education saves taxpayers as much as $13 in the long-term.
These districts were selected based on need and space availability, and builds on the Mayor’s commitment to early childhood education. Each year, the City has outpaced its planned growth—originally, 3-K was expanding to only 8 districts by Fall 2020.
With this increased commitment, the full schedule for 3-K expansion is:
· 2017-18: District 7 (South Bronx) and District 23 (Brownsville)
· 2018-19: District 4 (East Harlem), District 5 (Harlem), District 16 (Bedford-Stuyvesant), and District 27 (Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Rockaways)
· 2019-20: District 6 (Washington Heights and Inwood), District 8 (Country Club, Pelham Bay, Throgs Neck, Castle Hill, Soundview, Hunts Point), District 9 (Grand Concourse, Highbridge, Morrisania), District 19 (East New York), District 31 (Staten Island), and District 32 (Bushwick)
· 2020-21: District 1 (Chinatown, East Village, Lower East Side), District 12 (Central Bronx), District 14 (Greenpoint, Williamsburg), and District 29 (Cambria Heights, Hollis, Laurelton, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, St. Albans)
The application for 3-K opens today, Wednesday February 5, and will remain open until Friday, April 24. Families in these new districts will be notified as new program options are added to the application, and they will be able to update their application at any time before submitting. Families can find programs and apply online at MySchools.nyc. Families can also apply over the phone at 718-935-2009, or in person at a Family Welcome Center. The online application is available in ten languages, and families can submit an application over the phone or in person in over 200 languages. All New York City families with children born in 2016 can apply for pre-K, and all families with children born in 2017 can apply for 3-K in the 2020-21 school year.
3-K and pre-K enrollment specialists – experts on sites across each neighborhood – will also be available to help families throughout the process as they find a program that best fits their child’s needs.
Pre-K for All and 3-K for All are part of the Mayor and Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda, which is building a pathway to success in college and careers for all students. 3-K for All and Pre-K for All are strengthening foundational skills and instruction earlier; Universal Literacy is working towards ensuring every student is reading on grade level by the end of 2nd grade; and Algebra for All is improving elementary- and middle-school math instruction and ensuring that all 8th graders have access to algebra. Equity and Excellence for All is also offering students more challenging, hands-on, college and career-aligned coursework – Computer Science for All brings 21st-century computer science instruction to every school, and AP for All is giving all high school students access to at least five Advanced Placement courses. Along the way, they are giving students and families additional support through College Access for All, Single Shepherd, and investment in Community Schools. Efforts to create more diverse and inclusive classrooms, outlined in the 2017 New York City school diversity plan and through diversity pilots taking root in eight districts, are central to this pathway.
