France Could Solve Withering Racial Gap in New York Schools

NYC in a fog

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor Joel Klein seem stymied over what to do about the shameful racial achievement gap in New York city schools as reported on the front page of the New York Times (August 16, 2010, "A Triumph on the Racial Gap Withers in New York Schools"). To get the solution, all they need to do is look to France and watch a 5 minute recording from NPR's Morning Edition that's available free on the Internet:

NPR's Paris correspondent, Eleanor Beardsley tells about her son's preschool in Paris and shows how preschools get every child in France ready for success with literacy and ready to be a happy and healthy citizen: Preschools Aim To Please Toddlers, Moms.

Ms. Beardsley (an American) explains "In France, 100 percent of three, four, and five-year-olds attend preschool. So everyone starts first grade on an equal footing." In contrast, this year in America, about 1.5 million mostly poor children will enter kindergarten who cannot write their name. These are the same black and Hispanic students who fail in New York city schools.

Maxime, Ms. Beardsley's son, who is enrolled in one of Paris's lovely ecole maternelle (preschools) reads, paints, and has learned to write his name at age 3. The publicly funded stimulating and cozy environment even offers home-cooked meals.

Mayor Bloomberg, Mr. Klein, President Obama, and every parent of a preschool child in America should watch the five-minute NPR report and get the message: Take advantage of the critical brain-building years in early life. Fix the achievement gap before children enter kindergarten. Save the children-save the tax payers-save the country.

(Dr. Gentry is the author of Raising Confident Readers, How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write-From Baby to Age 7. Find out more about Dr. Gentry's work in literacy at www.jrichardgentry.com and find him on Facebook at JRichardGentry.com and on Twitter at RaiseReaders.)