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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 254-04
September 27, 2004

STATEMENT BY MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON THE PANEL FOR EDUCATION POLICY APPROVAL OF 5TH GRADE PROMOTION POLICY

"I would like to thank the Panel for Education Policy for approving our plan to eliminate social promotion in the 5th grade.  Starting in October, we will allocate $20 million to fund an array of interventions that will replicate strategies we used last year to help 3rd graders during the Summer Success Academy, which resulted in more than twice as many students graduating prepared to do 4th grade work as the year before.  The extra attention and dedication from teachers, parents and students worked in the 3rd grade, and we will now apply the same standards to help 5th graders as well.

"For years, the school system failed thousands of students by giving up on them and promoting them regardless of their ability, condemning them to failure later on in life.  We owe it to our students to provide them with the education they need to succeed, and approving the 5th grade plan is an important step toward achieving that goal."







MEDIA CONTACT:


Edward Skyler/Robert Lawson   (212) 788-2958




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