Pre-K Now Issues a Call to Action

"Take two kids, one from a low-income family, the other middle class. Let them run around and do little-kid things in their respective homes and then, at age 5, enroll them in kindergarten. Research shows that when the first day of school rolls around, the child from the low-income household will be as many as 1.5 years behind grade level in terms of language and prereading and premath skills. The middle-class kid will be as many as 1.5 years ahead. This means that, by the time these two 5-year-olds start school, the achievement gap between them is already as great as three years.

(Observant readers will notice something new in the Look & Listen section of our right rail. It’s a great video – "Early Learning Matters" – customized for us by the First Five Years Fund. Its call to action complements the message in today’s blog post. Please share the video with friends and colleagues. Present it at meetings Post it on your website.)

by Irene Sege

Full Story: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2011/09/28/pre-k-now-issues-a-call-to-action/