President's Message: Early Opportunity

by Dr. Blanche Podhajski

Early education is back in the forefront.  President Obama is not alone in valuing the importance of quality experiences during the earliest years.  Educators have long expressed concern about disparities on the preschool playing field.

Children of poverty have been reported to have the fewest of these quality experiences and by four years of age lag behind their peers in basic language skills that predict becoming literate.

Hart and Risley’s classic study (1995) showed a 32 million word exposure gap between children of college educated parents versus those from poverty.  So how can anyone argue with supporting early learning in settings that are play based, developmentally appropriate and taught by “well-trained teachers?”   Here is where the rubber hits the road. When 2/3 of all fourth graders and 4/5 of fourth graders from poverty in this country fail to read at a proficient level according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2011), do we assume they were not taught by “well-trained teachers?”  Educators in elementary school have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and pass state licensure exams.  Nonetheless, their professional training varies widely despite development of Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (2010) and introduction of the Common Core State Standards (2010).

Were these children behind before they entered school?  It could well be given that almost 50% of children enter kindergarten not ready to read. And were we to begin at 3 years of age, would we not then question whether some children’s first three years of life did not include higher quality early learning experiences than others?  We know that by nine months of age, children’s brains are responding to extraordinary learning opportunities in terms of the sounds they learn and the mouth movements they attend to for early speech production.  We also know that parents are a child’s first teachers.

So, whatever the child’s age and whatever the philosophy of where early learning should take place, let’s make sure parents, child care providers and teachers are given the knowledge they need to promote a successful start for literacy learning. I am grateful to the many private foundations that helped develop BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® (1997) and bring it to scale through a free online version for early care and education providers and parents www.buildingblocksforliteracy.org.  Well-trained teachers at home, school and in child care settings need to be at the epicenter of any effort to improve outcomes for our youngest learners.

Dr. Blanche Podhajski, president and founder of the Stern Center, has over 30 years experience working with individuals with learning differences. She teaches and consults with educators throughout the country and is a frequent presenter at regional and national conferences.