Closing the Achievement Gap
Help Hive Mind!
So I am too sick to go to work today. What am I doing instead??? The 5 question game on LJ and reading about the Pre-School-For-All movement in California.
Here's the problem. There is a huge achievement gap in California. African-America and Latina(o) students achieve far lower on reading and math assessments than do their Asian and White contemporaries.
Current brain research is suggesting that a lot more is going on in the mind of a 3-5 year old that we ever previously thought. Additionally, this same research seems to show a tremendous potential for 3-5 year olds to learn.
Studies have consistently shown that children who go to a high-quality pre-school do far better in their educational lives than children who do not go to pre-school.
In California, quality pre-schools are private and expensive and populated with the children of wealthy, mostly white and asian families, thus widening the achievement gap rather than bridging it.
Is universial, public preschool the answer? If not, what is the answer, or an answer? What is a way we can help African-American, Latino(a) children achieve in math and reading?
Parameters of answers: No magic. We cannot change the child or the parents. Assuming they are doing the very best they can do. All we can change are laws and the behavior of 25% of current working teachers.
So I am too sick to go to work today. What am I doing instead??? The 5 question game on LJ and reading about the Pre-School-For-All movement in California.
Here's the problem. There is a huge achievement gap in California. African-America and Latina(o) students achieve far lower on reading and math assessments than do their Asian and White contemporaries.
Current brain research is suggesting that a lot more is going on in the mind of a 3-5 year old that we ever previously thought. Additionally, this same research seems to show a tremendous potential for 3-5 year olds to learn.
Studies have consistently shown that children who go to a high-quality pre-school do far better in their educational lives than children who do not go to pre-school.
In California, quality pre-schools are private and expensive and populated with the children of wealthy, mostly white and asian families, thus widening the achievement gap rather than bridging it.
Is universial, public preschool the answer? If not, what is the answer, or an answer? What is a way we can help African-American, Latino(a) children achieve in math and reading?
Parameters of answers: No magic. We cannot change the child or the parents. Assuming they are doing the very best they can do. All we can change are laws and the behavior of 25% of current working teachers.