At A Loss For Words: How America Is Failing Our Children

14. We CAN Get There from Here

14 We Can Get There from Here I n 1989, President George H. W. Bush convened the nation’s governors to set educational goals for the nation. The summit led to the adoption of six educational goals, which Congress later expanded to eight. These goals were codified in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act,1 signed by President Clinton in 1994. The National Educational Goals Panel, made up of governors, state legislators, members of Congress, and representatives of the administration, was charged with monitoring progress toward the goals. In 2005, we have not yet achieved Goal 1: “All children will come to school ready to learn and succeed.” Yet this goal is, in Lisbeth Schorr’s words, “within our reach.”2 The key is language development, fostered in caring relationships through frequent, engaging, vocabulary-stretching conversations when children are between one and four years old. By applying existing knowledge and allocating appropriate resources we can assure that all children have access to the rich experiences that build a foundation for learning. With wise and affordable investments of public and private dollars, we can assure that children do not start school already having been “left behind.” The tools we need and the evidence that they can succeed have been explained in earlier chapters of this book. Table 14.1 summarizes what researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and funders have learned about what works and what doesn’t work to build a solid foundation for language, literacy, and school success. We know what our children need, and we know how to provide it. We alsoknowthatwearefallingshort.Intherichestandmostpowerfulcountry in the world, at a time when so much is known about what young children need and what they are capable of learning, no child should languish for lack of language. TABLE 14.1. Building a Solid Foundation for Language, Literacy, and School Success What Works What Doesn’t Work Practices r Talking with babies and young children—a lot!3 r Positive discipline and playful parenting4 r Using words that stretch children’s vocabularies in contexts that make their meaning clear5 r Asking children open-ended questions and encouraging their curiosity6 r Using language to reassure children, explain events and processes, and help them predict what will happen when7 r Using “decontextualized language” that goes beyond the here and now; talking about the past and future as well as the present8 r Encouraging and expanding pretend play9 r Reading books and telling stories with children many times a day, beginning in babyhood, in ways that hold their interest10 r Using books as springboards for interaction and discussion—“dialogic reading”11 r Playing with words, sounds, and word parts12 r Use of music, rhythm, and action games to teach vocabulary and play with language13 r Print-rich environments14 r Early identification and treatment of hearing, visual, and language difficulties, developmental delays, mental health and behavioral problems, nutritional deficiencies, and exposure to violence, abuse, neglect, or chronic stress15 r Waiting until children are ready to talk to them16 r Too many “no’s” and too few “yes’s”17 r Using limited vocabulary with young children so they will understand everything you say18 r Lack of explicit instruction or planned activities for children in a group setting19 r Overly didactic drill or instruction that doesn’t consider young children’s preferred modes of learning20 r Keeping books out of reach21 r Focusing too narrowly on specific skills like ABCs22 r Waiting until school age to teach book-handling skills, phonemic awareness, and ABCs23 r Teaching a child to read in a language in which he is not fluent24 Program Design r Providing parents with frequent practice in engaging their young children in rich conversations and fun learning activities25 r Combining parent support and education with good early education programs, especially for poor children26 r Beginning as early as possible, even before birth, to provide parents with education and support and to assure that any nonparental care supports robust language development27 r Using child-care programs, family centers, and other community-based organizations as hubs for supporting families, building community, and encouraging parenting practices that support language28 r Parent education programs that lack a strong language or relationship-building focus34 r Short-duration programs that enroll families for less than one year or children for less than two, especially for children with risk factors35 r Waiting until age four or five to provide early education programs for children and/or support for their parents...