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Easton: I’m probably the obvious one to give that a try.
I think educators increasingly understand that kids need an early,
strong foundation to succeed in school.
There are a number of indicator systems used around the country that can predict high
school dropout by things like third-grade attendance, by whether kids have really learned
to comprehend text at about that same age.
There are a number of activities that are really aimed as a greater focus on early
childhood preparation these days.
Right now, our department is making the single largest investment that it ever has in a
project that we call reading for understanding, which is about comprehension.
It’s beyond the decoding, beyond being able to read the sentences, but to really
understand what they mean.
We think that this will lead to potentially powerful interventions.
We’re spanning the grades from preschool to 12 to develop a kind of a suite,
a regimen of interventions.
I think it’s really well understood that prevention needs to start very early with very
strong educational programs.
Kids who are more likely to succeed in school are much more likely to engage and succeed
through life.