Students must be ready to learn
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We have known for decades that the public education delivery system in the United States is broken when it comes to serving many of our children. Over the past 20 years we have witnessed educational "fixes" come and go.
On a local level, the Pittsburgh Public Schools have undergone enough changes in the past five years to make even the savviest public school advocate feel a little dazed and confused. Yet the efforts that could be game-changing are sorely lacking from school reform in Pittsburgh. Before any child can be "Promise ready," the term used to describe students poised to take advantage of the Pittsburgh Promise college scholarship fund, they must be "learning ready."
Students come to school every day with a wide gap in "learning readiness." Those who have strong educational advocates at home possess a huge advantage over those who do not. Exposure to books, help with homework and the development of good study, sleep and nutrition habits are essential building blocks when it comes to ensuring that a child will be prepared to learn. Restructuring schools, teacher effectiveness training, accelerated learning academies and new principal training are all worthwhile endeavors, but heaping these reforms on an unsound foundation wastes precious time and resources.
The reasons a child comes to school ill-equipped to learn are myriad -- they include poverty, overworked/stressed parents and just plain inadequate parenting at all rungs of the socio-economic ladder.
Public schools alone cannot solve these problems. But they can ameliorate the disadvantages of insufficient educational preparedness with investments that can pay enormous dividends in the long run.
A report by Nobel Prize-winner James Heckman states that "family environments are important in determining education and skills. Growing numbers of children face adverse environments that restrict the development of these skills. Early education and other early interventions such as home visits can mitigate the effects of poor family environments."
First Published June 8, 2010 12:00 am
