Early Childhood Education Programs Work!

In the midst of an economic meltdown that has hit hard at families and services nationwide, there is actually good news on the education front. The federal government is finally promoting real, meaningful educational reform, the kind that hasn’t occurred in decades. It is looking for pioneering communities with innovative ideas on how to improve America’s education system so that all children can learn.

Across the Country, a special W.K. Kellogg funded initiative—Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids, or SPARK—has effectively linked early learning systems and public schools for the purpose of better serving children from 0-8 years of age and advancing a ready schools movement. This program aims to reach the most vulnerable children and improve everything from children’s kindergarten readiness to parents’ abilities to educate their kids.

While all levels of education are ripe for reform, early learning is likely to undergo the most sweeping transformation. Until now, school systems have funneled energy and resources to remediation in an often-futile attempt to keep struggling, older children in school. The approach was a classic example of doing too little, too late, and it has prevented far too few teens from dropping out.

Young children learn more, do better in school and, ultimately, in the world of work when they move seamlessly from home to child care to preschool to the early grades. Unfortunately, far too few children experience such seamlessness, thanks to a herky-jerky system that moves them from one place and grade to the next with no sense of continuity.

The Mainstream Media Project offers local spokespeople in select states who can discuss how SPARK creates strong connections among parents, teachers and students and between classrooms and communities, serving as a model for states and municipalities nationwide.