One of the most extraordinary things that colors how I see why low-income kids so often fail in school is that I actually have looked at the difference between what those kids know when they start kindergarten versus middle class kids. The deficits poor children present is simply overwhelming. I met last week with the staff of one of those schools people describe as awful, populated with uncaring and incompetent teachers. Why? Because their students, overwhelmingly poor, don’t test well. So of course, it has to be the school and the teachers. Actually, those teachers gathered around a table in a lively kindergarten classroom, care a lot. And they do know how to teach. But how do they provide instruction on decoding/reading/math/science when their students walk into that room on their first day of school and they can’t count to 10, they don’t know alphabet letters, and lots of them have never held a crayon or a pencil, or learned to be compliant when asked to sit down for a lesson. Basic stuff that my kids certainly knew when they started school. Stuff your children know too. Yes, lots of them have never gone to Pre-K, because there isn’t any in their community. And the answer we hear repeatedly is that this problem of kindergarten readiness can be solved if only Pre-K were expanded. That will solve this. Oh great. Where is the money going to come from? Not from the Feds, not from any of the States, and with nearly 10% unemployment, you can bet your house (if you still own one) that it won’t materialize from any local government either. So where do we go from here? Well we actually have an answer. First Teachers @ Home offers a low-cost model that can readily expand to a bunch of communities that can make a difference in the lives of the 50,000 plus kids in Alabama who have no access to Pre-K. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if even a couple thousand of those kids were prepared by their parents! We need some volunteers ready to pitch in to help and some people to contribute some dollars to help us expand. Email us or call us for more details, please.
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