By: Hugh B. Price
President
National Urban League
Knowledge is power. We've all heard that old saying. But just because the adage is a common one doesn't make it any less true.
Education is the great equalizer of American society. It unlocks the doors to children's futures. It's the key to enabling them to gain access to the opportunity that will propel them up the ladder of mobility.
Of course, education isn't a surefire guarantee of success in life. But statistics show beyond a shadow of a doubt that the better educated you are, the better off you'll be economically. So, getting a good education has always given young people a leg up on life. That was true in days gone by, and it's truer today-the Information Age-than ever before.
The fact that achievement matters is widely recognized by parents and caregivers of all stations in life. But many parents and caregivers, despite their best efforts, find it difficult to translate that understanding into actions that give the children in their care the proper foundation for scholastic success.
That's why I've produced a book, ACHIEVEMENT MATTERS: Getting Your Child The Best Education Possible, which is being published by Kensington Publishing Corporation and will be available in July.
As is evident from the title, this is a"how-to"book to give parents of children up to 9 years old, or the third grade, no matter what their station in life, the practical advice and methods they need to play a significant role in getting their children onto the achievement track.
It also discusses how to"navigate"the school system so that individual families, groups of parents, and whole communities can mobilize to make their local schools and their local school systems work to give their children the best possible quality of education. Every American child has a right to equal educational opportunity, and all parents must demand that schools provide it. No one should accept any more excuses for school teachers' or school administrators' failures.
At the same time, parents can no longer make any excuses for their own failure to pursue the best quality education for their children. It's no exaggeration to say that their childrens' very lives depend on it.
So, the bulk of ACHIEVEMENT MATTERS' chapters concentrate on such tings as parents"taking charge of your child's education,"and reminding them that"high achievement starts at home,"and that"learning isn't over when the last (school) bell rings."
The book rests on understanding that literacy is more than just being able to read and write; that it's also the ability to understand and communicate information and ideas by others and to others clearly and to form thoughts using reason and analysis.
One reason parents are so crucial to this process is that research shows that the early childhood years, from birth to age 4, are critical to an individual's literary development in a host of ways.
Reading aloud to children appears to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they need for reading success. Children who are exposed to a wide range of words during conversations with adults learn the words they will later need to recognize and understand when reading. The more children know about reading, writing, listening, and speaking before they arrive at school, the better prepared they are to become successful readers. Indeed, studies have shown that for children whose first language is not English, a strong base in the first language promotes school success in others.
ACHIEVEMENT MATTERS suggests in specific ways by age and grade level how parents can create an environment in their home that encourages a love of learning and how to measure the progress the child is making.
For example, in terms of literacy goals, an infant or toddler (birth to 2 years of age) should communicate first with gestures and expressions, then with simple sounds and words, and enjoy listening to stories, songs and rhymes and playing language games.
The child should also learn to talk and respond to others for the pleasure of the interaction, love repeatedly hearing the same sounds and stories, and start using language to explain what they want, ask questions, and express her feelings and ideas.
To help children develop this facility, parents should talk to their child constantly, give simple explanations of what is happening and what will happen next, and use a higher pitch and long, drawn-out vowels, which will help babies and toddlers hear distinct sounds. They also must every day read aloud stories, sing songs or rhymes, and play language games in order to introduce children to the sound of words; and create a reading ritual to guarantee that parent and child will have a"snuggle"reading session every day.
These suggestions, drawn from the voluminous research on the subject, and from"mother wit,"too, have given me a renewed appreciation for how fundamental literacy in early childhood is to a child's happiness and sense of well-being and their later success in life.
Who could refuse any child that opportunity?
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