What the research says…

Education Digest: Getting It Right from the Start: The Case for Early Parenthood Education (2012) summary: The language gap that results in the achievement gap begins at home. Schools can and should do their part to close this gap, but parents, by reading to children and interacting with them in positive and encouraging ways, need to do their part, too.

The International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1998) states: “Failing to give children literacy experiences until they are school age can severely limit the reading and writing levels they ultimately attain.”

The National Institute for Early Education Research (2006) states:  “Learning to read and write starts long before first grade and has long-lasting effects” and “Early literacy...plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences…linked with academic achievement and enhanced productivity in adult life"

University pediatricians (2003) findings indicate…that activating children’s neural circuitry (brain connections) for reading early on is key.  And it is estimated that there are over 700 neural connections per second, possible before the age of 5! 

Ackerman & Barnett (2005) show that about one in three children who arrive at kindergarten are simply not ready—academically, socially or emotionally.