Literacy Crisis in Louisiana: Will your preschooler Start Smart?

Let this sink in: More than half of the kindergarten children are not ready to perform at the expected level; About half of the K-grade 3 children are not performing at grade level. Therefore, they will be less able beginning in fourth grade to use their skills to gain knowledge. They will forever be “catching up”. Schools have been and are in the business of remediation from day 1. Our undistinguished literacy record proves how very difficult it is to close an achievement gap that was 4-5 years in the making. Put simply: The schools can narrow a gap but have not and are unlikely to remediate our children out of this problem!!!

When children find themselves labeled as failures, beginning in kindergarten, it is not the children who have failed. We have failed them. When babies are born and given a name, their future is put primarily in the hands of their parents. In prior generations children learned everything they needed to know and to be at home and church. Today the structure of the family has changed and church attendance has declined. A baby’s future may be put in the hands of one parent, two parents, two sets of parents, stepparents, grandparents and others who need the support of the church and the community to teach them what they need to be successful in school and in life. The early education of children has become fragmented. Who is responsible for teaching children the 10,000+ words they need to have in their understanding vocabulary when they start formal schooling?

A child’s failure to do his or her best in school can often be traced to what was not intentionally taught and learned during the best teaching time ever – birth to school. The preschool years are the how-to years of teaching and learning: how to behave; how to listen; how to speak a language; how to understand meanings of words said or read aloud; how to understand and acquire conceptual knowledge; how to count and understand numerical concepts; how to think at basic and higher cognitive levels; how to respect authority and treat others with kindness and generosity; how to be honest and truthful; how to be responsible and work hard; how to be courteous and use good manners; how to save, give,and spend money that is earned. Expectations are set. Motivation is nurtured.

The future of our town, our state, and our country depends upon an educated , trained citizenry. We have a literacy crisis - a huge problem negatively impacting every citizen. The good news is that we can start doing something about it today. We can do what parents and churches did in prior generations to help children be successful in school and in life. We can help them START SMART!

Here are a couple of my sur-thrival tips from Start Smart:

Sur-thrival Tip 1: Develop vocabulary and expand conceptual knowledge by reading with your child every day for at least 15 minutes. Begin Story Time soon after birth. The Parish Public Library will help you. Enroll your child in their free 1000 Books/ Birth to Kindergarten Program.

Sur-thrival Tip 2: Develop self discipline beginning soon after birth by reinforcing desirable behavior. Don’t reward misbehavior.

START SMART: 10 ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS FOR KIDS BEFORE THEY START SCHOOL contains information and Sur-thrival Tips to help parents and other early teachers give preschoolers the foundation they need and deserve to be successful in school and in life. startsmartbooks.org

YOU ARE INVITED to a START SMART BOOK SIGNING EVENT, Saturday, March 11, between 1:00 and 3:00 PM at Blessings Book Store and Marketplace, 110 Splane Drive, West Monroe.( next to the Prayer Park, across from Sonic)