No surprise that early childhood education and skilled teachers prove important

This week, the National Conference of State Legislatures released a study, No Time to Lose:  How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State.  It was a compilation of eighteen months of study by a group looking at what the United States could do, if we chose to overhaul our education system.  They examined several other countries to determine what components we could hone to sharpen our educational system.

It should be no surprise that the first on the list was quality early childhood education.  Too many children in the United States show up on the first day of kindergarten lacking the skills to be successful.  They are cognitively and emotionally not ready for learning.  In contrast, all the top performing countries in the world invest heavily in early childhood education.  If unprepared in kindergarten, the trend will continue and the children go on to poor elementary schools, where teachers are without the necessary resources to turn the tide.  What we find in many U.S. schools is that teachers have to slow down and decrease the rigor to accommodate the learners who present themselves in classrooms.  If done right, early childhood education not only prepares children for kindergarten, it lasts into and beyond the third grade.  At that point, adequately prepared children are ready and eager to face academic rigor.

Second, the report highlights the necessity of having the best-trained teachers, working in the most under-resourced schools.  This supports the recommendations of Dr. Robert Putnam, who advocates incentives to teachers who teach in the under-resourced schools.  The report further recommends paying teachers well, so they will want to get in, do well and stay in the field.  Children need expert teachers who know what they are doing and love doing it.

Finally, the report suggests that we fix Career and Technical Education (CTE).  In the last twenty years, it has become a second class decision to take the vocational education path.  In our society, if you don’t get a college education, you have somehow failed.  In other countries, “CTE is not perceived as a route for students lacking strong academic skills, but as another approach to education, skills development and good jobs. CTE is well-funded, academically challenging and aligned with real workforce needs.”

Every Child Promise is encouraged by the local interest in supporting high quality early childhood education, a skilled education workforce, and opportunities for internships and apprenticeships in high skilled technical jobs.  Improving our educational system is not a one and done fix.  It will take a multipronged approach in all areas to truly make a difference.  But just as the report says, we have no time to lose.  We must start now!