LITERACY STATISTICS: IMPROVE READING

WHAT GOOD IS THE CORE CURRICULUM IF KIDS CAN'T READ?

The vocabulary of children from the poorest backgrounds lags more than a year behind that of their classmates from richer homes by the time they start school. Educational inequality starts young and leaves children from the most disadvantaged homes struggling to keep up throughout their school years. The poorest children face multiple challenges, being less likely to be born to well-educated parents. Good parenting can triumph, with families able to limit the effects of poverty by, for example, reading to their children daily. Government hould provide 25 hours a week of education to the 15% most disadvantaged families.

Zeroing in on a critical benchmark
According to a report from the Annie E. Casey foundation, "the time is now to build a consensus" around the urgent fact that millions of American children get to the fourth grade without learning to read proficiently, putting them on the path to dropping out. By the beginning of the fourth grade, the ability to read is a "make-or-break" benchmark in a child's education, since until this point the curriculum is centered on learning to read, and after this point a certain literacy is assumed. Compounding the crisis is the fact that the definition of "proficiency" varies from state to state, leading to an underreporting via state testing data. The study therefore recommends that extensive efforts are made to address a "readiness gap" -- disparities between high-income and low-income children in readiness to learn -- that in turn develops into the "achievement gap." Current national policies and funding streams are too fragmented to yield widespread positive results. A coherent system of early care and education must be implemented; parents, caregivers, and families must be enlisted as "co-producers" of good outcomes for children; low-performing schools must be transformed; and practical and scalable solutions must be found to address chronic absence from school and summer learning loss.

This web site is an innovative dynamic model using the World Wide Web and integrating Literacy, Technology and the Arts, effecting a systemic change for the disenfranchised group of people created by illiteracy. Using technology this project will teach children to read and write Standard English and turn a destructive situation around by, addressing the root causes of social problems through a neutral, non judgmental process giving the child's home dialect the dignity it deserves. Improving literacy through arts education and advocacy by providing collaborative and interdisciplinary resources for understanding world culture. And lastly to help all children (especially girls), teachers, and regular folks to learn to use and feel comfortable with technology.

Learn how to read, how to write, how to use computers, how to find and evaluate information found on the net. Find out more about literacy and approaches to improving it.

IDEATION SCAFFOLDING Evolution of Language How the Brain Works From Quill to Keys Old Pedagogy Problems to New Pedagogy Solutions Sync Sense Social Rhythm Research Experts Sync & Swim -- Find Connections Between: Speech, Music, Reading, & Technology Motivation The Key is Laughter ~ Play Using Multiple Intelligences and different learning styles Culturally Relevant Content Integrate literacy (Language Arts), the arts (music) and technology into the classroom using Interdisciplinary, thematic, collaborative Online Curriculum BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY INTO THE RESEARCH