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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It all starts at home. Educators cannot be both educators and parents, although many of them admirably try. Parents must be engaged in their child's education and provide basics like adequate sleep and nourishment. When these baseline things are not being provided [b]it's difficult to see how a school can make up for all of the inadequacies regardless of how many wrap-around services they provide.[/b] [/quote]

You're right, but that would mean that administrators aren't miracle workers, and they can't admit that.  It doesn't help that they've been taught to think of themselves that way and can't accept the fact that they are not as wonderful as they thought.[/quote]

It is not politically palatable to say we can't fix this problem. Headstart was supposed to be the great equalizer, but it wasn't. Because by the time the child gets to preschool,much of the damage is irreparable.
[url]
http://literacy.rice.edu/thirty-million-word-gap[/url]

The finding that children living in poverty hear fewer than a third of the words heard by children from higher-income families has significant implications in the long run. When extrapolated to the words heard by a child within the first four years of their life these results reveal a 30 million word difference. That is, a child from a high-income family will experience 30 million more words within the first four years of life than a child from a low-income family. This gap does nothing but grow as the years progress, ensuring slow growth for children who are economically disadvantaged and accelerated growth for those from more privileged backgrounds.

In addition to a lack of exposure to these 30 million words, the words a child from a low-income family has typically mastered are often negative directives, meaning words of discouragement. The ratios of encouraging versus discouraging feedback found within the study, when extrapolated, evidences that by age four, the average child from a family on welfare will hear 125,000 more words of discouragement than encouragement. When compared to the 560,000 more words of praise as opposed to discouragement that a child from a high-income family will receive, this disparity is extraordinarily vast.

The established connection between what a parent says and what a child learns has more severe implications than previously anticipated. Though Hart and Risley are quick to indicate that each child received no shortage of love and care, the immense differences in communication styles found along socio-economic lines are of far greater consequence than any parent could have imagined. The resulting disparities in vocabulary growth and language development are of great concern and prove the home does truly hold the key to early childhood success.[/quote]

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