In his State of the Union address this week, President Obama “propose[d] working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America.”  He said, “Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.”

Jonah Edelman, years ago a founder of LEAP in New Haven, then wrote a USA Today opinion article arguing for universal pre-school.

This spring in Hamden, CT, a March 28 Literacy Forum on Early Learning will bring together speakers including Myra Jones-Taylor, Early Childhood Planning Director for Connecticut, as well as policy expert Cyd Oppenheimer and educator Sandra Malmquist.  Moderating the panel will be Curtis Hill of Concepts for Adaptive Learning, which will be offering “Digital Literacy for Early Learners” – a series of workshops, as “a primer for parents.”

For more information about the March 28 Literacy Forum – for which there is no charge, but limited seating – and to RSVP, please contact: info@literacyeveryday.org.

As 2013 arrived, two organizations that are part of the Literacy Coalition were deploying impressive new websites:  Concepts for Adaptive Learning and the New Haven Free Public Library.  Visit them for more information and free resources, for learners of all ages.

The New Haven Register published “Improving Education Involves Everyone” – by a Literacy Coalition board member on the complementary roles of teachers, parents, and community organizations in supporting students’ success in school.

Nicholas Kristof, in a recent New York Times column, reflected on “the vast amount of human potential globally that is available if we can nurture and stimulate kids who now get neglected.”  He observed, “Some 61 million children around the world still don’t attend even primary school, and President Obama in his 2008 campaign was right to propose a global education fund, in part as an alternative to extremist religious schools.”

Kristof continued, “The even greater challenge is nation-building at home at a time when funding for schools is being slashed, about 7,000 high school students drop out every day, and there are long waits to get into early-childhood-enrichment programs like Head Start. Literacy programs can help break cycles of poverty and unleash America’s potential — and a single F-35 fighter could pay for more than four years of the Reading Is Fundamental program in the entire United States.  As we make hard budget choices, let’s remember that the essential fact of the world is that talent is universal and opportunity is not.”

The fall 2012 edition of Ed., published by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, includes an article on a new book, Literacy and Mothering: How Women’s Schooling Changes the Lives of the World’s Children.