Last week in The Daily Press, Aubrey L. Layne, Jr., president of An Achievable Dream, wrote a compelling Op-Ed piece on a best practice model, homegrown in Newport News, Virginia to break the cycle of poverty. This public-private partnership provides a results-oriented approach to eliminating the achievement gap.
Research tells us that the gap begins long before kindergarten entry and starts as early as nine months of age. In fact, by the age of 2-3 years old, the gap is more pronounced in the size of their vocabularies, ability to focus, follow directions, sharing and waiting their turn. The very heart of An Achievable Dream’s curriculum focuses on what economists report are highly predictive to educational and professional success—it is developing “the soft skills” like patience, perseverance, grit, creative problem-solving, self-control, curiosity and delayed gratification.
Many young children from low-income families are arriving at school behind their more advantaged peers; a trend that continues into high school and it is costly. Last fall, over 10,000 kids in our state entered kindergarten not ready and needing additional help in reading. Currently in Virginia, taxpayers spend nearly $80 million on children who repeat grades K-3.
An Achievable Dream can and should be replicated not only in other parts of the state, but nationally. Yet, we often hear people balk at the additional cost of $2,200 annually per student. Last month, we had the opportunity to visit An Achievable Dream and the results are strong:
- 98% of their students have graduated on-time for the past five years, well above the state average for economically disadvantaged students of 81.7%.
- 100% of students graduated on-time for the past two years, with 95% going on to college and 5% joining the military.
Clearly, the extra cost will save Virginia millions down the road. We can continue playing catch up, or we can have an impact on the front-end and eliminate the achievement gap, starting with early education. How is the additional $2,200 per student to lower dropout rates, reduce crime and ensure our students future success not a strategic investment?
E3: Elevate Early Education is a social entrepreneurial venture, created in 2012 by business, civic, and philanthropic leaders to aggressively pursue and challenge policy makers to make early education in our state a priority. Gary McCollum is the founding chair & Lisa Howard serves as the president & CEO.