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David Letterman has his “Top 10” lists and so does U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan!
Last week Secretary Duncan spoke at the National Governors Association winter meeting and shared the “Top 10 Ten Reasons Why Expanding High-Quality Early Learning Is Inevitable In The Next Few Years.” Check them out below:
10. Greater public awareness of the importance of the early years to long-term health, learning, and the success of children and communities, coupled with widespread support for expanding early learning.
9. Governors, on a bipartisan basis, are funding substantial expansions of state and local early learning programs.
8. A diverse and robust coalition of law enforcement officials, military leaders, clergy, CEOs, unions, parents, and other constituency groups strongly support expanding high-quality learning opportunities.
7. Old arguments that states should have no role in providing low- and moderate-income families with voluntary access to early learning and child care have lost force.
6. Among the public and policymakers, there is growing recognition that quality matters tremendously when it comes to early learning.
5. For the first time, a majority of the states are now assessing the school readiness of children when they enter kindergarten–and the results spotlight that many children are starting school at a serious disadvantage.
4. The enactment of third grade reading laws in many states is going to propel an expansion of high-quality early learning.
3. The U.S. is far behind high-performing countries in providing early learning opportunities–and many leaders here at home are recognizing that building a system of high-quality early learning is critical to maintaining our international economic competitiveness.
2. The nation is currently in the midst of an unprecedented wave of innovation and capacity-building in early learning.
And The Number One Reason Why A Dramatic Expansion of High-Quality Early Learning Is Inevitable In The Next Few Years Is….
1. The enormous and persistent unmet need and demand for high-quality early learning in all 50 states.
Want to read all of Secretary Duncan’s remarks? Click here.