For Anyone Interested in Education and Public Affairs

Pertinent Facts from Building Blocks:

• Students who complete third grade as poor readers face an almost certain struggle for the remainder of their schooling. (p. 1)
• The differences among children before they ever reach school can be enormous.  (p. 19)
• Differences in parenting account for an estimated one-third to one-half of the variation in school outcomes. ( p. 31)
• Concern about asking too much of three- and four-year-olds ignores accumulating evidence that youngsters at these ages can learn far more than educators and parents previously recognized. ( p. 33)
• Some children, beneficiaries of enriching experiences, appear at kindergarten doors poised to prosper. (p. 57)
• An extensive review of the research literature shows a broad empirical basis for zeroing in on children from the ages of three to eight to integrate and align learning during that period. (p. 75)
• Children need extensive exposure to rich language in a multitude of forms to become strong, swift readers who glide across a page like a graceful swimmer cutting through water. (p. 87)
• Students need to build a foundation for mathematics in the early years or they will flounder in high school, avoid math in college, and cut themselves off from careers in fields demanding knowledge of math. (p. 104)
• In an ideal curriculum, social studies and science would play a bigger role during the years from preschool through third grade. (p. 119)
• The years from pre-K through third grade loom as a proving ground for the ability of schools to absorb immigrant children and provide them with a worthy education. (p. 137)
• Habits and dispositions that will last a lifetime take form during the preschool years and the primary grades of elementary school. (p. 149)
• Alignment between curriculum and assessment shows how foolish some critics can be when they object to teaching to the test.  If you want second graders to learn to solve multistep word problems in math, then teach them how to do so by giving them multistep word problems to solve.  (p. 170)
• Almost nothing happens unless teachers take responsibility for making it happen.  A classroom door slams shut and a teacher reigns supreme over a realm bounded by four walls.  (p. 195)
• Let’s say it straight out: No child between the ages of four and eight years old should be alone or very far from the eyes of an adult after the school day ends. (p. 210)
• Those who believe in giving children the best possible start have only to resolve to lift out this portion of schooling and provide it with the separate integrity and distinct prominence that it deserves. (p. 227)