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Saturday, February 9, 2013

Read to Learn « Deborah Meier on Education

Read to Learn « Deborah Meier on Education:


Read to Learn

Out of the mouths of the experts designing our new expanded prekindergarten program.
We’re trying to ensure all children are ready to learn when they get to school,” said Neera Tanden, the president and CEO of the think tank and a former top policy official in the Obama administration. “Investing in early learning and pre-K is the best investment that we can make. The return on investment is significant.”
What does Neera Tandeny think little children are doing from the time they leave the womb until they arrive in a 3 year old, 4 year old or 5 year old classroom??? We used to try and figure out how we could keep the miraculous learning that ALL children engage in from birth to 5 alive and well after they get to school. Make a list of everything they know and know how to do that they didn’t at the time of birth. Even the most backward “talkers” are developing a vocabulary (regardless of dialect, et al) that we’d think inconceivable if we tried to provide for it by direct instruction. We are a specie that has no choice but to be learners, except under the most extreme