November 1, 2016
We have massive learning gaps between groups of children in far too many schools in our country today. Efforts to close those gaps over the past two decades have very consistently failed. We have an economic reality where minority Americans have an average net worth that is less than 30 percent of the average net worth for White Americans. Unemployment levels are far higher for...
September 12, 2016
Sixty percent of African American males in this country who drop out of school end up in jail. The recidivism rate for those prisoners is nearly 80 percent. Those numbers are horrible. They result in damaging life trajectories for far too many. We can change those trajectories — but to change them, we need to make those changes for people in the very first weeks, months,...
May 21, 2016
Many people who have read the Three Key Years book have asked me for a one or two page summary of the key points in language that can be helpful to new parents. The people who have made that request say the full book is a good teaching tool for parents, families, caregivers, community leaders, and educators — but it is not optimal as a...
August 7, 2015
The most recent learning ability scores for Minnesota school children showed that gaps between white students and Hispanic, African American, and Native American children continue at unacceptable levels. Seventy percent of the white children are reading at age appropriate levels compared to less than 40 percent of the children from the other groups. Those gaps are not due to race or ethnicity or even the...