The achievement gap is present before children enter school. Thus, school interventions are necessarily compensatory – catch-up efforts to offset pre-existing inadequacy. An alternative, and more effective approach would be to prevent the achievement gap from emerging in such magnitude in the first place.That means starting early, and empowering parents to provide the supportive learning environment of early childhood that enables children to thrive in school. The authors cite Nobel Laureate James Heckman's work on the economics of early learning:
"[S]kills beget skills, success breeds success, and the provision of positive experiences early in life is considerably less expensive and more effective than the cost and effectiveness of corrective intervention at a later age."Success begins with parents. Informed, engage parents can provide the loving, supportive environment that begets skills, breeds success, and shapes a child's experiences in the education system.
For educators and policy makers, the essential question is: How do we inform, engage and empower parents from birth?
