TODAY
Today like millions of other Americans
I went to work. I didn't design a beautiful skyscraper,
I didn't write a proposal to save an endangered species,
and I didn't drive a bus or fly a plane,
or write a crucial bill that would someday become a law.
However, I did spend time with some very important people.I read a story to an attorney,
I sang the alphabet song with a Supreme Court Justice.
I ate Lunch with a pastor,
and patted the back of an engineer until she fell asleep.
Taught a policeman how to tie his shoes,
and introduced an astronaut to the color red.Tomorrow, who knows whom I'll meet,
but one thing is for sure.....
They will be very IMPORTANT
For they are our precious children,
and the hope of our very future.Author – Unknown
As another group of Pre-K children gets ready to graduate and go into Kindergarten, we need commitment and political will from all 50 State Governors and the Federal Government about this future. Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at the Harvard Medical School, reminded everyone at Purpose Built Communities Conference in Charlotte, NC in October 2014, that “there is a rich science out there which is moving very quickly and we should lovingly and constructively be dissatisfied with what we are accomplishing with the best of what we are doing— settling for nothing but breakthrough outcomes”.
Dr. Shonkoff so eloquently also said, “It is really nice when your grandmother’s wisdom and sophisticated science end up at the same place.”
CLASS provides the poetry, the sophisticated science framework, and the correlation to child outcomes, and who can argue with amazing teacher child interactions!
Padma Rajan is a Teachstone Ambassador. She is the VP of Programs, Research and Evaluation for the Early Learning Coalition of Duval in Jacksonville, FL, where she spearheaded and facilitated the implementation of Guiding Stars of Duval, the Quality Rating and Improvement System in Duval County, for the past decade.