The Every Child Ready to Read program encourages parents to interact with their children using the five practices of early literacy: singing, talking, reading, writing, and playing. The program is reaching children in high-need communities who are likely to enter school less prepared their wealthier peers. Every Child Ready to Read has found that…

Good schools can go a long way toward helping poor children achieve more, but the fact remains that educational inequity is rooted in economic problems and social pathologies too deep to be overcome by school alone. Ending the cycle of disadvantage requires prevention and early intervention programs that help families who are desperately…

Many low-income children do not have the opportunity to develop the computer skills necessary to succeed in our technological economy. Their only access to computers and the Internet--school, afterschool programs, and community organizations--is woefully inadequate. Educators must work to close this knowledge gap and to ensure that low-income…

In a study conducted by the authors regarding children's use of library books and computers during the summer, the authors found that children in low-income and middle-income neighborhoods use such resources differently. Although the authors found that both sets of children used public libraries heavily, wealthier children were exposed to more…

Argues that for schools to reach the No Child Left Behind Act requirement that all children reach proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014, a major effort must be made to develop and implement high-quality compensatory prekindergarten programs. The major features of these programs include sufficient time, precise targeting, thoughtful focus,…

An ethnographic study of an urban comprehensive high school shows that teachers rarely used Channel One as a focus of instruction in their classrooms. Students watched Channel One primarily during an 18-minute homeroom period--a concession to parents, teachers, and administrators reluctant to sacrifice instructional time to show the program. Two…