Many parents are not aware of the ongoing activities of the U.S. Department of Education that are designed to improve education for all students. Parents comments are always welcome. In some cases, parents may want to be more involved in activities such as the Satellite Town Meetings, or they may want to receive regular electronic reports from the Department. This Community Spotlight highlights a few of the Department s ongoing initiatives. The study found that most children enter kindergarten with beginning reading skills, and nearly all know numbers and shapes.
Most children start school with good social skills and are in good health.
My message to parents is to read, read, read. It makes a powerful difference. Some children can recognize words, and a very few can understand words in simple sentences. Although the findings were positive for the population as a whole, there are several groups of children whose knowledge and skill levels put them at risk. On average, according to the study, African American and Hispanic children, children from welfare homes, and children whose parents have less education had significantly fewer early reading and math skills, exhibited more problem behaviors, and were less healthy.