Closing the Achievement Gap - Washington State School Directors ...

Train teachers to meet the demands of diverse student populations,including required coursework in teaching English language learners.Family Support and LiteracyTo close the readiness gap, adult literacy initiatives must be shifted tofamily literacy programs. Developing literacy and language withinfamilies recognizes the significant influence that parents have on theirchild’s development and supports families in providing that positiveinfluence.Family and community stability continues to influence children’ssuccess in schools. Research related to dropping out of school showsthat students who move frequently tend to drop out of school at fargreater rates. The academic achievement of students from highlymobile families also tends to be lower. Family support policies shouldrecognize the benefits of family and community stability to childrenand provide support systems and incentives for families to remain intheir community, especially during their children’s early school experience.Early Childhood EducationInvest in expanding quality preschool programs, particularly for disadvantagedchildren, and providing full-day kindergarten programs.Research on both quality preschool and full-day kindergarten providescompelling evidence that both strategies significantly increase studentsuccess in school.Improve the preschool experiences for three- and four-year olds byemphasizing the teaching of cognitive skills with preschool teachershighly qualified to do so. Support continued work to align K-12 EssentialAcademic Learning Requirements and benchmarks with birth tofive education.Support the position of the National Association for the Education ofYoung Children and the International Reading Association calling fora professional preparation system to ensure that staff in early childhoodprograms and teachers in primary schools have specializededucation that informs them about developmental patterns in earlyliteracy learning and about research-based ways of teaching earlyreading and writing.K-12 EducationSupport legislation to create small schools. As reported by Anne Lewisin ADD IT UP: Using Research to Improve Education for Low-income andMinority Students, several studies have found that as schools increasedin size so did the negative effects of poverty on student achievement.“The well-documented correlation between poverty and low achieve50CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: A POLICY ACTION GUIDE