Douzinas: Little program that could
Here’s a story of a little education program – the Parent-Home Child Program, started right here on Long Island some years ago – that succeeded where so many other school reforms failed.
It’s also a big story about educational priorities and what they should be based on. About what some professional “money managers” can teach public officials and policymakers.
I’ll start with the most salient point. PCHP obliterates the education gap.
Not for a year or two, but straight through high school. Nationwide, the graduation rate for low income students stands almost 20 points lower than the overall average – 64.8 percent versus 83.6 percent. But for PCHP students, the rate jumps to 84.1 percent, a shade higher than the overall average.
PCHP manages to accomplish what decades of school reform haven’t by attacking the problem at its roots. Research demonstrates that the education gap appears long before kids reach kindergarten, and can be traced to differences in parent-child interaction in the earliest years of life.
So, PCHP sends trained educators to visit the homes of disadvantaged families to work with parents and their 2- to 4-year-olds. Bringing books and educational toys, they model for parents how to interact with their children. The improved interaction boosts not only verbal and other cognitive skills, but vital personal and social skills known to be critical to school success.
