Philanthropists and policymakers sometimes opt to fund childhood education to "stop illiteracy at the source" at the expense of funding for adult literacy education. In 2000, "The New York Times" published an article about a gift of $100 million being given to schools in Mississippi to promote the teaching of reading to…

Given the important intergenerational effects of parents' education level on the achievement of their children, education policies should shift from a focus on one life cycle to a focus on "multiple life cycles". Such a policy would explicitly recognize that adults transfer their educational achievements to the achievement of their…

The idea that families need to provide enriching educational activities is not new. In 1908, Edmund Burke Huey, regarded as "one of the foremost leaders" in educating children with learning disabilities, wrote, "The school of the future will have as one of its important duties the instruction of parents in the means of assisting the child's…

Hearing language is the first step in learning to read, write, and make sense of the world. The language gap that results in the achievement gap begins at home. Schools can and should do their part to close this gap, but parents, by reading to children and interacting with them in positive and encouraging ways, need to do their part, too. The idea…