What it takes to make a student

Hello

I hope your holiday was a good one, filled with family, friends and neighbors. There is no let up now until the new year so please remember to take some time for yourself......and breathe!

There was a great article in the recent Sunday New York Times that addresses the achievement gap between middle class kids and children from lower income families. Researchers have been trying for awhile to figure out what the difference is, especially now with the federal mandate of "No Child Left Behind". This mandate comes up for re-authorization soon. In this article "What it takes to make a student" the writer discusses the advent of charter schools in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country and how they are increasing the performance of children from the most at risk households.

The article also calls out the research that found that the parents of middle class kids made 487 "utterances" per hour to their child compared to 178 utterances an hour in welfare homes. Additionally, the study found that by age three, children with middle class parents heard 500,000 encourgements and 80,000 discouragements from their parents and children in welfare homes heard 75,000 encouragements and 200,000 discouragements.

This article points out the importance of parents as their children's first teachers and what a profound difference they can make in their children's future. It also points out the need for high quality early learning experiences for all children, whether it is in the home, a child care center or with other family members, friends or neighbors. Supporting parents as their children's first teachers and making sure there is access to high quality early learning is vitally important to all of us but especially important to our children. Thanks for caring.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this article.

Jeanne

Survey findings are encouraging

Hello

A recent issue of "Time Magazine" (10/30/06) contained a survey about how Americans spend their time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Survey (ATUS) asked 13,000 household respondants to describe how they lived on one day in 2005. There are some interesting and surprising findings. The ones that most impressed me were the ones pertaining to parenting and the sharing of responsibilities.

Findings:

• The survey found that although dual income middle-class mom and dads appear to be the busiest of parents, they still spend as much time-if not more-with their kids as parents did in 1965. Mothers are generally the ones who tend to sacrifice sleep and leisure time to make this happen.
• Employed women spend 40% less time on housework than their counterparts in 1965.
• Since 1965, men have doubled their share of housework to more than 9 hours per week. Women average over 19 hours a week on housework.
• Men spend 6.5 hours a week on child care and women spend almost 13 hours.
• Men spend 5 hours a week on shopping, women spend almost 9 hours.
• Men have 34.5 hours of free time per week and women have almost 32.
• Men work 42.5 hours a week and women work almost 24 hours.
  

What is encouraging to me is that parents appear to be making the choice to spend their free time with their kids. Dads are willing to pitch in and help with the housework and chores. There are still areas where women are carrying more of the responsibility but there has been progress since 1965 and the advent of women entering the workforce in great numbers.

So what do you think?
How do these numbers coincide with your life? Are you a single parent with small children? It would be wonderful to hear from moms, dads, single parents and two parent households. Post your comments below.

Thanks,

Jeanne