You don’t need to rely on a future preschool teacher or the television set to teach your child literacy. Proactive parents can do quite a bit for their children at a very young age to set the stage for early reading and lifelong success at school. A child who feels successful has confidence, and as we all know, one who struggles with failure will often times develop poor coping skills and very low self-esteem. Don’t wait until your child is formally enrolled to start thinking about literacy. Start now. There are 10 very simple things parents can do with their toddlers that will ensure future success at school. (more…)

As the 110^th Congress begins to take a second look at the reauthorization of Public Law 107-110, we need to consider one very small population of public school children that is being left behind. The much needed NCLB (No Child Left Behind) act covers the immigrant child, the special needs child, the minority child, the child that lives in an urban school that is under-funded and under-performs, the child whose needs cannot be met in the school district for which he lives…. Or does it?

What if that very same child was also gifted, functioning two or three grade levels above his peers and soaking up new knowledge like a sponge? There are currently no provisions for such a child, nor is there funding, as the NCLB act has forced many states, including Illinois, to reallocate funds from gifted programming toward achieving better test scores among at risk populations [1]. (more…)