>>>I heard a really interesting story on the radio last night. It's too early to see the long-term benefits, but this program seems to be having good short-term results, if the story they told is typical (and I know it well might not be)...
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>Looks like a great program.
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>Seems to me that everybody in this forum is privileged compared to some in society. Often we really have no idea of the conditions they face so even the most "obvious" proposals can amount to little more than "let them eat cake". Alternatively we can support programs like this that might seem ludicrous in homes like ours, but fill a need in places where kids are taught not to express themselves but to shut the ^^&&^ up, where there is TV but no books or crayons and where the only exposure to reading and learning comes from school where kids who can barely speak or manipulate a puzzle are behind from day 1.

My mom was a first grade teacher for many years, first in a very poor neighborhood, later in a less poor, but still somewhat underprivileged, area. One of the things she always did was encourage parents to volunteer in the classroom and model good parenting for them.

I don't know how many parents' lives she changed, but after she died, we heard from one woman who'd had two or three kids go through her classroom. The woman had never thought of getting involved in the school, but my mom pulled her in. Eventually, she became president of the Home & School Association (PTA), and last I knew, she was working as an aide in the school. I'm trying to remember the details, but I think all of her kids went to college.

She also gave her students books once or twice a year as gifts. Actually, she was always giving kids books. One of my cousins, who lives in Israel, wrote to us about how Mom always seemed to send his kids the right books at the right age, even though she'd met them only once or twice.

IAC, I think that Cincinnati program sounds great. I'll be keeping an ear out <s> to hear some long-term results.

Tamar