Strong Start Strong Finish

Social science research is connecting the dots between a child's successful start in early childhood and graduation from high school. It's probably been about a decade since third grade became THE benchmark year. The data became irrefutable that if a child is reading not on grade level by the third grade, their odds of graduating high school were four times less than if there were on level. In a report out of Maryland, children who were doing well in Kindergarten, were school ready, were eight times more likely to read on grade level when they reached third grade. See those dots being connected? If you're interested in more details read the recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.