[Senate Hearing 107-256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-256
FORUM ON EARLY LEARNING: INVESTING IN OUR CHILDREN, INVESTING IN OUR
FUTURE
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HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
EXAMINING THE QUALITY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING PROGRAMS, FOCUSING ON
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
__________
JANUARY 24, 2002
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
TOM HARKIN, Iowa BILL FRIST, Tennessee
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
JAMES M. JEFFORDS (I), Vermont TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia
PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri
PATTY MURRAY, Washington PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
JACK REED, Rhode Island SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York MIKE DeWINE, Ohio
J. Michael Myers, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Townsend Lange McNitt, Minority Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
__________
STATEMENTS
Thursday, January 24, 2002
Page
Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., Chairman, Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions, opening statement.............. 1
Gregg, Hon. Judd, a U.S. Senator from the State of New Hampshire,
opening statement.............................................. 2
Dodd, Hon. Christopher J., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Connecticut, opening statement................................. 2
Zigler, Edward, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Psychology, Yale
University, Head, Psychology Section, Yale Child Study Center,
and Director, Bush Center in Child Development and Social
Policy......................................................... 3
Shonkoff, Jack P., M.D., Dean, the Heller School for Social
Policy and Management, and Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold
Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Brandeis
University, Waltham, MA........................................ 4
Frist, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from the State of Tennessee,
opening statement.............................................. 7
Mikulski, Hon. Barbara A., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Maryland, opening statement.................................... 7
Enzi, Hon. Michael B., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming,
opening statement.............................................. 8
Wellstone, Hon. Paul D., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Minnesota, opening statement................................... 8
Hutchinson, Hon. Tim, a U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas,
opening statement.............................................. 8
Reed, Hon. Jack, a U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island,
opening statement.............................................. 9
Bond, Hon. Christopher S., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Missouri, opening statement.................................... 9
Clinton, Hon. Hillary Rodham, a U.S. Senator from the State of
New York, opening statement.................................... 10
Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama,
opening statement.............................................. 10
Bush, Laura, First Lady.......................................... 11
Harkin, Hon. Tom, a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa, opening
statement...................................................... 17
Warner, Hon. John W., a U.S. Senator from the State of Virginia,
opening statement.............................................. 17
McGrath, Bob, a/k/a ``Bob'' of Sesame Street, prepared statement. 23
(iii)
FORUM ON EARLY LEARNING: INVESTING IN OUR CHILDREN, INVESTING IN OUR
FUTURE
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2002
U.S. Senate,
Committee Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, in Room SR-325,
Russell Senate Office Building, Senator Kennedy (chairman of
the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Kennedy, Dodd, Harkin, Mikulski, Reed,
Clinton, Gregg, Frist, Enzi, Hutchinson, Warner, Bond, and
Sessions.
Opening Statement of Senator Kennedy
The Chairman. Good morning. We welcome the opportunity to
welcome a very special person at a very special forum that we
are holding on early education.
All of the members of this committee, Mrs. Bush, remember
so well at the opening of this forum today another time when
you were gracious enough to be willing to share your concerns
and knowledge and interest and ideas with us. That was on
September 11th, and all of us are mindful of that day and the
extraordinary tragedy that impacted this country, and we are
also mindful of your entrance into this room with my colleague
and friend Judd Gregg to address the American people without
all the real knowledge that we would have only a few minutes
later about the great challenge that this Nation would face.
I, and I think all of America, was impressed by your
strength and calm and elegance and the way that you were able
to give assurance and inspiration to the American people. These
are certainly qualities which all Americans associate with you
and now with your husband, leading the fight against terrorism
around the world. We have that as a thought and as a memory.
I think many of us have other memories as well--your
extraordinary work on reading, which has been an inspiration to
so many parents, reminding parents all over this country of the
value of reading with their children, and we have been inspired
by your willingness to work with us in Congress and most of all
with parents and people in local communities in terms of how we
can provide enrichment to children.
We are very much aware of all the science of recent times
that shows the potential and the possibilities of children
learning at the earliest ages, at the time of the development
of the brain. This is something that you understood intuitively
and instinctively, and we are very much interested in hearing
from you, but most of all, we want to just express our very
warm sense of appreciation for your presence here and for your
continued leadership for parents and families in this country
and helping us to understand how children can learn and what we
might be able to do to help and assist those families.
So we are enormously grateful for your willingness to join
us here, and I will now ask my colleagues if they would like to
say a word of welcome to our distinguished guest.
Senator Gregg.
Opening Statement of Senator Gregg
Senator Gregg. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
holding this hearing. And thank you, Mrs. Bush, for being
willing to participate.
As the chairman has mentioned, the last meeting was a
poignant one and one which is etched in all of our memories as
one of those points in our lives that we will never forget. And
certainly your activities during that time make me recall the
statement of I suspect one of your favorite authors, or
certainly one of the books that was most taken out of your
library, and that was Ernest Hemingway, who defined courage as
``grace under fire.'' Certainly your serenity and grace during
this very difficult time has been a beacon of strength for our
Nation, and we very much appreciate it.
Your leadership on this issue, which is to try to make sure
that parents understand the importance of early education and
teaching the alphabet and the sounds of the alphabet to their
children long before they get into school, is absolutely
critical, because that sort of highlighting of that very
important element of education, which is the need for a
children to learn early how to read, is essential if we are
going to have effective school systems, because kids have to be
ready to learn when they get to school. You truly understand
that, and we thank you for taking that leadership role and
thank you for taking the time to come to this committee.
The Chairman. Senator Dodd.
Opening Statement of Senator Dodd
Senator Dodd. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, Mrs.
Bush, to our committee.
I just want to echo the comments of my two colleagues, both
to you and to your husband, for your wonderful leadership over
these past several months.
On a personal note, I want to thank you for the nice books
that you sent to my new arrival and daughter, Grace, personally
noted by the President and you as well. We will cherish those,
and I will make sure she does not actually use those books for
a few years; I am afraid of what they might look like, as I am
told by others who have young children. But we are deeply
appreciative of your thoughtfulness.
And again, I thank you for being so involved in this early
learning issue and thank you for coming back again today to
discuss this issue with us.
This is about as critical an issue as this country faces.
We talk about the security of the Nation and all the steps that
we are taking at home, the homeland security issues, and
obviously doing what we can internationally, but in the very
long-term as a free society, it will be issues like this that
in the long view of history will determine the strength of our
country, with young children growing up with the ability to
learn and to maximize their potential.
We are joined here today by Secretary Paige, who has been a
wonderful leader in education; and Eunice Shriver, who is with
us in the audience today, who has been a remarkable advocate
for so many years for young children and families and just gave
me a good lecture about zero to 3. She said, ``You make sure
that you are with that child of yours from zero to 3,'' and she
is absolutely correct.
So we are delighted to hear your testimony today.
Mr. Chairman, I know that we are not going to hear from the
second group of panelists--we were planning 2 days of
hearings--from people like Ed Zigler, whom I know you know very
well, and Dr. Shonkoff. I might ask at the appropriate time,
Mr. Chairman, that their testimonies be included as part of
today's record so that we have the benefit of what they would
have said on September 11 as well.
So I thank you for that and welcome you again to the
committee.
[The prepared statements of Messrs. Zigler and Shonkoff
follow:]
Prepared Statement of Edward Zigler, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of
Psychology, Yale University, Head, Psychology Section, Yale Child Study
Center, and Director, Bush Center in Child Development and Social
Policy
It is an honor to be invited back to the Senate, and to share my
expertise with this committee. I am the Sterling Professor of
Psychology at Yale University. I also head the Psychology Section of
the Yale Child Study Center and direct the Bush Center in Child
Development and Social Policy. I have authored some 30 books and over
600 scholarly papers, the majority dealing with topics pertinent to
children's development and learning. In the area of social policy, I
have worked with every administration, both Republican and Democrat,
since Lyndon Johnson. I served in Washington during the Nixon
Administration as the first director of what is now the Administration
on Children, Youth and Families, and as Chief of the United States
Children's Bureau. I was one of the planners of our nation's Head Start
program and a recent spin off, Early Head Start. Over the program's 36
years, I have become known as both its best friend and its most vocal
critic.
Of late there have been criticisms that Head Start is not doing a
very good job teaching literacy to its young students. I will offer my
suggestions on that point in a moment. First, let me state that I
concur that the ability to read is absolutely essential for an
individual to have a successful life. I therefore applaud President and
Mrs. Bush for the impetus they have provided to assure that every child
in America will be a successful reader. However, as someone who has
studied the growth and development of children for some 45 years, it is
my responsibility to point out that reading is just one aspect of
cognitive development, and that cognitive development is just one
aspect of human development. Cognitive skills are of course very
important, but they are so intertwined with the physical, social, and
emotional systems that it is myopic, if not futile, to dwell on the
intellect and exclude its partners.
Think about what goes into literacy. Yes, it involves mastery of
the alphabet, phonemes, and other basic word skills. But a prerequisite
to achieving mastery is good physical health. The child who is
frequently absent from school because of illness, or who has vision or
hearing problems, will have a difficult time learning to read. So will
children who suffer emotional troubles such as depression, attention
deficits, or post traumatic stress disorder. And think about
motivation. A child's curiosity and belief that he or she can succeed
are just as important to reading as knowing the alphabet. Phonemic
instruction by the most qualified teacher will do little for a child
who suffers from hunger, abuse, or a sense of inferiority.
I am urging that we broaden our approach to literacy by focusing on
the whole child. We must also broaden our understanding of when and
where literacy begins. I've heard a lot of preschool-teacher bashing
lately, but in reality, literacy begins much earlier than age four. It
begins with the thousands of loving interactions with parents after an
infant is born. It begins as a child develops a sense of self-worth by
realizing that his or her accomplishments, whether they be learning to
roll over or to recite the alphabet, are important to significant
others. It begins with sitting in a safe lap, hearing a familiar
bedtime story. Eventually the child will want to emulate the parent and
read too. Reading, then, begins with meeting the child's physical,
social, and emotional needs, followed by exposure to more formal
literacy skills.
This broader view was recently endorsed in the wonderful new book,
From Neurons to Neighborhoods, where the finest child development
thinkers in the country pointed out the importance of emotional and
motivational factors in human development. This statement corrected a
short-coming of my field for the past 50 years--namely an emphasis on
cognitive development to the exclusion of personality and motives,
which are so central to the burgeoning new discipline of emotional
intelligence. The President is correct in his recent championing of the
child's character. Piece by piece, then, the President is discovering
the whole child--recognition that has been one of the great strengths
of our nation's Head Start program.
Head Start is an early education program, but it is also a physical
and mental health program. It is dedicated to involving the parents,
who, after all, will have a greater influence on the child's learning
than any other source. The new Early Head Start program in fact
emphasizes parent-child interactions, the very place where literacy
begins. Senator Kennedy realized the importance of the years zero to
three some time ago and was the one who made Early Head Start a
reality. Since then, it has grown from 17 sites to over 600.
You have all heard recent reports that children are graduating from
Head Start with few prereading skills. Yet a sizeable literature shows
that they are ready for school, and even the recent FACES evaluation of
Head Start shows good progress, including literacy, in kindergarten. Do
I believe that Head Start should do more to promote literacy? Most
definitely. The new performance standards are moving the program toward
more defined curricula with specific goals for literacy and related
skills. But Head Start needs the resources to carry out these plans. If
we want well-trained teachers who can implement sound educational
programs that send children on their way to reading, we simply have to
pay them more than poverty level wages. And if we want to draw more
low-income parents into their children's learning, we need to expand
Early Head Start.
Shoring up the quality of Head Start can have an impact far beyond
its target population. Head Start is a model program whose success in
promoting school readiness has fed the movement toward universal
preschool. Head Start quality standards are beginning to filter to
child care settings. A lot of research has shown that most child care
in this nation is poor to mediocre. Yet millions of infants and
toddlers--the very ages when literacy begins--are spending their days
in such places.
In sum, if we want a nation of readers, we have to look beyond
teaching phonics. We have to look at the whole child, the parents, and
at all of the people and experiences that make up the child's early
learning environment.
Prepared Statement of Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., Dean, The Heller School
for Social Policy and Management, and Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold
Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Brandeis University,
Waltham, MA
My name is Jack Shonkoff. I am the Dean of the Heller School for
Social Policy and Management and Gingold Professor of Human Development
and Social Policy at Brandeis University. I am also a Board-certified
pediatrician with two decades of practical experience in the delivery
of health care and early childhood intervention services who had the
privilege of serving as Chair of the National Research Council and
Institute of Medicine Committee that produced the recently released
report entitled, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early
Childhood Development.
I would like to begin by thanking Senator Kennedy and this
distinguished Committee for focusing the nation's attention on the
health and development of our youngest children. I also would like to
acknowledge the support of The First Lady, Laura Bush, who testified
before this Committee three weeks ago, and underscore the importance of
a bipartisan approach to this critical national interest.
I speak with you this morning, not as an advocate or provider of
services, but as the chair of a committee of scientists who conducted a
critical analysis of current knowledge about early childhood
development, and whose conclusions and recommendations were subjected
to the rigorous review of the National Academy of Sciences. The
unimpeachable integrity of this distinguished institution and the
credibility of its endorsement should not be underestimated.
In the spirit of brevity, I offer four core conclusions from the
NRC/IOM report. These are not based on my personal opinion. This is
cutting-edge science.
Human development is determined by both nature and nurture.
Molecular biologists at the forefront of the Human Genome Project and
leading behavioral scientists agree that each of us is the product of
both a unique genetic endowment and the influence of our personal life
experiences. For young children, beginning at birth, the question is
not whether early experience matters, but rather how early experiences
shape individual development.
The essential features of the environment that influence children's
development are their relationships with the most important people in
their lives. When these relationships provide love, stability,
security, responsive interaction, and encouragement of exploration and
learning, children thrive. When these relationships are unstable,
neglectful, abusive, or disrupted by significant life stresses such as
economic hardship, substance abuse, or serious mental illness, the
consequences can be severe and long lasting. Children's early
development is influenced most significantly by the health and
wellbeing of their parents. It is also affected by the quality of their
relationships with the other important people in their lives, who
increasingly include non-family providers of early care and education.
Together these relationships define the cultural context within which
core values are transmitted from one generation to the next.
The early emergence of intelligence, emotional regulation, and
social skills are highly inter-related and the development of
competence in each is closely intertwined with the others. Starting
from birth, children are remarkably inquisitive explorers who
experience a range of powerful emotions. Before their first birthday,
they can feel the exhilaration of mastering a challenging task as well
as the deep and lasting sadness that builds in response to trauma,
loss, or early personal rejection. As their brains mature, their
ability to master new skills grows and these emerging learning
abilities are linked closely to their capacity to regulate their
feelings and control their own behavior.
Early childhood programs that deliver carefully designed services
by well-trained staff can have significant positive impacts on young
children with a wide range of developmental difficulties, but
interventions that work are rarely simple, inexpensive, or easy to
implement. There are no magic bullets or quick fixes for addressing the
complexities of human development. Poorly designed interventions
delivered by inadequately trained providers are unlikely to produce
significant benefits. In contrast, state-of-the-art services that are
funded sufficiently are a wise public investment that is likely to
return both short-term developmental dividends and long-term human
capital gains.
Stated simply, although the politics of early childhood are
complicated, the needs of young children are relatively straightforward
and the messages from the scientific community are clear:
All aspects of human development are influenced by both
the genes we inherit and the environment in which we live.
Human relationships are the ``active ingredients'' of
environmental influence on child development.
How children feel is as important as how they think,
particularly as it affects their readiness to meet the challenges of
school.
Developmental pathways can be influenced positively by
effective parenting and supportive environments, and early problems can
be treated effectively, but the success of early childhood intervention
services depends on the quality of their implementation and the
knowledge and skills of those who provide them.
When our public policies dismiss or ignore the science of early
childhood development, we miss an opportunity to address the underlying
roots of many important national concerns. Let me offer a few examples:
How can the recently enacted No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 emphasize the need for stronger performance standards and
financial incentives to attract bright and highly motivated teachers,
while we simultaneously tolerate large percentages of inadequately
trained and poorly compensated providers of early child care and
education who have an important influence on the foundations of school
readiness?
Why do we measure the success of welfare reform primarily
in terms of labor force participation when large numbers of working
mothers with young children are still living under the poverty level,
and recent research indicates that poverty in the first five years may
be a stronger predictor of not completing high school than is poverty
in middle childhood or adolescence?
How can we reconcile our national concern about reducing
violent crime with the fact that we know how to treat very young
children who have been abused or exposed to family violence, yet most
of these emotionally traumatized children receive little or no
professional mental health services?
Why do we focus public debate on the relative merits of
alternative investment options for the Social Security trust fund and
not also address the compelling question of how best to invest in the
young children whose future productivity will be essential to the
continued viability of the Social Security system ``as we know it?''
Over the past few decades, there have been marked changes in the
nature, schedule, and amount of work engaged in by parents of young
children, and greater difficulty balancing workplace and family
responsibilities for parents at all income levels. At the same time,
growing numbers of young children are spending considerable time in
child care settings of highly variable quality, some of which pose real
threats to their health and development. In 1999, the National
Household Education Survey reported that 61 percent of children under
age 4 were in regularly scheduled child care, including 44 percent of
infants under 1 year.
The knowledge needed for informed policies to promote the well-
being of all our nation's children has been gained from nearly half a
century of considerable public investment in early childhood research.
Although the science is growing at an increasingly rapid pace, the gap
between what we know and what we do is unacceptably wide. Let me offer
a few examples of what could be done to narrow that gap:
If we really want to enhance children's readiness for
school, then we must pay as much attention to the development of their
social and emotional competence as we do to their cognitive and
linguistic abilities. The current emphasis on early literacy, which
should be supported, will not achieve its full impact if early
childhood professionals are not prepared to help the many young
children whose learning is compromised by limited attention, aggressive
behavior, anxiety, depression, or difficulty making or sustaining
relationships. Knowing the alphabet on your first day of school is not
enough if you can't sit still or control your temper in the classroom.
If we really want to support families and enhance child
well-being, then we must promote healthy relationships between young
children and the adults who raise them. If we really want to strengthen
those relationships, then we must find a way to create more viable
choices for working mothers--by developing politically and economically
feasible mechanisms to provide both paid parental leave for those who
wish to stay at home with their young children and affordable, quality
care and early education for the children of those who return to work.
If we really want to reduce disparities in school
readiness based on social class, then we must promote real partnerships
among federal, state, and local governments to create more unified and
effective systems of services, from birth to school entry. Current
early childhood programs were established in a piecemeal fashion over
time--and their variable quality and persistent fragmentation result in
a confusing array of services for families, marked inefficiencies in
the use of public and private resources, a difficult environment for
assuring accountability and assessing impacts, and significant
inequalities in access to programs that are most effective, leading to
a highly uneven playing field for America's youngest children well
before they begin school.
If we really want to secure the economic and political
future of our nation, then we must enhance the value of our investments
in early childhood programs by increasing the knowledge, skills, and
compensation of those who provide these services. An education agenda
that neglects the professional development of those who influence the
foundation that is built in the first 5 years of life ignores the
science of learning, and assures that many children will be left behind
before they have a chance to start.
Most children successfully master the challenges of growing up in a
wide range of circumstances. A significant number do not. Most of those
who experience difficulties along the way are helped to get back on
track by the skilled guidance of their parents and other adults who
care for them. A highly vulnerable subgroup exhibits serious and
persistent problems that require specialized intervention.
The NRC/IOM report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods, calls for ``a
new national dialogue focused on rethinking the meaning of both shared
responsibility for children and strategic investment in their future.''
In its concluding thoughts, the report states:
The time has come to stop blaming parents, communities, business,
and government--and to shape a shared agenda to ensure both a rewarding
childhood and a promising future for all children.
There is a compelling need for more constructive dialogue between
those who support massive public investments in early childhood
services and those who question their cost and ask whether they really
make a difference. Both perspectives have merit. Advocates of earlier
and more intervention have an obligation to measure their impacts and
costs. Skeptics, in turn, must acknowledge the massive scientific
evidence that early childhood development is influenced by the
environments in which children live. (National Research Council and
Institute of Medicine, 2000. pp. 414-15)
I applaud the efforts of this Committee, under your leadership,
Senator Kennedy, to focus the nation's attention on our youngest
children and their families, and I welcome the opportunity to answer
any questions that you may have. Thank you.
The Chairman. Senator Frist.
Opening Statement of Senator Frist
Senator Frist. Mr. Chairman, I know that we need to be very
brief, but I want to extend my welcome to the First Lady as
well.
The father of modern rocketry, Robert Goddard, once said:
``It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of
yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.'' I
think about that quotation, because to me it demonstrates where
we are along a time line, and to have your leadership and you
taking the initiative on early education and the direction and
importance it plays in this overall evolution, in truth, going
from hopes and dreams to reality, is something that we all
very, very much appreciate.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Senator Mikulski.
Opening Statement of Senator Mikulski
Senator Mikulski. Thank you.
Good morning, Mrs. Bush. It is wonderful to see you again.
I just want to take this opportunity to commend you for
your leadership and your ongoing steadfastness in the advocacy
for children in this Nation and to be sure that their
achievements do not depend on the wealth of the ZIP code they
live in or their ethnic heritage or whatever disability life
might have brought them.
We made a good start in our elementary and secondary
education reforms, and I think the committee is very proud of
that. Now, we want to be able to build on that, and I know of
your advocacy that we need to start early and start often.
We both know that children start school at different
levels. Some start kindergarten already knowing their letters,
and some with far more disadvantage. That is why we are looking
forward to hearing from you this morning, to hear your ideas
and recommendations on Head Start and Early Head Start.
You are a librarian; I am a social worker. My first job out
of graduate school in social work was working at a Head Start
program as a social worker. Those children are now in their
late thirties and early forties. They have gone on, finished
school, some have gone on to college. They have all built lives
and built communities, because it was not only about school, it
was about services--early detection and screening, making sure
they were reading-ready, making sure they could hear or did
they need eyeglasses, and what support services to bring their
parents into this.
So as one social worker to a sister librarian, I look
forward to working with you, because I think we both know that,
as in public life, it is not how many hands we shake but how
many lives we touch.
I look forward to collaborating with you.
The Chairman. Senator Enzi.
Opening Statement of Senator Enzi
Senator Enzi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I too want to welcome the First Lady to her first
appearance before this committee. I do remember that you almost
had an appearance before, and I wound up being evacuated from
the building along with you. At that time, we were hoping to
have the education bill finished, and at this point we have the
bill finished.
I thank you for your dedication and the focus and the
experience that you lent to your husband and to us so that we
might be able to get that bill finished. We thank you for all
of your experience in education and look forward to hearing
from you today.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Enzi.
Senator Wellstone.
Opening Statement of Senator Wellstone
Senator Wellstone. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I also welcome the First Lady. I think this is an
especially critical time, and we really need your leadership. I
do not remember the statistics, and I should have written them
down, but I think we are still covering only about half the
children who are eligible for Head Start, and I think in Early
Head Start, it is under 5 percent, or 10 percent at best. And
on the whole child care picture, I think that barely 10 percent
of low-income families are really able to participate; the
parents or parent cannot afford child care, especially good
child care, which I know you are very committed to.
So I thank the First Lady. My experience has been that all
of us--everybody--are for the children, especially the small
children. They are all under 4 feet tall, they are all
beautiful, and we should be nice to them. The problem is that
we are all for them except when it comes to digging into our
pockets and investing the resources that will really make this
happen so that every child can reach his or her potential, and
I think that your voice will be extremely important. I think we
have to live up to the words that we speak.
I thank you for being here.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Wellstone.
Senator Hutchinson.
Opening Statement of Senator Hutchinson
Senator Hutchinson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Bush, thank you for coming today. I think all
Americans will remember where they were on September 11, but I
think it is very striking that you were dealing with education
and your husband, our President, was in Florida, reading in an
elementary school. That reflects your mutual commitment to
education reform and education improvement in this country, and
I applaud you for that.
I think it is also wonderful and impressive that in the
midst of the ongoing war on terrorism, the President could
accomplish and, with the help of this committee and the
Congress, achieve his number one domestic agenda item in the
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
and the No Child Left Behind Act.
We look forward to moving to the next phase and thank you
for being here today. We applaud what you are doing.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hutchinson.
Senator Reed.
Opening Statement of Senator Reed
Senator Reed. Mrs. Bush, I want to thank you and commend
you for your gracious and courageous presence in the White
House and particularly thank you for your leadership on
literacy. Because of you, I think, principally, and your
efforts, we were able not only to pass the legislation to
improve literacy training, but we also have some resources to
buy library books for school libraries. I thank you for that
effort.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Reed.
Senator Bond.
Opening Statement of Senator Bond
Senator Bond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Bush, we welcome you here, and we thank you for your
emphasis on early childhood education.
We all know that research has shown that the earliest years
are the most critical development period in a child's learning
ability, the development of the brain, sensation and
experiences. I was shocked to find out that half of the mature
learning intelligence of a child develops by the age of 3.
We know that parents and families are really key to this
development. Early positive interaction with parents,
grandparents, aunts and uncles plays a critical role.
In Missouri, we are known as ``the show me State,'' and we
have had the great good fortune to be shown that a program that
we have in Missouri called Parents As Teachers really does
work. It is an operation of early childhood development that
educates parents, empowers them to help give their youngest
children a good start in life. The program teaches parents how
to do the best job of being their first teacher, and it puts
the responsibility on the parent.
Now, we have a lot of independent studies that show how
successful PAT is, but I can tell you from personal testimony
from hundreds of Missourians that it is working. Expanding that
to become a Statewide program in Missouri is probably my
proudest accomplishment as Governor. Now, 150,000 families
voluntarily participate. They serve 200,000 children a year,
and these children have a much better start because they have
had active involvement of their parents.
I look forward to working with you on early childhood
development. I know that your Ready to Read, Ready to Learn
initiative is very important. I hope that we can offer
assistance and perhaps have an opportunity to show you how
Parents As Teachers works.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Bond.
Senator Clinton.
Opening Statement of Senator Clinton
Senator Clinton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I join in welcoming you, Mrs. Bush. We are delighted that
you are here. I also want to thank you for everything you have
done since September 11 to reassure our Nation's parents and
children to help so many who I am sure were having a great deal
of difficulty understanding what was happening around them to
be able to get through this time.
The President's leadership on behalf of the State of New
York and the commitment to rebuilding New York City is
something that we are very, very grateful for.
While much has changed since September 11, I think the fact
that you are here today demonstrates clearly that we still have
work to do and that there is not any more important task ahead
of us than to prepare our children. I applaud your lifelong
dedication to that task, and I particularly thank you for the
White House conference that you held last year to try to bring
even more attention to what we now know from scientific
research about the way children learn.
We do have a lot of good information; now we just have to
put it to work. So your being here today gives new emphasis to
the task before us to make sure that we do provide the
opportunity for every child to live up to his or her God-given
potential.
I look forward to working with you, and I thank you very
much for this commitment.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Clinton.
Senator Sessions.
Opening Statement of Senator Sessions
Senator Sessions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mrs. Bush, for being with us. I agree with
Senator Clinton that you showed real leadership in reaching out
to children in the wake of September 11. I know that that came
from your experience as a teacher working with children.
My wife has taught for a number of years, I have taught,
and a lot of my good friends are teachers, and we talk about
those issues a lot.
I know that you care about reading. I visited 11 schools in
Alabama over the past week, and a lot of good things are
happening. Teachers are teaching their hearts out. They are
working every day and making progress in a lot of areas.
I noticed that in one school that has adopted an Alabama
Reading Initiative, Mr. Chairman, we more than doubled the
funds in our bill that we passed. Alabama was spending $11
million on this reading initiative that Massachusetts and
Florida are studying, and it is working exceptionally well. It
doubled what the State is going to be able to spend on that.
One teacher who used the program told me that no child was more
than one grade behind in their school.
For those who have experience in education, you know that
that is unusual. So I think there are a lot of positive thing
happening out there, and I thank you for your leadership and
look forward to continuing to work with you.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Sessions.
We are honored to have you with us, Mrs. Bush. I also join
in welcoming Secretary Paige. We are all very grateful for his
continued and ongoing important leadership in education, and we
thank him for being here as well.
Mrs. Bush, we look forward to hearing from you.
STATEMENT OF FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH
Mrs. Bush. Thank you all very much, Senator Kennedy,
Senator Gregg, all the members of this committee. I thank you
very much for your very warm welcome.
I also want to recognize Secretary Rod Paige. He has been a
school superintendent in one of the larger school districts in
the United States, and that is really when you are on the front
line, when you work as a school superintendent. I am so
thrilled that he has joined my husband's administration with
his expertise.
So thank you very much, Secretary Paige.
I also want to recognize Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Thank you
for coming, and thank you for your work over all these years
with children with special problems and for your work with the
Special Olympics.
On September 11, I came here to meet with all of you to
talk about the development and education of our young children.
That meeting, of course, as we all know, was canceled, or
called off, because of the tragedies that struck the innocent
victims at the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and
those on Flight 93.
September 11 was a turning point for all of us--as parents,
as neighbors, as Americans. I will never forget the moments
that Senator Kennedy and Senator Gregg and I shared privately
before we met the media in this very room. And I will always
remember that you were not concerned for yourselves, but
rather, you were concerned for others; you were concerned for
my husband, for the people of our country, and the victims of
the attacks and their families.
Yet when we came in here to make our public statements, you
were resolute in announcing that this briefing was merely being
postponed--not canceled. In the face of the tragedy, you
remained focused on the children of America, and for that, I
applaud you and all the members of this august committee.
Since September 11, I have traveled across the country
meeting children and their parents. I have seen the faces of
children who were directly affected by the attacks--children
who lost their parents in the Pennsylvania crash, children who
were displaced from their schools in New York, students who
lost classmates in the airplane that struck the Pentagon.
As a result, I am doubly committed to using my voice to
help give our youngest Americans a real chance to succeed in
the classroom, in the university, and in the workplace. I am
proud to be your partner in this effort to make sure that
children's learning skills are nurtured during the critical
years between the crib and the classroom.
When President Bush was sworn into office 1 year ago, he
vowed to make sure that every child was educated and that
education was his top domestic priority. He committed to work
to close the achievement gap among students.
Thanks to the leadership of Senator Kennedy, Senator Gregg,
and all the members of this committee, on January 8, President
Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, an
historic piece of legislation that sets high standards and
holds schools accountable for student results.
This comprehensive plan will improve overall student
performance and help close the achievement gap that exists in
our Nation's schools.
In 2002, programs in the elementary and secondary reform
bill received a 27 percent increase in funding, including an 18
percent increase in Title I and a boost to nearly $1 billion
for early reading programs.
Soon, my husband will propose a budget that even further
funds critical education programs. His proposal will include
major increases for education and special education, including
an increase of $1 billion in funding for Title I programs for
disadvantaged students.
The President's new budget will also ask for $1 billion in
additional funding to help children with special needs. Thanks
to the reforms included in the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001, we can be sure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. I
am proud to be part of President's Bush's efforts to improve
the quality of education for all children.
Last February, I launched an initiative called Ready to
Read, Ready to Learn. This initiative has two major goals--
first, to ensure that all young children are ready to read and
learn when they enter their first classroom; and second, to
help our Nation recruit the best and the brightest to become
teachers, especially in classrooms in our most impoverished
neighborhoods. I am dedicated to ensuring that all young
children are ready to read and learn upon school entry.
My emphasis on making sure that preschool children are
provided stimulating activities and interactions with adults
and other children so they can develop strong language and pre-
reading concepts from birth onward stems from my own
experiences as a mother, a public school teacher, and a school
librarian.
As a mother, I learned quickly that reading to our
daughters and playing language games--even when they were
babies--brought joy and laughter to our home. As they grew
physically, they also grew in their love of being read to and
then reading themselves.
My husband and I must have read ``Hop on Pop'' to them
dozens of times, and it was not uncommon for them to ask me to
read the same book several times a day. It was astonishing to
watch how many new words they learned as we read and talked
about words and their meanings, the names of the letters and
the sounds that letters make.
Before I knew it, they could ``read'' many words in ``Hop
on Pop'' and other books. Well, actually, they memorized those
words, because we read them so often. But the important thing
is that they thought they were reading. Even by 2 years of age,
they knew when the book was right-side up, and they knew that
we always started to read on the left side of the page.
As they continued to grow, they became fascinated with
different ways that we could play with words and sounds, and
they delighted in hearing nursery rhymes, stories, and songs.
Before they entered kindergarten, they knew that the letters
and words in books talked to you just like people do.
When our girls entered school, they were well on their way
to independent reading, and their love for reading was firmly
established. Little did I know at that time how all of our
reading activities from their birth onward provided the
foundation for their later reading skills.
During my career as an elementary school teacher, I was
fortunate to focus a great deal of time on a love of mine,
which was interacting with young children around books and
reading. In fact, story time and reading instruction was my
favorite time of the day, and I was constantly thrilled at how
reading opened up new worlds for the children and sparked their
imaginations.
However, this was also a time when I observed that some
children were having difficulty learning to read. It was
troubling to watch these little ones struggle with print, but
it was even more troubling to see how embarrassed and
frustrated they were by their failure to do what they saw other
children do. It was as if their self-esteem and confidence took
a blow every time they tried to read.
For many of these children, I could see that they did not
feel comfortable in school--it was not a place that they wanted
to be--and I noticed that they began to avoid reading. Later,
as a librarian, I also noticed that some teachers held lower
expectations for these children even though many were very
bright and quite adept at other skills.
Many of these children were having difficulties learning to
read because they had not developed the basic building blocks
of language during their pre-reading skills--the building
blocks that are forged through language play, lap-time reading,
bedtime stories, and the conversations about the characters and
the situations that the stories brought to life.
Why was this basic foundation missing? In some cases, the
children's parents had not learned to read themselves and could
not read to their children. In some cases, limited income meant
no books in the home. In some cases, parents' work schedules
simply precluded any routine conversation, language play, or
interactions with books if they were available.
In yet other cases, parents and caregivers simply did not
know the importance of reading to and engaging their children
in word play. As a result, their children were less exposed to
language. Some children may have had learning problems, making
learning to read difficult.
In short, I saw firsthand that many children simply did not
have the early opportunities that help them develop a love for
language and reading. And I learned that not having those
opportunities can have devastating effects on children's
success in school. I realized that for many children, being
left behind did not begin in elementary school--it began in the
years between diapers and the first backpacks.
I also realized that something had to be done. There simply
is no excuse for any of our youngest and most vulnerable
children to be forced to climb uphill just as they enter
school. It is a tough enough transition as it is. No matter
what their circumstances of birth, we have to strive to level
the playing field for those youngsters born into conditions
that limit their opportunities to develop and learn.
Over the years, I have been blessed to be surrounded by
people who are passionate about education. My parents nurtured
my love of reading before I started school. Mrs. Gnagy, my
second-grade teacher, inspired me to become a teacher; my
inlaws, who even in retirement promote strong schools and
literacy programs; and of course, my husband, who shares our
fellow Texan, Phyliss Hunter's, philosophy that reading is the
new civil right.
Last July, I convened a White House Summit on Early
Childhood Cognitive Development at Georgetown University. Many
experts and practitioners came together to help us understand
how to help all of our children become ready to read and ready
to learn. I am delighted that Senator Kennedy participated in
the Summit and inspired us with his dedication to this issue.
My specific purpose in convening the summit was to develop
a clear understanding of what parents, grandparents, early
childhood teachers, child care providers, and other caregivers
can systematically do to provide children with rich and
rewarding early learning experiences during a period of
development that is marked by extraordinary growth and change.
I asked the participants to focus on early cognitive
development with an emphasis on the development of early
language and pre-reading abilities. I wanted to make sure that
all of us understood how these skills, or their absence, affect
a child's later ability to read and thus succeed in school.
While my focus is on early language and pre-reading
development, I do not want to minimize the importance of
nutrition and physical development or the development of
feelings, behavior, or social skills. To address early
cognitive development, including language and literacy
development, outside the context of social and emotional
development would limit the progress that we can make. All of
these competencies are intertwined, and each requires focused
attention.
But the development of early language and pre-reading
skills is not only extraordinarily critical to a child's
reading ability and academic success throughout school, as well
as his or her occupational success throughout life, the absence
of this development has the potential to destroy self-esteem,
confidence, and motivation to learn.
The teaching of vocabulary concepts and other language
skills and pre-reading skills to include print concepts, letter
knowledge and phonological concepts in preschool programs has
not been emphasized enough in the past and has not received the
critical attention it needs.
Why? Many early childhood educators and parents have
thought that early learning was primarily maturational and that
preschool children were not ``developmentally ready'' to learn
about letters, sounds, writing, numbers, vocabulary concepts or
other sophisticated content.
Conventional wisdom has been that it is best to wait to
encourage young children to read, count, and learn abstract
concepts because they will get enough of that in school. The
idea has been that teaching this type of content too early may
interfere with the motivation to learn once the children arrive
in school.
But we have learned that this is not the case. The infant
brain actually seeks out and acquires a tremendous amount of
information about language in the first year of life. Even
before babies can speak, they have already figured out many of
the components of language. They know which particular sounds
their language uses, what sounds can be combined to create
words, and the tempo and rhythm of words and phrases.
Why is this information important? Because developmental
science has taught us that there is a strong correlation
between early language development and reading. Language and
reading require the same types of sound analysis. The better
babies are at distinguishing the building blocks of speech at 6
months, the better they will be at other more complex language
skills at 2 and 3 years of age, and the easier it will be for
them at 4 and 5 years old to grasp the idea of how sounds link
to letters.
Preschool cognitive abilities, including language and pre-
reading abilities, can predict school success and school
completion. For example, reading scores in the 9th grade can be
predicted with surprising accuracy from a child's knowledge of
the alphabet in kindergarten.
Children need help learning these concepts. They do not
develop naturally. A child will not learn the name of the
letter ``A'', the sound the letter ``A'' makes, or how to print
it simply by being with adults who know these things or by
being with adults who read a great deal for pleasure. Children
learn these critical concepts because adults take the time and
effort to teach them in an exciting, engaging, and interactive
manner.
This does not mean that preschool children should be taught
using the same methods and materials that are used with first
and second-graders. The challenge for the parent, the
grandparent, the preschool teacher, or the child care provider
is to develop fun, educational language activities that also
engage and develop children's interests, social competencies,
and emotional health. All of these goals can be joined and met,
but there must be a clear and equal emphasis on building
cognitive skills.
Every expert who participated in the White House Summit on
Early Childhood Cognitive Development stressed that reading is
the keystone for academic and life success. A failure to learn
to read not only leads to failure in school but portends
failure throughout life.
Not only are children humiliated emotionally and socially
in school because of this failure, but they are unable to learn
about the wonders of science, mathematics, literature, and
other subjects because they cannot read grade-level text. By
high school, the student who cannot read has almost no dream of
attending college and can only look forward to meager
occupational choices.
It is no wonder that 10 to 15 percent of poor readers drop
out of school. And with their limited options, they are more
than twice as likely as successful students to be unemployed
after dropping out, to be arrested, or to engage in substance
abuse.
Reading failure pushes beyond school failure and
occupational hardships. Without sufficient reading skills, a
person cannot read a prescription, decipher a warning label, or
keep up with the news.
Reading failure does not just constitute an educational
issue--it reflects a significant public health problem. And
with great anguish, we note that parents who cannot read cannot
engage their own children in reading activities.
During our summit, we learned that there are effective
early language and cognitive development strategies that can be
used at home and in preschool that can ensure that many
children at risk of failure now can enter their first classroom
ready to read and ready to learn.
We can begin to disseminate and implement the principles
applied in these strategies as quickly as possible through our
colleges and universities, our professional organizations,
libraries, and research programs.
The best scientific knowledge about ``what works'' is only
effective when it is provided in an informed manner. The early
childhood field needs better curricula that do a better job of
helping young children with their pre-reading and language
skills.
President Bush has asked Secretary Rod Paige and Secretary
Tommy Thompson to convene a task force on early childhood
development to identify priorities for research to address
these critical issues. A team of scientists and educators from
the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education,
and the Department of Health and Human Services is moving
forward with plans to produce materials that will help parents,
preschool and child care programs know more about enhancing
cognitive development. They will also identify and conduct the
research necessary to close critical knowledge gaps.
Secretaries Paige and Thompson will share their findings with
all of you as well.
In closing, I want to thank you for the opportunity to
discuss these important issues with you today. They are
national issues that affect the heart and soul of our people.
Education has always been important to our Nation, but since
September 11, we appreciate its importance even more, because
we want America to always be the land of opportunity and to
have the kind of internal strength that comes from every child
and every citizen having a great education.
From day one, the education that we provide our children
will shape the way they think and learn. The quality of their
education will either drive or stifle the enthusiasm,
motivation, and effort that they bring to learning, the way
they interact with others, and their ability to adapt to their
successes and failures throughout life. We are embarking on a
most noble mission to help their journey become as fulfilling
and as productive as possible. This is their birthright.
I appreciate your inviting me here today, Senator Kennedy.
I commend your efforts and those of Senator Gregg and all the
committee members to ensure that all children have a strong
language and pre-reading foundation before they board their
first school bus.
I look forward to our work on behalf of America's youngest
children. Together, we will ensure that no child is left
behind.
Thank you all very much.
The Chairman. Thank you very much for an excellent
statement, Mrs. Bush.
Before we ask questions, I know that you are under time
pressure, and under the arrangements made, I have just a few
questions, and Senator Gregg will ask some questions, too.
I notice that Senator Harkin has arrived and would like to
extend a word of welcome to him and recognize him at this time.
Opening Statement of Senator Harkin
Senator Harkin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to welcome our First Lady. I thought it was a very
eloquent statement, especially when you mentioned that ``for
many children, being left behind did not begin in elementary
school--it began in the years between diapers and backpacks.''
In 1991, the Research and Policy Committee of the Committee
for Economic Development issued a report under President Bush,
the first President Bush, and their summary of that entire
study said this: ``We must understand that education begins at
birth and that preparation for education begins even before
birth.''
So I really applaud what you said and your focus on early
childhood education. I just think that we spend so much time
and money in this country patching and fixing and mending later
on, and if we could just do what you are focusing on and focus
on those early years, we will not have to be patching and
fixing and mending later on.
So I applaud you for it; continue your great leadership in
this area.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Senator Warner has joined us as well.
Opening Statement of Senator Warner
Senator Warner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Bush, it is a privilege to have you here in this
famous room in the U.S. Senate, presenting a case that in a way
is understood by the American public in simple, direct
language. I have found in over a quarter-century in public life
that the most important word is ``credibility.'' You bring
that.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you.
Senator Warner. In the jargon of America: ``Been there,
done that.'' You have been a teacher, you have been a
librarian, and based on that experience, the public is ready to
accept you as a full partner in bringing about their prayers,
really, to care for their children.
So I commend the President and yourself, and I will predict
that you achieve as few others have in the goals that you have
set forth as a First Lady. Good luck.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Harkin and
Senator Warner.
Mrs. Bush, in your statement, you reemphasized two very
lofty goals which I think need constant restatement as
guideposts for all of us who are interested in education
generally and particularly in early education, and that is that
when the child arrives in pre-kindergarten or first grade, he
or she will be ready to learn and ready to read as well. Those
are two very, very important and worthwhile goals.
As you mentioned, we have just completed with the
President's leadership the Leave No Child Behind Education Act.
One of the very important aspects of that legislation is having
quality teachers in the classrooms all the way from
kindergarten and first grade to the 12th grade.
You reference the importance of high-quality individuals
working with children from the earliest ages, developing
relationships with these children. How do you think we can
attract the best and the brightest in our country to be
involved and working with our children at the earliest ages and
making a difference in their lives?
Mrs. Bush. I think there are so many ways. Certainly, we
can pay teachers more. I think that that is very important. I
think we also need to pay attention to the ways that colleges
and universities and departments of education educate teachers
and prepare them for teaching. We know that colleges and
universities pay a lot of attention to their law schools and to
their medical schools; it is also critically important that
they pay attention to their schools of education.
I am going to be hosting a summit in March on teacher
preparation and what we can do as a country to make sure that
when teachers get their teacher certificate and enter the
school, or when we prepare child care and Head Start teachers
in community colleges with their certification, they get a very
good education and are literally prepared to teach people to
read when they start school.
But I also think that there is something that our whole
country can do, and that is to value our teachers. Each of us
has a story about a teacher who literally changed our lives,
who let us know something about ourselves that we did not know,
or who encouraged us in a way that no one else could.
So I hope that all of us will again thank our own
children's teachers and that we will encourage young people to
choose teaching as a career. It is a very noble career; it is
one of the most profound professions. I think it makes a more
profound impact on our country than almost any other
profession.
I do think there is at least a little bit of anecdotal
evidence that young people are choosing teaching again. Seven
of my friends' children have gone back to college to get a
teaching certificate; they had other degrees. I think that
after September 11, when people reassessed their own lives,
they looked for ways that they could help, and certainly by
being a great teacher, we can affect the lives of so many
people.
I think there is a lot for all of us to do in our country
to let teachers know how much we value them, and I think that
when people realize how noble that profession is, maybe we can
attract more of the best and brightest.
The Chairman. This is an excellent response and an
enormously important one. What you are reminding us is that if
we want to get the best teachers in K through 12, we are going
to have to get the best of those who work with children in the
earliest years. It seems to make sense, but I think we need to
be reminded of that, because there is an enormous challenge in
that area.
Let me ask you about the role that you think we can play.
Do you think there is a role for Congress? I think all of us
are looking for our appropriate role in trying to help in this
area, and I am interested in your general sense and whether you
think there is a role for us.
Mrs. Bush. I definitely think there is a role for
Government and for the Congress. Doing things like holding
these hearings--every one of us needs to figure out ways that
we can inform all of the public--and certainly there is a role
for the media in this as well--to inform all of the public of
how important it is, how important those very first years are
to a child's life and what parents and caregivers and
grandparents and babysitters, as well as preschool teachers and
Head Start teachers, can do to nurture those very critical
language skills early in a child's life.
I think there is a role for all of us, but certainly there
is a role for funding for early childhood programs, there is a
role for funding for research to learn more about how children
actually learn and what we can do about it.
All of us need to play a role in making sure that our very
young children are nurtured.
The Chairman. In your statement on page 4, you say: ``While
my focus is on early language and pre-reading development, I do
not want to minimize the importance of nutrition and physical
development or the development of feelings, behavior, and
social skills. To address early cognitive development,
including language and literacy development, outside of the
context of social and emotional development, would limit the
progress that we can make. All of these competencies are
intertwined, and each requires focused attention.''
Mrs. Bush. And that is absolutely right. One of the goals
of Head Start was to supply certain nutritional, social,
immunization, and every sort of health benefit that Head Start
could provide to very young children.
I have a very favorite Head Start center which is in
Dallas, the Margaret Cone Center. Texas Instruments Foundation
in Dallas looked around for something to do in Dallas that
could help people, and they picked this Head Start center
because the neighborhood that it was located in had the lowest
education rate, the highest poverty rate, and the most single
parents. So they chose the Margaret Cone Head Start Center, and
they augmented the amount of money that each Head Start child
in this center had by about $4,000. They made it full-time,
year-around, all day, provided three meals a day, provided a
social worker per every few families, and even after 2 years of
doing that, when the children entered the public school across
the street, they still tested in the lowest 21st percentile on
the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
So the Texas Instruments Foundation realized that there was
something missing. They had provided every social and
nutritional thing they could provide to these children. So they
went to a professor who happened to be at SMU, my alma mater,
and she developed a very good curriculum for very young 3- and
4-year-olds. It includes a lot of play, but it is very
language-rich.
They trained the teachers--and this is a very important
part of it. The teachers were like other Head Start teachers in
that they were not certified like elementary and secondary
teachers were. But they did do this training with the teachers
to incorporate these language-rich activities. And then, after
2 years of being in this Head Start center, when the children
started the public school across the street, they tested in the
95th percentile on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. So they
realized that the one component that was missing was the
component of this curriculum that was very language-rich. And
of course, they had to train the teachers to be able to teach
this, and that is a very important part.
When we are talking about teachers, teachers need to be
trained. Child care providers and Head Start teachers need to
be trained in adding these language-rich activities.
When I visited the Margaret Cone Center, some of the
children could actually already read, even though they were 4.
And now, the Texas Instruments Foundation has about 12 years of
research. They have followed these children for the 12 years
that they worked with the Margaret Cone Center, so they know
how they do later in school. They have now also funded, but
only for the last 2 years, the Jerry Junkin Center in Dallas
that works with children who have English as a second language.
So they just have a little bit of research about what adding
these language-rich experiences can do for children.
The Chairman. That is very instructive and helpful, and we
will certainly follow up, because it is a wonderful example
that you have referenced.
Finally, from your testimony today and also in reading
through your statement at the summit, is seems that you
intuitively understand what science has borne out over the last
10 years, that there is some very important potential in terms
of early learning in terms your own children and the value that
it has for children. That is something that I think is very
clear both from your own statements and from what you have done
and in the leadership that you have provided.
Let me finally ask you about the dilemma that we are facing
with low-income mothers, particularly those with toddlers, who
are facing extraordinary challenges in terms of caring for
their children and also in terms of trying to ensure that they
will have adequate care. This presents a dilemma, and I am not
really looking for a precise answer as much as your own
understanding of the kinds of challenges that poor women have
in trying to deal with the balance between providing for their
family and working and caring for toddlers. It is really an
important challenge and one that has no easy answers.
I would be interested if you have any comments on that.
Mrs. Bush. That is right. You are right about intuitively
knowing. One of the reasons why mothers talk to their babies in
that sort of sing-song baby talk intuitively is because that
emphasizes language, it emphasizes sound, it emphasizes
syllables and patterns of words.
One reason why nursery rhymes have been popular for
hundreds of years is because that also emphasizes to children
language and rhyme and rhythm. All of those things a lot of
people do know intuitively, but not everyone knows it. I think
we have to address it in a myriad of ways. The medical
community can help. For instance, when mothers or parents bring
their children in for their well-baby visits, they can talk to
the mothers about how important it is to read to their
children. That is a program in a lot of clinics all across the
country now with pediatricians, because like we said earlier,
not being able to read is also a public health issue, so the
medical profession can be involved.
Certainly, libraries can be involved and all of the
literacy providers around the country. There was a doctor at
Texas Tech University who started the Reach Out and Read
Program there, which actually started in Boston with Dr.
Zuckerman. First, she thought she would just try prescribing
reading to a mother with the very first mother who brought her
little boy in. So the mother came in with her little boy, who
was there because he was having asthma problems, and my friend,
Dr. Bakke, after she worked with the little boy and talked with
the mother, wrote out this little prescription and gave it to
the mother and said, ``This is for you to read with your
baby.'' And the mother whispered, ``I cannot read.''
So she already knew that that was going to be a part of the
problem, and she was able to give this woman a literacy
provider in her little West Texas town, which probably had to
do either with her school district or her library, so the
mother could at least learn to read enough to be able to read
her son's asthma medication labels.
So there will be a myriad of ways that we are going to have
to try to reach young mothers who are struggling economically,
who are struggling to take care of very young children, and all
of us have to figure out a way that we can help them. School
systems can help, Head Start centers can help, libraries can
help, mentors around the country can help, and certainly,
Senator Bond talked about Parents As Teachers--all those
providers can help. We will have to address that problem in a
lot of ways.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Senator Gregg.
Senator Gregg. Thank you for a superb statement that
certainly defines the issue and puts on the table a number of
ideas that we can use.
I was especially interested in your discussion of the
Margaret Cone Center, which is the type of example that I think
we can build on here, and I look forward to doing so.
Following up on the last point you were making, do you have
thoughts or ideas on what parents can do who do have the skills
but maybe are not using them? What should parents be doing?
Mrs. Bush. I hope one good result out of September 11th is
that parents are realizing that no matter how busy they are,
they have to make time for their children. I think that what
happened on September 11th reinforced for all of us the idea
that we might not have as much time as we think we have with
our loved ones, and I hope it reinforced for parents how
important it is to spend time with their children.
But there are so many things that parents can do, starting
with reading to their babies when their babies are 6 months
old. All of the things that come out of reading a story with
their children--the talk about words, the talk about letters,
the talk about sounds, the games that you can play with
children to rhyme, the songs that you can sing to children--all
of those are critically important, and most people know that
intuitively when they are with babies. The peek-a-boo games,
all of those little games that parents have played with their
children forever, are very critical later to their children's
success in life. But parents need to make sure that they do not
let weeks and months go by without reading a story to their
children. And even when their children start school, when they
are in the first and second and third grades, during those
first years that they are learning to read, if they do not read
a book all summer, if their parents never take them to the
library or to the book store if they can afford it in the
summer to pick out a book, when that child starts the first
week of the second grade or the first week of the third grade,
their teacher will have to start over.
Reading takes practice, and it really is incumbent upon
every parent to read to their children every, single day if
they possibly can. It just takes 5 or 10 minutes--and not only
when we put our arms around our children and read to them do we
show them that reading is important, but more importantly, we
show them that they are important, that they are so important
to us that we can spare 5 or 10 minutes a day to put our arms
around them and read to them.
Senator Gregg. I cannot think of a stronger statement.
Mrs. Bush. Thanks.
Senator Gregg. I appreciate your taking the time to come
today. I know you are on a tight schedule, and we thank you
very much.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you so much.
Thank you all very, very much, and thank you for having me.
Senator Dodd. Mr. Chairman, could I make just one
observation?
I thank you as well for the terrific statement that you
have made. And by the way, the little book you sent to our
daughter, ``Where the Wild Things Are''--and that is not about
Congress, I want you to know--is just delightful, and I have
already been reading that to Grace.
But just to emphasize something that Senator Kennedy raised
and you did as well in your statement, about 75 percent of all
children today, particularly poor children, spend some time in
a child care setting. Senator Hatch and I some 16 or 17 years
ago wrote the Child Care Development Block Grant, and I am
delighted that Secretary Paige is here and that you are going
to involve Senator Thompson as well. It is going to be so
critical in that child care development issue that we
incorporate exactly what you are talking about because so many
children are involved in a child care setting. There are about
6 million infants and toddlers in child care every day in this
country, and it is going to be so important in that setting
that these very principles that you have talked about with
parents and teachers be incorporated as well. I know you care
about that, but I wanted to just emphasize that.
Mrs. Bush. That is absolutely critical. When my husband was
Governor of Texas and we got an appropriation from the Texas
legislature for Head Start for the first time--they
appropriated money for a Federal program--part of that
appropriation included training teachers not just from Head
Start but also from child care centers around the State. We
need to also address those private child care centers--and I
know that public television has tried to work with this as
well--even the mothers in their homes who care for two or three
infants and toddlers; we need to try to reach every one of
those child care providers.
Senator Dodd. Thank you.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you.
The Chairman. As Senator Dodd pointed out, we have the
reauthorization of that program and Head Start coming up as
well. We want to work very closely with you, Mrs. Bush, and we
want to work with the administration. We have made progress in
education earlier. This is a matter of enormous importance. No
one can listen to you this morning and not be aware of your own
leadership in this area. We know that the President is strongly
committed to it, and we think we can make a difference to
children. So we look forward to working very closely.
We thank you immensely for your presence here and for all
that you do for the children of this country, and we appreciate
very much your return to this committee. We wish you very well,
and our best regards to the President.
Mrs. Bush. Thank you very, very much.
The Chairman. Since this is a forum, the forum is in
recess.
[Additional statements and material submitted for the
record follow:]
Prepared Statement of Bob McGrath, a/k/a ``Bob'' of Sesame Street
Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Gregg, and members of the
committee, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to present this
statement for the record. As ``Bob,'' the music teacher on Sesame
Street for the past 32 years, I have had the good fortune to be
actively involved with children in their early childhood years--
preparing their minds and spirits to learn. I have found that my most
effective tool in this labor of love is music. My remarks today focus
on the vital role that music education can and does play for young
children in laying the foundation for academic achievement in school
and success in life.
The Research
By now, most of us are aware of the research that documents the
association of music making and brain development. The evidence linking
a child's capacity to learn with playing music at an early age is quite
robust. It suggests that music-making has a positive impact on
children's cognitive abilities in language, memory, and spatialtemporal
reasoning, as well as social and motor skills that last a lifetime.
Because music enhances the phonemic stage of learning to read, it
allows us to hear and differentiate closely-related speech sounds. This
is why children with good pitch discrimination are better readers.
Music can touch the innermost creative part of a child and bring
out confidence and selfesteem. Since children learn in so many
different and individual styles, whether they be visual, auditory,
tactile, or through movement, music is the perfect vehicle for
discovering a child's individual strengths and stimulating learning.
According to psychologist Frances Rauscher of the University of
Wisconsin at Oshkosh, ``Children are born with all the nerve cells, or
neurons, they will ever have. However, connections between neurons,
called synapses, are sparse and unstable. Synaptic connections largely
determine adult intelligence. During the first six years of life, the
number of synapses increases dramatically, and synapses already in
place are stabilized. This process occurs as a result of experience or
learning. Those synapses not used are eliminated - a ``use it or lose
it'' situation. Music training appears to develop the synaptic
connections that are relevant to abstract thought.'' It appears, then,
that experiences in music during the early childhood period are vital
to maximizing the number of synaptic connections and the potential for
learning. We must abandon the idea that music education for early
childhood is merely a time for kids to sing a few songs, or that it is
simply a change of pace from other subjects. Music education is worthy
in its own right. It is an essential educational coMponent of early
childhood development.
The Sesame Street Experience
At Sesame Street, music has always been an integral part of our
productions. Through animation, film, musical guests from Paul Simon to
Placido Domingo, and yes, muppets, we have used music to educate,
inspire, and engage children in new ideas and connect them with
cultures around the world. The early childhood years are our specialty,
and we have found considerable success, as measured by the
overwhelmingly positive responses of parents, children, and teachers
over the last 32 years.
There has never been a more exciting time to be involved in
bringing music to children and turning them on to the magic of music-
making. Indeed, for the first time, national partnerships are now
helping to bring music to young people throughout the country. One
project with which I have been personally involved over the past year
is ``Sesame Street MUSIC WORKS,'' a cutting-edge music education
curriculum that is now a central part of Sesame Street's programming.
It will reach and benefit millions of children, parents, caregivers,
and educators. The multi-media components will be created in both
English and Spanish. The focus will be music and art for children aged
birth to 5. Due to generous grants from NAMM: The International Music
Products Association, MENC: The National Association for Music
Education, and the Texaco Foundation, the MUSIC WORKS curriculum will
be integrated across Sesame Street's signature programming, including
our television program, SesameStreet.com (a first-ever early childhood
musiclearning website), and Sesame Street-licensed musical products. A
MUSIC WORKS tool kit will be available for free to the general public
through the website this fall and will include a 30-minute music
education video, with information on ways to include music in
children's learning. All Sesame Street-licensed products will include
an insert from The American Music Conference that will outline ways for
parents to include music as an integral component of early childhood
learning. In November, 2001, we will launch an extensive media campaign
to promote access to the free tool kit and to raise awareness of the
influential role of music in early childhood learning. It is our
sincere hope that this program will be expanded internationally in the
coming years.
The Challenge
While I am very proud to be a part of all that Sesame Street has
undertaken to promote music education for young children, our work is
never done. We are always looking for more partners. Our existing
partnerships include organizations representing industry, educators,
caregivers, school administrators, parents, and charities. I would like
to add Congress and the Administration to this illustrious fist.
Together, we can meet the challenge of--to paraphrase a colleague from
the Eastman School of Music--making music as integral and embedded in
early childhood education as blocks and the sand box.
To achieve this goal, we must broadly disseminate information on
the music/brain research and its implications for early childhood
education to parents, school administrators, and state and local
education officials so that local education policies are informed by
science and solid experience. The U.S. Department of Education, with
its far-reaching network and outreach activities, could be of enormous
assistance in this regard. Additionally, Head Start and other early
childhood programs receiving federal funding should be encouraged to
provide equal access and opportunity in music education for all
children. Professional development programs to assist educators in
teaching and integrating music into the curriculum merit support at the
federal level as well. Congress and the Administration also must
continue and expand the use of your respective bully pulpits to spread
the message that music should be a priority because of its crucial role
in learning. Hearings, White House conferences, town hall meetings,
speeches, and media contacts would be powerful tools in support of our
effort.
Conclusion
I applaud the Committee's scheduling of this important hearing
today. Indeed, there is no more significant and honorable task than the
education of our children. The earliest stages of the educational
process are so critical to later success. Music must be present from
the beginning to ensure optimal leaming for young children in child
care and early childhood classrooms. I strongly believe that anyone who
works with young children must be prepared to help them find a way to
make music. Albert Einstein once said, ``I often think in music. I see
my life in terms of music.'' With assistance from committed partners in
the public and private sectors, our child care settings and schools
will be ready if a three-year-old Albert Einstein shows up at the door.
The Chairman. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 10:55 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]