Last week I had two encounters with success and celebration neither of which I’d anticipated, and sometimes, that’s the best kind. First we’d invited students to design a Valentine card which our marketing team would adapt as this year’s greeting from the Stern Center president. She loves such holidays, and has a long established tradition of personalizing them. In any case, a young man responded with a design that captured everyone’s heart as it were. When he and his parents learned that his design would be our official 2011 Valentine’s card, they were delighted. He was simply joyful that he’d “won” something. His parents felt something much deeper, a joy derived from their son’s success in the sort of venture that had escaped him in his first 14 years of struggling through life’s too frequent and too daunting challenges. We made several copies for them to use as their Valentines to family and dear friends.

Two days later, I was at our State House on Stern Center business when from across the Chamber, I thought I recognized two former colleagues from many, many years ago. As it turns out they were there as principal and curriculum coordinator for an elementary school being recognized for achieving the best scores in the state’s recent state/regional school assessments. The little school, nestled in one of Vermont’s picturesque villages experiences many challenges one readily associates with such contexts: limited financial resources, high levels of ‘free and reduced lunch” families, limited social and community services… Despite those challenges, the people of this school found success at such a level that they were being recognized not only in their own cafe-nasi-torium, but also by the state media, and this particular day by the state legislators full of “whereas-es” and “let it be knowns.” Both of my former colleagues (and probably a few more of their current ones) have been connected to that same school for at least 15 years, building relationships, developing programs, managing resources all the time focused on what’s best for the kids.

It works that way sometimes. You create a cherished Valentine. Your test scores are the best this year. In both cases, you smile, laugh, and maybe even cry just a little as you celebrate success!

OK, so the Stern Center has developed a research-based and research-proven program for early childhood providers/educators and parents that we know dramatically improves children’s readiness to read. Not only do all preschoolers coming from this program perform better, but more importantly those children in the lowest 20%, those at-risk for reading failure, rise above the at-risk level! This program, BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® http://buildingblocksforliteracy.org really works!

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® works! It’s FREE and online. It’s play-based, developmentally appropriate approach is available to everyone working with pre-schoolers. In five sections of brief, engaging lessons care providers and parents can learn what to do and why to do it. Participants enter the program, stay as long or as briefly as they wish, return whenever they want, take as long as needed to complete the program, and all the while try out the best practices with their children. BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® provides an online community where users can share their experiences, hold conversations, and post video examples for feedback and dialogue.

If you are an early childhood provider/educator, or a parent, guardian, or grandparent of pre-school children you should check out http://buildingblocksforliteracy.org
If you’re a local, state or other public policy maker, you too should check it out. This program better prepares children to be successful readers. Better readers means better learners. Better learners means less cost for special and remedial education.

More successful readers. Reduced costs to school systems. Everybody wins! http://buildingblocksforliteracy.org Check it out!


(We also offer fee-based BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY certification for CEU’s towards re/licensing etc. as well as a 3-credit undergraduate course for those wishing to go further with these studies.)