A new way to get every child ready for kindergarten | Claudia Miner

I'm an historian.

And what I love about being an historian is it gives you perspective.

Today, I'd like to bring that perspective to education in the United States.

About the only thing people can agree on

is that the most strategic time for a child to start learning

is early.

Over 50 years ago,

there was a watershed moment in early education in the US

called "Head Start."

Now, historians love watersheds

because it makes it so easy to talk about what came before

and what's happened since.

Before Head Start, basically nothing.

With Head Start,

we began to get our nation's most at-risk children ready for school.

Since Head Start, we've made strides,

but there are still 2.2 million children in the US

without access to early learning,

or more than half of the four-year-olds in the country.

That's a problem.

But the bigger problem is what we know happens to those children.

At-risk children who reach school without basic skills

are 25 percent more likely to drop out,

40 percent more likely to become teen parents

and 60 percent less likely to go to college.

So if we know how important early education is,

why aren't all children getting it?

There are barriers that the solutions we've come up with to date

simply can't overcome.

Geography: think rural and remote.

Transportation: think working parents everywhere.

Parent choice: no state requires a four-year-old to go to school.

And cost: the average cost for a state to educate a preschooler

is five thousand dollars a year.

So am I just going to keep talking about problems?

No.

Today, I want to tell you about a cost-effective, technology-delivered,

kindergarten-readiness program that can be done in the home.

It's called UPSTART,

and more than 60,000 preschoolers in the US have already used it.

Now, I know what you might be thinking:

here's another person throwing tech at a national problem.

And you'd be partially right.

We develop early learning software designed to individualize instruction,

so children can learn at their own pace.

To do that, we rely on experts from fields ranging from reading to sociology

to brain science development to all aspects of early learning,

to tell us what the software should do and look like.

Here's an example.

(Video) Zero (sings to the tune of "Day-O"): Zero!

Zero!

Zero is the number that's different from the others.

Seagulls: Zero is a big, round "O."

Zero: It's not like one, I'm sure you'll discover.

Seagulls: Zero is a big, round "O."

(Laughter)

Claudia Miner: That is "The Zero Song."

(Laughter)

And here are Odd Todd and Even Steven to teach you some things about numbers.

And here are the Word Birds,

and they're going to show you when you blend letter sounds together,

you can form words.

You can see that instruction is short, colorful and catchy,

designed to capture a child's attention.

But there's another piece to UPSTART

that makes it different and more effective.

UPSTART puts parents in charge of their children's education.

We believe, with the right support,

all parents can get their children ready for school.

Here's how it works.

This is the kindergarten readiness checklist from a state.

And almost every state has one.

We go to parents wherever they are,

and we conduct a key in-person group training.

And we tell them the software can check every reading, math and science box,

but they're going to be responsible for motor skills and self-help skills,

and together, we're going to work on social emotional learning.

Now, we know this is working

because we have a 90-percent completion rate for the program.

Last year, that translated into 13,500 children

"graduating," with diplomas, from UPSTART.

And the results have been amazing.

We have an external evaluation

that shows our children have two to three times the learning gains

as children who don't participate in the program.

We have a random control trial that shows strong evidence of effectiveness,

and we even have a longitudinal study

that shows our children's gains last into third and fourth grade,

the highest grades the children had achieved at the time.

Those are academic gains.

But another study has shown that our children's social emotional gains

are equal to those of children attending public and private preschool.

The majority of the 60,000 children who have participated in UPSTART to date

have been from Utah.

But we have replicated our results

with African-American children in Mississippi --

this is Kingston and his mother;

with English language learners in Arizona --

this is Daisy and her family;

with refugee children in Philadelphia -- this is my favorite graduation photo;

and with Native American children

from some of the most remote parts of the United States.

This is Cherise, and this is where she lives in Monument Valley.

Now, there are skeptics about UPSTART.

Some people don't believe young children should have screen time.

To them, we say:

UPSTART's usage requirement of 15 minutes a day, five days a week,

is well within the hour-a-day recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics

for four-year-olds.

Some people believe only site-based preschool can work,

and to them, we say: site-based preschool is great,

but if you can't get a child there or if a parent won't send a child there,

isn't a technology-delivered, results-based option a great alternative?

And we love working with site-based preschools.

Right now, there are 800 children in Mississippi

going to Head Start during the day

and doing UPSTART at night with their families.

Our audacious idea is to take UPSTART across the country --

not to replace anything;

we want to serve children who otherwise would not have access to early education.

We have the guts to take on the skeptics,

we have the energy to do the work,

and we have a plan.

It is the role of the states to educate their children.

So first we will use philanthropy dollars

to go into a state to pilot the program and get data.

Every state believes it's unique

and wants to know that the program will work with its children

before investing.

Then we identify key leaders in the state to help us champion UPSTART

as an option for unserved children.

And together, we go to state legislatures

to transition UPSTART from philanthropy

to sustainable and scalable state funding.

That plan has worked --

(Applause)

Thanks.

Thank you.

That plan has worked in three states to date:

Utah, Indiana and South Carolina.

We've also piloted the program in a number of states

and identified champions.

Next, we're moving to states with the greatest geographic barriers

to work the plan,

and then on to states that already have early education

but may not be getting great academic results

or great parent buy-in to participate.

From there, we go to the states

that are going to require the most data and work to convince,

and we'll hope our momentum helps turn the tide there.

We will serve a quarter of a million children in five years,

and we will ensure that states continue to offer UPSTART to their children.

Here's how you can help:

for two thousand dollars,

we can provide a child with UPSTART, a computer and internet,

and that child will be part of the pilot

that makes certain other children get UPSTART in the future.

We also need engaged citizens to go to their government

and say just how easy it can be to get children ready for school.

You wouldn't be here if you weren't an engaged citizen,

so we're asking for your help.

Now, will all of us this make UPSTART a watershed moment in early education?

I believe together we can make it one.

But I can tell you without a doubt

that UPSTART is a watershed moment

in the life of a child who otherwise would not be ready for school.

Thank you.

(Applause)