Close the achievement gap in early years

Virginia is regularly ranked as one of the top five or 10 states in the country for K-12 education. We have a strong higher education system. We are doing a lot of things right. But there is a huge amount still to do, especially in children's early years.

Kindergarten teachers report seeing the early signs of the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children in the first weeks of school. Closing this gap has to be a priority if Virginia's education system is to be the best. The new Race-to-the-Top early learning challenge — a federal competition that could earn our state up to $60 million — is a chance for Virginia to affirm its position as a top state for education while setting a course to an even brighter education future. The governor has to indicate by July 15 if Virginia is going to compete and prepare an application for submission this fall.

The evidence is overwhelming that achievement gaps, drop-out rates and crime trends manifest in the first five years of life if children do not spend those years in language-rich, nurturing environments. Virginia's leaders know this and have invested in the Virginia Pre-School Initiative, a program that is improving student performance, especially among African-American and Hispanic students, according to recent studies from the University of Virginia. The way children develop in those early years — even in the months before they are born — dramatically affects their ability to learn, their language skills and ultimately their prospects for college and career success.

Too often in education policy debates, fixing schools is focused solely on graduation rates and fixing high school. That work is needed, but we can't truly improve the system without taking a holistic approach that encompasses these earliest years. This year's Race-to-the-Top competition, with its focus on helping children from birth through age 5, is Virginia's chance to pull together a decade's worth of bipartisan work on early learning programs and signal that we aim to make sure our state is the best in the country for education.

Virginia has many of the required ingredients that put it in a competitive position to win this grant. The Virginia Pre-School Initiative now enrolls more than 15,000 children across the state. We are testing a rating system for pre-K and childcare programs to help parents make smart choices about where to enroll their kids and what represents a quality program. We have begun to build stronger coordination between preschool programs and our elementary schools to help ensure children show up to kindergarten ready to succeed.

Virginia has consistently supported pre-K funding, even during the worst parts of the recession. The commonwealth supports proven programs such as Healthy Families that help new parents ensure the best health and development of their children. And the state's Smart Beginnings coalitions show that we know how to break down the walls between bureaucratic agencies: With funding from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, Smart Beginnings has fostered collaboration between the departments of education and human services and the governor's early childhood work group, resulting in a cohesive vision of how to serve children from birth to age 5.

Gov. Allen started Virginia's pre-K program. Gov. Warner led the development of a comprehensive early childhood strategy. Gov. Kaine's Start Strong committee and his School Readiness Task Force made great strides in expanding and improving the quality of Virginia's early childhood programs, especially pre-K. The State Board of Education has made it clear that early learning is a key component of its strategic plan. And Gov. McDonnell's Early Childhood Work Group is looking at ways to strengthen early learning. Republican and Democratic governors have helped support and extend our work to provide strong early childhood development support for families.

As our economy starts to improve, we have a real chance to make the commitments to early learning that we know will produce substantial dividends in future economic growth, reduced government costs, greater independence and personal responsibility for future generations and most importantly, student success.

As McDonnell said at his inauguration, "To compete in this global economy, every young Virginian must have the opportunity of a world-class education from preschool to college." This Race-to-the-Top competition is a chance to show the country that Virginia has what it takes to live up to that vision by ensuring all kids start kindergarten ready to learn. This is worth doing. Whether we win or loose the grant competition, this is a race worth embarking on.