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<p class="MsoPlainText">Hi!  I thought you may be interested in this short article discussing the Governor’s focus group’s response to the questions regarding education:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/11/get_ready_for_an_early_start.html">http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/11/get_ready_for_an_early_start.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">If you don’t have time to read the full article, here are a few key points I’ve cut and paste directly from the article.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]>Not one person [in the focus group] mentioned early-childhood education [even when the facilitator pressed them by asking “what else” and “anything else”].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]> Everything [the Governor] and other education leaders hope to accomplish -- attacking the persistently high dropout rate, dramatically increasing college participation -- begins with getting every Oregon child ready to learn
 before he or she arrives at kindergarten.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]>If the Legislature agrees, Oregon soon will require that all children entering kindergarten be assessed for their readiness. If early-childhood programs are not adequately preparing children, they will lose their public funding.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]>Oregon is not setting out to "test" 5-year-olds on their skills. An assessment of their readiness to learn is something different.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]>If the governor and the many Oregonians who work in early childhood education (<i>that’s you!</i>) are successful, one day you'll see it in higher graduation rates and greater college participation. You'll see it in a generation
 of young Oregon adults who, unlike today's, are better educated than their parents. And you'll see it in a future roomful of Oregonians who, when asked about education, quickly answer that it all starts in preschool.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" align="center" style="text-align:center">Katie Anderson, Library Development Services<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" align="center" style="text-align:center">* Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator *<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" align="center" style="text-align:center">Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" align="center" style="text-align:center">katie.anderson@state.or.us, 503-378-2528<o:p></o:p></p>
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