"It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex."

-Washington State Constitution, article IX, section 1

Tune into media of any kind and you'll hear messages about the need to improve education and address this "paramount duty." While we are neither legal nor policy experts, Reach Out and Read has been part of the education conversation since the program started in Boston in 1989. Doctors and educators recognized that providing children with books, and encouraging parents to read aloud at home, would help children be ready for school. Twenty-three years later, we know Reach Out and Read works. Parents who participate read more often at home, children have improved language skills, and they enter kindergarten more ready for school. So why is this so important to talk about? Put simply, too many children in Washington enter and progress through the K-12 educational system without the skills they need.

According to OSPI, we are up against some daunting statistics:

• Only 43% of children arrive at kindergarten with expected language, communication and literacy skills (WaKIDS Pilot)
• Only 69% of all students are proficient in reading by the end of 3rd grade
• Only 56% of students living in low-income families are proficient in 3rd grade reading
• Only 55% or fewer students in certain demographic groups are proficient in 3rd grade reading; including Black, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American Indian students
• Only 78% of Washington students who enter high school have graduated 5 years later

So depending on which statistic you want to focus on, we are failing somewhere between 22 and 57% of children in Washington!

Improving outcomes for students across Washington State requires urgent focus and action. The good news is that there is a growing commitment to embrace early learning as part of the education continuum, recognizing that we must strategically invest in birth through age 5 in order to improve K-12 outcomes. Focusing on improving outcomes for kids, and putting in place the systems and supports needed to do so as quickly as possible, is where the conversation needs to be. This month we feature some editorials which delve into the importance of preschool, and recognize the educational continuum from birth through 3rd grade.

We started Reach Out and Read Washington State in 2007 to support parents as their child's first teachers, so that they could help their children be ready for kindergarten. We began in partnership with the Department of Early Learning and Thrive by Five Washington soon after they were created. Our approach has always been in alignment with child care and preschool strategies, and with early elementary education, working together toward helping children read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. So while we are delighted with increasing support for preschool, Reach Out and Read will continue to address--and speak for--the simultaneous needs of parents, especially those with the youngest children, and those with the least resources.

We must not forget that disparities in cognitive skills are measurable as early as 9 months of age, a time when the vast majority of children are home with parents or other informal caregivers. Three years of age is too late to start making sure children in Washington get off to a good start. Impacting early learning from birth means supporting children's learning in the context of parent-child relationships, throughout the continuum from birth into elementary school.

We can support early learning across the state in a cost-effective way through Reach Out and Read. This is a program parents want, that is embraced across cultures, that is efficiently scalable through the health care system, and is proven to improve children's early language and literacy skills. Starting Reach Out and Read in infancy supports parents as their child's first teachers so they can help their children along a trajectory toward reading proficiently at 3rd grade, and onward toward high school graduation. Educational success begins with babies in the arms of their parents. Only when we recognize and support this will Washington be on track toward "ample provision for education of all children."

Please watch our two short TV segments and read the commentaries below. We can and must do more for very young children, and the time is now. Thank you for your support.

Reach Out and Read helps prepare children to succeed in school
by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.Our evidence-based, proven program leverages the volunteer time of doctors to make literacy a standard part of well-child visits. Reach Out and Read supports parents as their child's first teacher. Through 134 programs in 29 counties, almost 900 medical providers serve an estimated 83,000 children and families.