Welcome to ARK's January Newsletter. Glenn, Jan, Omega, Quintina, and I extend to you our deepest appreciation for your commitment to the children in your lives in your homes, in your neighborhoods, and within your larger communities.

We hope you are wintering well in all this cold weather and that your hearts are warm with the love of "making a difference in the lives of kids".. In this great land of America, we have much for which to be thankful.

For our teachers, we are thankful for your energy, dedication, and love of teaching. For parents and grandparents, we are thankful for your caring presence in the lives of children. Our research reveals that, now more than ever before, children need adult support and encouragement--people to be both a model and a mentor for imparting values, integrity, and compassion!
Bill

William R. Duffy
National Executive Director
Lone Star College University Park, Houston, Texas.

"In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs (adult learners) are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty." Waiting for Superman, Sundance Film Festival, 2010

Saturday, February 12th
Fellowship of The Woodlands
1 Fellowship Lane, The Woodlands 8:00 A.M. - Registration Opens 9:00 A.M. - Presentation Begins 9:15 A.M. - Doors Close EDUCATORS RECEIVE 4 CPE'S

Motivational Speaker Inspired the Movie, "Coach Carter"

Coach Ken Carter Accomplishments:
Created a controversy with his methods of transforming a San Francisco Basketball Team into a powerhouse with the school grades
"Impact Citizen of the Year" Award
"Heroes in Education" Award
"Unsung Heroes" Award
"Boy's Coach of the Year" Award
Founder of the "Coach Carter Impact Academy"

Ticket Information:
Conroe, Klein, Magnolia, Spring, Tomball & Willis Educators please register on your District Website.
Educators, Parents and Community Members tickets may be purchased for $10 at www.jlnhsmc.org.

For additional information please visit
www.jlnhsmc.org

Since the ARKGroup is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, all gifts are tax-deductible. Be sure that your checks have are dated December 31 or earlier in order for you to receive 2010 tax credit.

Checks can be made out to "The ARKGroup" and sent to our Houston office (20515 SH 249, LoneStar College University Park CB-122, Houston, Texas 77070) or our Dallas office (2215 Canada Dr., Dallas, TX 75212).

The goal of the federal government's "No Child Left Behind" initiative was to place a "quality teacher in every classroom in America." It is a wonderful goal--one that is important in helping American children to receive a first-rate education. However, there is considerable evidence that parents have an even greater effect that teachers in regard to children's success at school.

Several studies have found that the "home effect" is far greater than the "school effect" and accounts for approximately 60 percent fo the average student achievement. One of the studies, a landmark piece of research performed by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, found that the quality of home experiences accounts for 61 percent of performance variance and that these preschool home experiences persist well into a child's academic career.

Parent involvement in the early childhood years is critically important. Todd and Risley worked with parents and children in a variety of income settings, recording the interactions of parents and their children. They focused on the number of words heard by children dureing the first four years of their lives, a time when brain development and the acquisition of vocabulary skills are heavily linked.

Their research found that children in poverty families heard an average of 616 words per hour. In working class families, children heard an average of 1,251 words per hour while children in professional families heard 2,153 words per hour. Hart and Risley reported, "In four years of such experience, an average child in a professional family would have accumulated experience with almost 45 million words...and an average child in a welfare family would have accumulated experience with 13 million words." This 35 million "word advantage" explains wh children raised in higher income families tend to score much higher on intelligence tests than do children who are raised in a culture of generational poverty.

In identifying the huge disparity in vocabulary skills among children from different socio-economic classes, Todd and Risley are not pointing fingers of blame. Their study simply identified important cultural differences that can result in potentially smart poverty children not developing the skills that would lead them to score well on IQ tests. Higher income families typically place a greater value on education--and spend more time with their children preparing them for an academic career--than do poverty familes. The good news is that, when low-income parents are armed with the knowledge that vocabulary skills are an important part of early childhood brain development, they can begin interacting with their children in ways that will close the "word gap."

In his book, Children: Behavior and Development, Dr. Boyd McCandless says, "Language development during infancy has been shown to be more highly related to later tests of intelligence than any other measure of infant 'intelligence'." He then adds these words of hope, "With adult attention, the language development of infants can be accelerated: for example, the more reading infants have been exposed to, the more advanced their language development is likely to be..regardless of the social class from which they come."

Parents, it is vitally important that you read to your small chldren! And, it helps to have magazines and lots of children's books visible around the house. When children see written materials in the home, it conveys the message that words and books are important. Also, spending time sitting with your child, and reading to him, are wonderful ways of conveying unconditional love.

Debt-ridden state governments across America are currently slashing budgets; and, tragically, some short-sighted legislatures are cutting funds allocated to public education. However, the Dallas Morning News offers us good news in a recent editorial, "...the long-term fix [in providing quality education to our children] may not involve massive expenditures on teachers and programs in the classroom as much as improving parent-child interaction in the home."

Parents, if you want to help your child be successful at school, spend time with your child...talk with her...and read to her. You can make a tremendous difference!

Glenn

• Infants need 14 to 15 hours of sleep
• Toddlers need 12 to 14 hours of sleep
• Preschoolers need 11 to 13 hours of sleep
• School-age kids need 10 to 11 hours of sleep
• Teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep

Every parent and teacher knows that a tired kid is a cranky kid. Now scientists are discovering that children with chronic sleep problems are at increased risk for developing a mental illness later in life.

The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, January 18, 2011, on page 1 of the Personal Journal section report should "wake us up" if we as parents and teachers do not engage in this discussion with each other on behalf of our children.

Suggestions offered for strategies to encourage healthy sleep in kids include:

1. Establishing regular bedtime and wake time, even on weekends.
2. Ensure the bedroom is a dark and quiet place for sleep. No homework in bed.
3. Ensure a calming bedtime routine.
4. Limit caffeine and candy consumption, especially after 4 p.m.
5. Ban TV, web surfing, texting and gaming one halh-hour before lights out.
6. Never use bedtime as a punishment.
7. Focus on letting your kids review the day, happy, significant,and meaningful moments of their day.

Just musing...
Bill

Take a look at the ARK website for full details on programs at www.thearkgroup.org