Early Learning

During last night’s democratic debate sponsored by CNN and Facebook, five presidential candidates squared off for their first face-to-face of the 2016 campaign season: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders; former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley; former Virginia U.S. Senator Jim Webb; and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee. The debate neglected to tackle issues affecting education, however the two frontrunners, Sanders and Clinton, addressed it broadly in response to other questions.

Third grade is a critical point in every child’s education. Those who do not learn to read proficiently by the end of third grade face “daunting hurdles to success in school and beyond.”

That’s one of the important messages of “Learning to Read, Reading to Learn: Why Third Grade is a Pivotal Year for Mastering Literacy,” a white paper recently released by NSBA’s Center for Public Education (CPE).