By Vallay Varro, November guest blogger
Minnesota is on a roll. This summer we came together as a state and enacted reforms that clear the path to quality pre-K for all families. And now to show support for our state’s bid in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge — a grant program to give states federal dollars for pre-K reforms like the ones we just passed — MinnCAN (link) convened community leaders across Minnesota to express their shared commitment to early childhood education in this video.
We cannot underestimate the impact that effective early education has on a child’s life. When we prepare students to succeed in kindergarten, we give them the opportunity to be high-performers throughout their education. This means higher graduation rates and more college degrees. It means an important step towards closing our achievement gap.
Right now our achievement gap is handicapping the next generation of Minnesotans and jeopardizing our collective future. By investing in early education we can begin to close it and in turn help an economy thrive, Our Race to the Top video signals to the application reviewers that Minnesotans are serious about making sure all of our children enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Twenty-eight leaders also endorsed a letter of support, illustrating broad support for early childhood learning reforms. This letter and screenshots from our video were enclosed in Minnesota’s Race to the Top application, demonstrating that Minnesotans understand the stakes of the situation and are poised to act together.
You can reinforce that message and join the community leaders by clicking here to sign a petition in support of Minnesota’s application.
A few months back, we achieved our third campaign goal by getting Minnesota leaders to enact a pre-K quality rating system and create scholarships for low-income families. Those reforms put Minnesota on the path to closing its achievement gap, and with the help of Race to the Top, we can continue on that path. It’s time to rally together again and show the Race to the Top reviewers just how serious Minnesota is about making sure all of our children start their education off right.
For more information on MinnCAN and our campaign goals, visit www.MinnCAN.org and follow @MinnCAN. Stay Tuned for the announcement of our 2012 Goals in the coming weeks.
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