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Westfair, 6/16/17 A 45 year fight: WJCS continues to battle achievement gap
According to a legion of research from a number of institutions, children from low-income households perform worse on most measures of academic achievement, from grades and test scores to college enrollment rates, when compared to their high-income peers.
While the reasons behind this broad gap are varied, many researchers believe part of the problem lies in the fact that children in lower-income households are less likely to have access to learning-rich environments in their own homes. For one Westchester nonprofit, creating those environments has been its mission for nearly half a century.
Westchester Jewish Community Services, a nonprofit human services agency headquartered in White Plains, marked the 45th anniversary of its Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) this year. The program uses an evidence-based model to provide families with tools to achieve their greatest potential both in school and in life.
“The program bridges the academic achievement gap between children from low-income families and their wealthier peers,” said program director Patrice Cuddy. “Children participating in the PCHP enter school ready to learn and achieve at the same level as their more economically advantaged peers.”
Cuddy said the program, which is part of a national network of PCHPs and the only such initiative in Westchester County, aims to prepare children for school by beginning their education in the home.
“Some research states that 30 to 50 percent of children enter kindergarten without the school readiness skills needed to succeed,” she said. Those children “often engage in a futile attempt to catch up to their more privileged peers, many of whom have had multiple years of preschool.”
As part of the program, families receive twice-weekly home visits from a program employee. The trained home visitor provides the family with a book or educational toy, often the first such item in the home. The home visitor then uses that item to initiate conversation and play activities with both parents and children, helping develop language and literacy skills and build school readiness, Cuddy said.
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