What would make a difference for at-risk students?
Well, let me just say parenthetically, while visiting urban schools, I saw some simply terrific teachers, some really wonderful school principals, and some excellent superintendents. But I purposely did not write a book where I highlighted these great exceptions because I’ve seen terrific exceptions for 25 years, and I don’t want to waste my time pretending any longer that terrific exceptions represent a systemic answer to these problems. There are thousands of small victories every day in America, but I’ve seen too many small victories washed away by larger losses. School principals are always grateful if you write that kind of book, but I just didn’t want to do it. What would make a significant difference? Number 1: We ought to stop fooling around about preschool and do it at last after a quarter century. We ought to be providing full-day Head Start to every low-income child starting at the age of 2 ½. And make sure that every child gets that for at least two years, every low-income
