The first five years of a child's life are a time of tremendous physical, emotional, social and cognitive growth. Children enter the world with many needs in order to grow: love, nutrition, health, social and emotional security and stimulation in the important skills that prepare them for school success. Children also enter the world with a great capacity to learn. Research shows clearly that children are more likely to succeed in learning when their families actively support them. Families who involve their children in activities that allow the children to talk, explore, experiment and...

Imagine that you wake up one morning to find out you have no memory You're not able to remember who you are or what happened in your life yesterday or the day before that. You're unable to recognize your children, and you can't communicate with neighbors and other people because you no longer know how to greet them, and you can't understand what they are saying. You don't remember what the words "elections," "wars," or "movies" mean. Just as having no personal memory deprives us of a sense of our own identity, having no historical memory deprives us of a sense of our national identity and,...

In President Obama's first address to Congress, he challenged America to meet an ambitious goal for education: By 2020, we will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Meeting this goal is vital for securing our long-term economic security, because the country that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. We must work to ensure that all children and adults in America receive a world-class education that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers for rich and fulfilling lives in a vibrant and prosperous democracy. We often refer to the...

The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 requires, in Sec. 113(c)(3)(C), that the secretary provide the appropriate committees of Congress copies of annual reports received by the U.S. Department of Education from each eligible agency that receives funds under Perkins III. Sec. 113(c)(3)(A) further requires the secretary to make the information contained in such reports available to the general public. This report contains information on states' progress in achieving their adjusted performance levels -negotiated with and approved by the Department-on the core...

The 2011 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 47th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education...