Mark Shriver Quotes

I had been very focused on the issue of education disparities in our country, and literally, by the time kids are just nine years old, in low-income communities, they're already three or four grade levels behind nine-year-olds in high-income communities.

Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start Kindergarten.

If you have a kid who goes to kindergarten and doesn't know what a circle is, doesn't know what red and green are, and doesn't know what right and left are, by the time he learns those things, the rest of the class is far ahead of him.

Early childhood education is an urgent educational, economic and moral imperative. Without it, we face a long-term national economic security crisis.

Children who attend high-quality early care and education programs before kindergarten perform better on assessments of reading and math skills and socio-emotional development. However, since early care and education programs are so expensive, low-income families face significant barriers.

You don't have to care about children to care about children. One of the things that I talk a lot about is the fact of the importance of third-grade reading level. By the end of third grade, if the child is not at reading level, it'll drop off. They never catch up.

Head Start is designed to ensure that all children - regardless of their family's income, race, or ethnic background - are able to enter kindergarten ready to learn.

Research has shown time and time again that infants who receive the high-quality child care and early education programs do better in school, have more developed social skills, and display fewer behavior problems.

As a teacher you can see the difference in kids who have parents who were involved. That difference, by the time these kids get to the third grade, is drastic.

Head Start has been a key component of health, nutrition and early learning opportunities since the 1960s.

Early childhood education packs a real wallop in terms of the return on the investment.

One way to ensure that all kids will be successful in school and life is by focusing on literacy by the end of the third grade.

Every child should be given a strong start to their education.

The goal of the Head Start program is to give at-risk children all across our Nation a fair chance at succeeding in the educational system.

Head Start is especially important to Latino children. Latino children make up more than one-third, 34 percent, of all those eligible for the program.

I focus on supporting high quality early childhood health care and education. By betting my resources on very young children, I know I'm making an investment that pays guaranteed dividends with a high rate of return.

Our children are our greatest resource and Head Start grants help them reach their full potential.

Governor Romney has said nothing about preschool. I think that giving the poorest kids in America wonderful preschool, and three years of it, starting when they are two-and-a-half, is absolutely crucial.

I'm a great believer that the most important years are the sort of early years but the preschool years and then into the first and second grades. If you get a good base in the first and second grade and you can read, you can do anything.

I have long been a supporter of the Head Start program because each and every year I witness the dramatic positive impact that early intervention services have on children's lives in my congressional district.

Learning can take place in the backyard if there is a human being there who cares about the child. Before learning computers, children should learn to read first. They should sit around the dinner table and hear what their parents have to say and think.

Instilling a sense of self-discipline and focus when the kids are younger makes it so much easier by the time they get into high school.

A child miseducated is a child lost.

If we expect our children to thrive at our colleges and universities, and succeed in our economy once they graduate - first we must make quality, affordable early childhood education accessible to all.

Experts say that if children can't read by the end of the fifth grade, they lose self-confidence and self-esteem, making them more likely to enter the juvenile justice system.