Working with an instructional coach does not mean a teacher is poorly trained, incompetent, or incapable of teaching. In fact, it is one of the best methods to help teachers develop exceptional instructional skills, practices, and strategies in the classroom, and to improve student achievement.

More and more people are discovering what we’ve known all along: that smart investments in educating our youngest children pay off. In this era of limited dollars and economic challenges, early childhood advocates are increasingly making a case that the benefits of early childhood investments don’t take a generation to yield fruit—they pay off right away.

A task force led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein released a report that states American students rank behind their peers in reading, math and science in many other developed and industrialized countries, and that this “educational failure” poses a risk for our future military and economy. 

One third-grade student at Chicago’s Armour Elementary summed up our feelings about the exciting collaboration with Target and Chicago Public Schools.  “I feel brand new!” he exclaimed after checking out a book from his classroom’s new home-lending library.

In an earlier post, Kelly Hunter, our executive director, talked about CLI’s shift from changing the world “one classroom at a time” to fostering sustainable, school-wide change in the schools and districts we work with. For us, the most significant benefit of winning funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) initiative is our ability to help schools transform their culture to support effective literacy instruction.