Child Literacy

    Guest post by Andrea Gibbs with Baby Steps Preschool in New York.     As a parent, you’ll want your child to have the best possible education. One way to do that is by choosing books for them to read at their appropriate reading level — but how do you know your child’s reading level? To better understand this, let’s take a look at the components of reading levels. First things first, there are two components of reading read more…

    This year Promise the Children will be raising funds to support Free Online Tutoring for any student in need as they work to catch up from last year’s disrupted school year.     Join Promise the Children for our second virtual online auction! This year we will be raising funds to support free online tutoring for any student in need as they work to catch up from last year’s disrupted school year. We are proud to partner with read more…

.   “School funding is a mix of federal, state, and local funding sources distributed through complex and ever-changing formulas, making it all too easy for elected leaders to use half-truths and lies to slash education budgets and divert taxpayer dollars from public schools. Pro-public education advocates can’t allow that to happen.” – National Education Association (NEA) | School Funding: Learn the Facts and How to Use Them     As public schools begin to wind down for summer, now read more…

When Zero Tolerance Policies were instituted in public schools, the use of suspensions as a disciplinary measure increased. These zero tolerance policies were designed by school districts to increase school safety and were unusually strict. In one instance, an elementary school child was expelled from school because she had a small plastic knife in her lunch box. In another, a 12-year old was handcuffed, arrested, and detained at a New York City Police Department for writing on her desk. The read more…

Promise the Children recently wrote about the decrease in public school funding—and the simultaneous increase in the number of students—that makes teaching so challenging today. Fortunately there are many charities that have dedicated themselves to helping with homework and strengthening the literacy skills of our nation’s children, like the Boys & Girls Clubs, Girls Inc., The YMCA, The YWCA and many others. One of our favorite partners focused on literacy is The REAL Program, a charity that works closely with Brickett Elementary read more…

Promise the Children is partnering with The Real Program of Lynn to help enable their free children’s literacy program to thrive and flourish! If you’re interested in supporting these efforts, please consider donating to The REAL Program via the Promise the Children website or by purchasing raffle tickets—where you’ll also be given a chance to win prizes! Join Promise the Children in supporting The REAL Program!  Donate Online: Promise the Children PayPal Donation Purchase Raffle Tickets: If you’re interested in purchasing raffle tickets, email rkr@promisethechildrenuu.org and let us read more…

Many of us, including our policemen and women have become accustomed to solving conflict with violence. There is too much violence in our lives. We are losing our ability to resolve conflict verbally. Many adults and children live in terror that they or a loved one will be killed or maimed by a gunshot. We can change this by; curbing all gun sales, teaching gun safety at home in school, and using internet resources, linking schools to local community mental read more…

Traditional and charter schools can cooperate so as to improve our children’s education. One example is in the town of Lawrence MA where cooperation resulted in increased rates of graduation, and a reduction of school drop-outs. The relationship between traditional and charter school occurred after the Lawrence school district went into receivership because of extremely poor performance. This occurred five years ago when fewer than one-half of the students graduated from High School. The receivership focussed on student achievement rather than internal bickering. Additional read more…

President Elect Trump speaks of eliminating the U. S. Department of Education and national standards for public education – as did President Reagan. Our last four presidents worked on national standards. Their work improved public education and high school graduation rates, but more needs to be done. Our high school students often graduate with poor preparation for technical jobs, and immigrants are hired whose education is relevant. You can sign up with Promise the Children and support education.  You can get to know your read more…

Low-waged single parent(s) cannot pay market rate for child care. Many children are in risky situations where they are neglected or abused.  Some are lucky enough to have a relative or neighbor to provide care. Some are supported by childcare vouchers or are in Head Start. A minimum waged single parent working 40 hours weekly may be earning as much as $15,080 annually. This is below the Federal poverty line. The median income in the United States is estimated at $51,939. This is read more…