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In "Writing on the wall: The kids can't read" (Opinion Exchange, Dec. 27) experienced educator Peter Hutchinson explains in detail the different methods of teaching children to read. He claims that using phonics rather than whole word teaching will raise low reading scores while improving discipline, suspensions and truancy. He concludes by saying the $1 billion expenditure needed to retrain teachers in the Science of Reading will "generate a far higher return to the state as a whole than any alternative."

Unfortunately, the competency scores in both math and science in Minnesota elementary and secondary schools started at a lower rate than reading scores and have declined as much or more. Although reading skills are highly desirable and need to be taught effectively to all students, clearly something else is going on.

Certainly, COVID-related school closures account for much of the recent drop in scores, yet barely half of students across the state met standards in math and science even in 2019 according to the Minnesota Report Card.

Although it is tempting to blame teachers and their training for such widespread low achievement, research in brain development shows that 80% of brain growth occurs in the first three years of life, long before a child enters school. The Wilder Foundation Statewide School Readiness Report Card showed that only 60% of children statewide arrive at kindergarten ready to learn.

The Report Card measures social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language and literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, creativity and physical well-being. Children from low-income families, Latino children and American Indian children have the lowest rates of school readiness according to the Wilder survey. Those who do arrive ready to learn are less likely to need special education services and more likely to stay on track through elementary school to high school graduation.

It all starts with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the first three years of life for parents who are informed and available to focus their attention on interacting with an infant and, later, toddler who is primed to learn from loving adults. Still later, if needed, trained child-care workers can continue to nurture the child's trust and foster language and social development. The child who learns how to learn and how to function in a group by age 3 or 4 will be ready for kindergarten and for future learning.

Support for this early childhood education starts with support for young families like paid family medical leave to bond with a newborn, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) programs, and accessible, affordable and effective child care. Support for the child-care programs themselves is needed because it is a high-touch, high-employee ratio enterprise that requires outside funding to function.

As the Legislature reconvenes this month, we hope that our lawmakers will go upstream to consider the root cause of the limited success of our K-12 educational system. Retraining teachers will hardly solve the learning gap that was evident years before the students entered kindergarten. Let's put our dollars where they provide the greatest benefit for the most students in all subjects: early childhood education.

Mary Meland, Dale Dobrin, Ada Alden and Roger Sheldon are members of Doctors for Early Childhood.