From the Office of the Governor

by Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of Michigan

Education does not start on Monday morning when the eight o’clock school bell rings, and it does not end when our children get on the school bus at three. We must bring a holistic approach to education in Michigan. That means creating an atmosphere that will breed success in school, out of school, and in the critical years before a child ever enters a classroom. Children learn more from birth to age three than at any other time in life. During this time, what adults do matters and will determine the way they learn, think, and behave forever. Parents are a child’s first teacher, and we must support and educate parents to value the critical act of reading to children for at least 30 minutes each day. Scientific studies point to the dramatic effect that early education has on a child’s long-term ability to learn. In fact, those studies tell us that nearly 80 percent of a child’s brain development is completed before s/he turns three years old.

To ensure that all children in Michigan have the opportunity for a great start and a great life, I have launched a statewide effort to coordinate both public and private efforts to achieve common objectives and measurable results for Michigan’s youngest children. Project Great Start (PGS) encompasses both immediate action and a blueprint, or strategic plan, for an early childhood system of programs, services, and supports for ALL children from birth to age five (see page 4).

To ensure that citizens across the state are aware of the importance of early reading, the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters has committed to airing public service announcements about the importance of reading to children from birth, and Meijer stores recently printed an early reading message on their grocery bags: “Give Michigan’s kids a Great Start, Be their Hero from age Zero...Read to them every day.”

In addition to these new initiatives, the Children’s Action Network, a group of state agencies convened to improve services delivered to children in Michigan, is embarking on the following valuable activities:

• Seventeen Family Resource Centers—school- based Family Independence Agency (FIA) offices where FIA personnel can provide support services
  to families of children in Michigan’s highest-priority schools—were opened this past year. In 2004, I will double the number of Family Resource Centers.
• A change in daycare licensing took effect September 1, 2003 requiring that 30 minutes of daily early literacy activities be incorporated into all daycare activities in Michigan.
• A statewide Michigan Reads! Program was announced in April by the Department of History, Arts & Libraries to highlight the importance of reading and sharing books with children, especially during the critical development ages of zero to five.
• A new Department of Corrections effort incorporating parenting skills training into the release program for departing prisoners with young children.
• With the help of the Michigan Department of Education and generous contributions from the foundation community, the “Read, Educate and
  Develop Youth” initiative (R.E.A.D.Y.) has created an expanded “R.E.A.D.Y.” kit of important early literacy information for parents and caregivers. This year, the kit features health, nutrition, and development information as well as reading information and a video on the importance of early child development. We are working with a number of partners to distribute these kits to new parents around the state of Michigan.

In Michigan we know that learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom. It’s a team effort—at home, at school, and at the capitol.

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