Jumpstart

Jumpstart is working toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Unfortunately, statistics show that we are working to overcome a real crisis in American school readiness. Here are the facts:

• 37% of American kindergarten children arrive at school unprepared to learn.
• 50% of all children from low-income families start first grade up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills.
• 5-year-olds from low-income communities have one-fourth the vocabulary of their mid-income peers.

At Jumpstart, we recognize the state of inequality in early educational experiences in America. And we also recognize that quality early educational experiences have a lasting impact. In fact, the best predictor of whether a 10th grader is reading at grade level is actually whether or not that child knew his alphabet at the age of 5. Extensive cognitive and neurological research indicates that the parts of the human brain most important for learning and developing cognitive skills are most active at an early age.

Based on this research, the Jumpstart model is designed to enhance the educational efforts of Head Start and other early learning programs. By connecting early, through caring one-to-one relationships, Jumpstart promotes crucial brain development and essential primary skill building that leads to success not just in school, but also in life.