"Each child gets a single chance at those first one thousand days. We know every child counts – we must also ensure that every day counts."
-Governor M. Jodi Rell. |
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"Studies show that children in early childhood education programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, more likely to hold a job, and more likely to earn more in that job. For every dollar we invest in these programs, we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime. That's why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I signed into law invests $5 billion in growing Early Head Start and Head Start, expanding access to quality child care for 150,000 more children from working families, and doing more for children with special needs." - Remarks at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on a Complete and Competive American Education |
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"Human relationships, and the effects of relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development." - Neurons to Neighborhoods |
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"It takes a village to raise a child." - African proverb |
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"It is critical that our children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. We know that long-term academic success depends largely on the experiences children have in the first few years of their lives...The goal we must strive for is to make certain that every child in Connecticut has the opportunity to attend a pre-school program." - Governor M. Jodi Rell |
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"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world." - Maria Montessori |
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"The whole art of teaching is the only art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." - Anatole France |
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"Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it." - Marian Wright Edelman |
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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela |
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"It will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education - from the day they are born to the day they begin a career... We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life." - Barak Obama |
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"Things are happening early on in the lives of young children that are either going to set a strong foundation for high economic achievement and high economic productivity ... or can build a foundation that's going to be the beginning of failure, of school failure and economic dependence and criminal behavior."
-Professor Jack Shonkoff, Hartford Courant. January 15, 2008 |
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"The road to prison starts early. The cabinet will highlight research at the summit that establishes that youngsters experiencing academic failure by grade three are far more likely to experience later school failure, welfare dependence and incarceration as adults. The research shows that children who participate in a high-quality preschool, combined with regular home visits by a trained family resource specialist, are four times less likely to commit a felony by the time they’re 40."
-Hartford Business Journal, January 14, 2008 |
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"The healthy development of all children benefits all of society by providing a solid foundation for economic productivity, responsible citizenship, strong communities, and a secure nation."
-Jack Shonkoff, M.D., Harvard University, 2008 |
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"Strong, prolonged activation of the body's stress response systems -- called Toxic Stress -- in the absence of the buffering protection of adult support can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health."
-Professor Jack Shonkoff, M.D., Harvard University, 2008 |
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"The people of Connecticut, and history, will judge us by whether we accepted our stewardship simply to preserve the comfortable status quo or whether we seized it with boldness of purpose. I, for one, am emboldened."
-Governor M. Jodi Rell, State of the State Address, January 2005 |
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"The human capital of a nation is a primary determinant of its strength. Only if the United States invests wisely in its human resources will it be able to maintain its place in a global economy where human creativity and human skill are increasingly more important than raw materials or physical infrastructure."
-Securing the Future: Investing in Children from Birth to College, 2002 |
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"School readiness produces a higher quality education and greater achievement for individuals students. Effective preschool readiness programs improve total school performance, lead to broad-based achievement gains, and reduce long-term remediation and special education expenese."
-SACIA, The Business Council, 2002 |
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
-The Rev. Martin Luther King, 1963 |
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