National Blog

Earlier this week, there was a lot of laughter and even some tears as nine-time Grammy winner and Stand national board member John Legend met at Stand Indiana’s office with 15 Indianapolis Public School (IPS) parents taking part in our ten week Stand University for Parents (Stand UP) program.

We just finished watching the President’s State of the Union address. We are encouraged that for the second year in a row, the President chose to highlight the need for expanding early childhood education in America. After all, 70% of Americans believe all children should have access to these vital programs.

But another year has passed, and in that year we’ve seen dramatic cuts to education programs in our country. The numbers are dismal: Fewer than 3 in 10 four-year-olds are enrolled in high quality early education.

We must do more. We must act now.

Shanna’s ten-year-old wants to be an artist. Her five-year-old wants to be a teacher. 

Shanna has four children between the ages of 5 and 19, she sports a blue streak in her hair and a Seahawks tattoo on her forearm. She’s in our inaugural class of graduates from Stand University for Parents (Stand UP) at Sheridan Elementary School in Tacoma.

We’re standing still while the rest of the world gains on us or passes us by, and traditionally low standards are to blame. 

The latest results are out from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the worldwide study that lets us know how American students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills stack up to our global peers. The news is bad for our educational system as a whole, and for not only our poorest students but also our highest achieving ones: