Nearly 40 percent of U.S. fourth-graders cannot read.

That means school districts across the country will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into after-school, special-education and intervention programs to help struggling students catch up with their peers.

Some experts say that money could be better spent.

New brain research shows that what happens before a child actually learns to read is perhaps the most important part of developing good literacy skills.

The number of words a baby hears, the types of conversations a child is exposed to and familiarity with books can give youngsters a head start on literacy.

"Prevention prevails over mediation," said Craig Ramey, a professor and director of Georgetown University's Center on Health and Education. Ramey studies young children's intellectual, social and academic development. Prevention, he said, is the key message of his years of research.

Word of this information is starting to spread through public and private reading programs.

"There is heightening awareness of the importance of early education," said David Dickinson, an associate professor at Boston College and a leading literacy researcher.

"It's not about teaching preschoolers to read, but what they need to know to learn to read," said Russ Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences in Washington. He was appointed by President Bush to a six-year term at the new institute.

Whitehurst said new brain research reinforces many of the reading studies commissioned by the federal government.

Numerous studies show if a child has trouble reading in the first grade, there is nearly a 90 percent chance that child will still have problems in the fourth grade.

"A dollar spent in preschool is worth more than a dollar spent in the seventh grade," Whitehurst said.

Federal, state and local organizations are starting to implement language and literacy policies and programs that reflect the research findings.

The Bush administration has proposed a new early-childhood initiative called Good Start, Grow Smart to improve early learning.

Through the Department of Health and Human Services, the administration wants to develop a new accountability system for Head Start to ensure the program emphasizes early literacy and language.

The department is also starting a national program to train the nearly 50,000 Head Start teachers in early-literacy teaching techniques.

Those in the corporate early-childhood business say the new research findings are influencing their practices, too.

"The major way I hope it's influencing programs is that we are much more aware of responsive interaction and incredibly more aware of language-rich environments for babies," said Jim Greenman, senior vice president for education and program development for Bright Horizons. The company operates more than 450 childcare and early-education centers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Greenman said it cannot be left entirely up to the government to make effective changes in programs and policies.

"I think it's important that practitioners know about the current research and understand it and work together with policymakers in trying to figure out how to implement programs that do justice to children," Greenman said. "Administrations change."

Nor do all researchers fully agree with the emerging federal reading.

The most important element of early reading skills — comprehension — is the least supported by federal initiatives and studies, according to G. Michael Pressley. He is a professor of teacher education at Michigan State University and an expert on literacy instruction.

Pressley said the research used to develop the No Child Left Behind federal law was too narrow. "Many feel they should have looked at more methods," he said.

But Guinevere Eden, co-director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University, said initiatives like No Child Left Behind are a positive sign for the future.

Early Reading First, part of the federal law, is awarding grants to support scientifically based methods aimed at improving pre-reading skills of children in early-education programs. The strategies have a strong focus on developing verbal skills, phonological awareness and letter knowledge.

No Child Left Behind also creates a mechanism for agencies to work together on research, Eden said. She hopes this will help link the National Institute of Health, the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

"No Child Left Behind is going to force people to think more carefully about teaching . . . anything," Eden said. "Parents should ask why schools are using a certain curriculum."



(Kate Larsen is a reporter for the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo. Contact her at 303-473-1361 or larson@dailycamera.com.)