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I'm an historian.

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And what I love about being an historian
is it gives you perspective.

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Today, I'd like to bring that perspective
to education in the United States.

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About the only thing people can agree on

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is that the most strategic time
for a child to start learning

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is early.

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Over 50 years ago,

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there was a watershed moment
in early education in the US

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called "Head Start."

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Now, historians love watersheds

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because it makes it so easy
to talk about what came before

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and what's happened since.

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Before Head Start, basically nothing.

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With Head Start,

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we began to get our nation's
most at-risk children ready for school.

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Since Head Start, we've made strides,

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but there are still
2.2 million children in the US

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without access to early learning,

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or more than half of
the four-year-olds in the country.

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That's a problem.

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But the bigger problem is what we know
happens to those children.

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At-risk children who reach school
without basic skills

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are 25 percent more likely to drop out,

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40 percent more likely
to become teen parents

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and 60 percent less likely
to go to college.

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So if we know how important
early education is,

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why aren't all children getting it?

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There are barriers that the solutions
we've come up with to date

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simply can't overcome.

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Geography: think rural and remote.

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Transportation: think
working parents everywhere.

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Parent choice: no state requires
a four-year-old to go to school.

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And cost: the average cost for a state
to educate a preschooler

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is five thousand dollars a year.

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So am I just going
to keep talking about problems?

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No.

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Today, I want to tell you about
a cost-effective, technology-delivered,

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kindergarten-readiness program
that can be done in the home.

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It's called UPSTART,

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and more than 60,000 preschoolers
in the US have already used it.

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Now, I know what you might be thinking:

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here's another person throwing tech
at a national problem.

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And you'd be partially right.

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We develop early learning software
designed to individualize instruction,

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so children can learn at their own pace.

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To do that, we rely on experts from fields
ranging from reading to sociology

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to brain science development
to all aspects of early learning,

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to tell us what the software
should do and look like.

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Here's an example.

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(Video) Zero (sings
to the tune of "Day-O"): Zero!

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Zero!

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Zero is the number
that's different from the others.

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Seagulls: Zero is a big, round "O."

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Zero: It's not like one,
I'm sure you'll discover.

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Seagulls: Zero is a big, round "O."

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(Laughter)

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Claudia Miner: That is "The Zero Song."

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(Laughter)

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And here are Odd Todd and Even Steven
to teach you some things about numbers.

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And here are the Word Birds,

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and they're going to show you
when you blend letter sounds together,

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you can form words.

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You can see that instruction
is short, colorful and catchy,

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designed to capture a child's attention.

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But there's another piece to UPSTART

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that makes it different
and more effective.

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UPSTART puts parents in charge
of their children's education.

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We believe, with the right support,

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all parents can get their children
ready for school.

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Here's how it works.

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This is the kindergarten readiness
checklist from a state.

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And almost every state has one.

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We go to parents wherever they are,

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and we conduct a key
in-person group training.

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And we tell them the software can check
every reading, math and science box,

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but they're going to be responsible
for motor skills and self-help skills,

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and together, we're going to work
on social emotional learning.

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Now, we know this is working

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because we have a 90-percent
completion rate for the program.

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Last year, that translated
into 13,500 children

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"graduating," with diplomas, from UPSTART.

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And the results have been amazing.

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We have an external evaluation

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that shows our children
have two to three times the learning gains

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as children who don't
participate in the program.

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We have a random control trial that shows
strong evidence of effectiveness,

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and we even have a longitudinal study

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that shows our children's gains
last into third and fourth grade,

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the highest grades the children
had achieved at the time.

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Those are academic gains.

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But another study has shown
that our children's social emotional gains

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are equal to those of children
attending public and private preschool.

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The majority of the 60,000 children
who have participated in UPSTART to date

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have been from Utah.

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But we have replicated our results

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with African-American
children in Mississippi --

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this is Kingston and his mother;

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with English language
learners in Arizona --

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this is Daisy and her family;

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with refugee children in Philadelphia --
this is my favorite graduation photo;

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and with Native American children

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from some of the most remote
parts of the United States.

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This is Cherise, and this is
where she lives in Monument Valley.

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Now, there are skeptics about UPSTART.

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Some people don't believe young children
should have screen time.

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To them, we say:

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UPSTART's usage requirement
of 15 minutes a day, five days a week,

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is well within the hour-a-day recommended
by the American Academy of Pediatrics

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for four-year-olds.

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Some people believe
only site-based preschool can work,

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and to them, we say:
site-based preschool is great,

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but if you can't get a child there
or if a parent won't send a child there,

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isn't a technology-delivered,
results-based option a great alternative?

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And we love working
with site-based preschools.

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Right now, there are
800 children in Mississippi

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going to Head Start during the day

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and doing UPSTART at night
with their families.

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Our audacious idea is to take UPSTART
across the country --

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not to replace anything;

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we want to serve children who otherwise
would not have access to early education.

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We have the guts to take on the skeptics,

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we have the energy to do the work,

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and we have a plan.

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It is the role of the states
to educate their children.

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So first we will use philanthropy dollars

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to go into a state to pilot
the program and get data.

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Every state believes it's unique

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and wants to know that the program
will work with its children

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before investing.

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Then we identify key leaders in the state
to help us champion UPSTART

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as an option for unserved children.

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And together, we go to state legislatures

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to transition UPSTART from philanthropy

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to sustainable and scalable state funding.

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That plan has worked --

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(Applause)

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Thanks.

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Thank you.

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That plan has worked
in three states to date:

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Utah, Indiana and South Carolina.

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We've also piloted the program
in a number of states

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and identified champions.

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Next, we're moving to states
with the greatest geographic barriers

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to work the plan,

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and then on to states
that already have early education

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but may not be getting
great academic results

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or great parent buy-in to participate.

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From there, we go to the states

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that are going to require the most data
and work to convince,

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and we'll hope our momentum
helps turn the tide there.

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We will serve a quarter of a million
children in five years,

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and we will ensure that states continue
to offer UPSTART to their children.

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Here's how you can help:

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for two thousand dollars,

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we can provide a child
with UPSTART, a computer and internet,

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and that child will be part of the pilot

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that makes certain other children
get UPSTART in the future.

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We also need engaged citizens
to go to their government

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and say just how easy it can be
to get children ready for school.

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You wouldn't be here
if you weren't an engaged citizen,

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so we're asking for your help.

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Now, will all of us this make UPSTART
a watershed moment in early education?

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I believe together we can make it one.

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But I can tell you without a doubt

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that UPSTART is a watershed moment

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in the life of a child who otherwise
would not be ready for school.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)