Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

Georgia continues to break ground on early childhood education.

Some of this work is being done at the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy, a program of the Atlanta Speech School.

On its website, “Read Right from the Start on the Cox Campus,” Rollins provides free courses and online resources for early educators. Among these are two compelling videos about how to effectively use language with young children.

One video — “The Promise” — features children explaining how adults and early educators can use their words to help children learn.

“We need you to give our voices power,” one child says. Others advise:

“Talk to us.”

“Sing to us.”

“Don’t be afraid to use big words with us.”

“Get down on our level.”

“Give us the words that we need to solve problems on our own.”

A second video — “Every Opportunity” — offers a child’s-eye-view of some of the negative ways that adults talk to children, from rushing them into class to overreacting to small problems.

“Every time we’re ignored or yelled at or silenced, the teacher takes away what’s possible.”

This video was “developed based on the research of the country’s leading brain development and literacy experts on how to construct the ‘reading brain,’” the Rollins Center explains.

The Atlanta Speech School is a partner in the statewide Get Georgia Reading campaign, which is part of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

“Currently, two-thirds of Georgia’s third graders are not reading on grade level, bringing long-term negative consequences to these children, their families, their communities, and the state as a whole,” Get Georgia Reading explains. “Unwilling to yield any longer to the unspeakable rate of illiteracy in Georgia, hundreds of public and private leaders from across the state and across sectors have come together to take on third-grade reading—not only as an education issue, but as an urgent priority for all who care about children’s health and well-being.”

This month, we’ll continue to report on early education efforts in Georgia, where Strategies for Children’s Titus DosRemedios recently attended a site visit sponsored by GEEARS, the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, and the Alliance for Early Success.