Voqal believes that the opportunity gap is the most pervasive and damaging problem in the U.S. educational system. We define the opportunity gap as the educational disparity and inequity that exists across racial and class lines and believe it is one of the root causes of rising economic inequality. The Education Opportunity Project seeks to measurably reduce educational opportunity gaps by providing capital and strategic advice to entrepreneurs and organizations working to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged populations. In this month’s Education Opportunity Project spotlight we highlight one of the amazing organizations helping to address the educational opportunity gap, ParentPowered, and its service Ready4K.
ParentPowered is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) that runs the service Ready4K. Developed by educational researchers, Ready4K is an evidence-based family engagement curriculum delivered via text message.
Each week, parents and caregivers receive fun facts and easy tips on how to promote their children’s development by building on existing family routines – like pointing out letters on the cereal box at breakfast, counting the number of steps as they walk to the car or bus, or making feeling faces in the mirror after they brush their teeth. In a series of randomized controlled trials, this approach has been shown to increase child development by two to three months over the course of a school year.
The Ready4K dashboard, teacher newsletters, family engagement surveys, and end-of-year impact reports complement the core Ready4K curriculum, enabling organizations to connect the home to school, link families to vital resources in the community, and measure their impact.
Its tools, which now include the Ready4K-Summer and Ready4K-Elementary curricula, support the whole child from birth through 4th grade in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
At Voqal, we are excited to be able to honor the legacy of Education Broadband Service (EBS) by supporting organizations at the forefront of increasing a more equitable education landscape in the United States. ParentPowered is one of those changemakers and we look forward to its continued work to address opportunity gaps in education.