Why A Child’s First 1,100 Days Are Crucial For Academic Success

In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo safety guard Renee Green high-fives Demari Hill, 5, as she heads to Gresham Elementary School with her parents Destiny and Anthony Hill on her first day of kindergarten classes in Chicago
In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo safety guard Renee Green high-fives Demari Hill, 5, as she heads to Gresham Elementary School with her parents Destiny and Anthony Hill on her first day of kindergarten classes in Chicago AP Photos/M. Spencer Green
In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo safety guard Renee Green high-fives Demari Hill, 5, as she heads to Gresham Elementary School with her parents Destiny and Anthony Hill on her first day of kindergarten classes in Chicago
In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo safety guard Renee Green high-fives Demari Hill, 5, as she heads to Gresham Elementary School with her parents Destiny and Anthony Hill on her first day of kindergarten classes in Chicago AP Photos/M. Spencer Green

Why A Child’s First 1,100 Days Are Crucial For Academic Success

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Each year, the Erikson Institute works with around 8,000 Chicago Public Schools students in prekindergarten through third grade to give them a leg up in school and life.

The early childhood development and education organization, based in River North, runs a variety of programs in CPS from its Mindfulness In The Schools Project that teaches students how to deal with toxic stress to an Early Math Collaborative that helps close the mathematics achievement gap.

At the City Club of Chicago Tuesday, Erikson President and CEO Geoffrey Nagle gives a presentation called “The First 1,100 Days Last Forever: How Chicago Can Meet The Needs Of Our Youngest Children.” 

In advance of that program, Morning Shift spoke with Nagle about the work the institute is doing with CPS and why the earlier you get to a child, the more likely he or she is to succeed in academics and beyond.