"By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn" was an ambitious goal adopted by the President and the nation’s governors in 1989 and addressed again three years later in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report, Ready to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation. In this report a survey of 7,000 kindergarten teachers suggested that 35% of all children entering kindergarten were not ready to successfully participate in formal education. A startling 75% of the responding teachers believed that the situation had not improved over the previous five years with over half of the teachers responding that the situation had actually worsened.

An important point of the Carnegie report was a call upon the television industry to expand programs and outreach services for preschoolers. As an integral part of American homelife, television is found in all households in our society and is a pervasive influence for preschoolers in their own homes or in other’s home-care or day-care facilities. By the time children begin formal schooling they have experienced an average of 4,000 hours watching television, much of it with little educational value. Public broadcasting, with decades of innovation and success in children’s educational programming, is a natural partner with parents, careproviders and teachers seeking to use television to enhance children’s capacity to participate fully in school.

KTXT-TV has the ability to reach 135,000 families in its broadcast audience and has long recognized the enormous responsibility of bringing high-quality programming to the children of the South Plains. By being a PBS Ready To Learn station, we provide hands-on services for children, their families and caregivers that reinforce the skills and concepts presented in our popular and most-trusted children’s programs. Our major objective is to give every child the opportunity to become a successful, independent, eager learner.

We invite you to join with us in reaching out to the eager young minds in our communities. We have begun to forge partnerships with those in our region who value the benefits of a strong education for each child, particularly those from low-income families. These alliances are built on both a mission of service and hope for the future of our children.  Together as a regional effort, our children and, in turn, the citizens of the South Plains will become the true beneficiaries.