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Report Says Many 3rd Graders Don't Meet Proficiency Standards

A new national report says only one in three children who started school in the late 1990's had the necessary cognitive skills by the third grade to go on to be successful adults.

Jane Zehnder-Merrell is the Director of the Kids Count in Michigan project. She explains that the study helps to chart the trajectory of kids' lives.

The report followed 13,000 kids who began kindergarten at the end of the 1990's. Children from lower-income families had the lowest rate of sufficient cognitive development.

Zehnder-Merrell says funding programs that support these families, such as cash assistance or food stamps, would positively affect these rates.

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