Summary:

            Early intervention programs can be the difference between a child making progress in school and not making any progress in the school system. These programs offer hopes to those students who are labeled as at risk in the community. An important goal of early intervention programs is to facilitate a smooth transition from elementary to secondary to higher education. In order to make sure this goal is achieved educating professionals must make sure that they plan correctly and coordinate all policies. Early intervention is aided by federal, state, local and philanthropic agencies. The mission statement of the National Early Intervention Scholarship and Partnership program is a unifying concept for early intervention. The federal law encourages provisions of financial assistance to lower income students so that they can obtain a high school diploma and be encouraged to pursue a college degree.

            Academic outreach programs are different from early intervention programs in that they are ran by academic institutions. Academic outreach programs help at-risk students plan for college, without focusing on specific disciplines. Early intervention can take six forms: programs established by philanthropic agencies, federally supported programs, state-sponsored programs with matching federal support, systemic changes involving school-college collaboration, and college-or university sponsored programs.

Position:

            I agree with the author in that early intervention programs are needed to make sure that underprivileged students can continue their education on a college level. These programs give students hope that they can be as normal as their peers. Early intervention programs are funded by the federal agencies, local agencies, and philanthropic agencies. The only difference between early intervention and academic outreach programs are that the institutions fund the academic outreach programs. Early interventions can take many forms as they are listed above.