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Really Good Research

Some persuasive evidence to share with those who serve young children

By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn -- School Library Journal, 11/1/2006

The past two decades have seen an explosion of research in early learning and related fields. We’ve found it a fascinating challenge to think about how this research affects the work we do as librarians, and in particular, what pieces of information we would most like to share with parents and other adults who live or work with young children. Some of this information can be powerful when used in grant requests or talks with library partners, legislators, and even library administrators or board members.

Here are some statements from the research that we’ve found ourselves using again and again:

“Although many experiences are said to contribute to early literacy, no other single activity is regarded as important as the shared book experience between caregivers and children.”—Susan B. Neuman, “Books Make a Difference: A Study of Access to Literacy” (Reading Research Quarterly, July–September 1999)

“The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school.”—Richard C. Anderson and others, Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the National Commission on Reading (University of Illinois, 1985)

“Children who are read to three or more times a week are nearly twice as likely as other children to show three or more skills associated with emerging literacy.”—Christine W. Nord and others, “Home Literacy Activities and Signs of Children’s Emerging Literacy, 1993 and 1999” (National Center for Education Statistics, November 1999)

“The relationship between the skills with which children enter school and their later academic performance is strikingly stable. For instance, research has shown that there is nearly a 90% probability that a child will remain a poor reader at the end of the fourth grade if the child is a poor reader at the end of the first grade. Further, knowledge of alphabet letters at entry into kindergarten is a strong predictor of reading ability in 10th grade.”—Ernest L. Boyer, Ready to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Testing, 1991)

We think this selection of research strongly validates the work youth librarians do to empower parents to read to their young children in the home. It especially supports public library outreach programs that spread the word about early literacy, particularly since most of these programs strive to reach at-risk populations.

 

To assist you in going deeper into the research, check out the following links:

Economic Policy Institute
www.epinet.org 

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a nonprofit think tank that conducts original research on economic issues affecting low- and middle-income workers and their families. The “Education” section of its site has information on some of EPI’s major studies, such as “Exceptional Returns: Economic, Fiscal, and Social Benefits of Investment in Early Childhood Development,” which “demonstrates, for the first time, that providing all 20% of the nations three- and four-year-old children who live in poverty with a high-quality ECD (early childhood) program would have a substantial payoff for governments and taxpayers in the future.”

Every Child Ready to Read @ your library
www.ala.org/ala/pla/plaissues/earlylit/earlyliteracy.htm

The Web site for the American Library Association’s early literacy initiative, now known as “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library,” includes research that supports the initiative and general research in early literacy and brain development. It also has an extensive list of Web sites on specific research projects such as the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and a useful list of research that can be used in grant applications.

First Book
www.firstbook.org

First Book is a national nonprofit organization that works to provide children of low-income families with their first new book to own. The site features information on the impact of access to books in the early years and research showing that children in poverty are most at risk for low literacy.

National Association for the Education of Young Children
www.naeyc.org

This Web site has a “quick links” section, featuring recent research related to policy and advocacy in many areas of early childhood education. Also included is an interesting article on “How Do I Become an Informed Advocate for Research in Early Childhood Development and Education?”

The National Center for Family Literacy
www.famlit.org

The National Center for Family Literacy’s site offers a wealth of research related to family success through literacy. Go to the FAQ section under “About Us.”


Author Information
Renea Arnold is coordinator of early childhood resources for the Multnomah County Library in Portland, OR. Nell Colburn is MCL’s early childhood librarian.

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