A Friend at the Top

They say it pays to have friends in high places. If that's the case, librarians who work with children should pay attention to Susan B. Neuman. Why? Because Neuman, a major figure in the world of reading research, wants to give low-income children the same access to books and early reading skills as their higher-income peers. She believes librarians and libraries are essential to doing both. Now Neuman has a chance to turn her research findings into action. In July, the U.S. Senate confirmed her as Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, which means she not only runs the office providing the largest amount of federal aid to schools, but she's also the point person on raising reading achievement, the centerpiece of President Bush's education plan.

Neuman's research has focused mainly on early literacy, the skills that young children must possess to be ready to read when they enter school. Like others in the field, Neuman has tried to understand why many children from low-income families enter school without the necessary "reading readiness" and what can be done to help close the gap between them and their counterparts in wealthier communities. In one of her most recent studies, Neuman looked closely at the degree to which low- and higher-income children in Philadelphia had access to print resources. Poor children, she found, had barely any books either at home or in their neighborhoods, while middle- and higher-income kids had plenty in both places. The disparity extended to school libraries, which were well-stocked and well-staffed in middle and higher-income neighborhoods and exactly the opposite in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

In another study, also in Philadelphia, Neuman looked at an effort by the William Penn Foundation to "flood" low-income day care centers with books and to better train their staffs on sharing books with children. Key trainers in the program were Philadelphia-area librarians. The study found that children in the program made significantly more progress in reading readiness than those not in the program. Neuman has also done wide-ranging research for the Penn Foundation on public libraries, including how children use them.

Neuman began her career as an elementary school teacher and reading specialist, later earning her doctorate at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. She was a professor for many years at Temple University in Philadelphia and was most recently director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Neuman has said her mission at the education department is to close the achievement gap between low- and middle-income students. Asked about that comment, Neuman modified it somewhat for SLJ . "I'd rather say there's an emphasis on achievement for all children," she explained. "My passion is to make sure every single child gets the high-quality education they so richly deserve."

Why is there such a gap in reading readiness between low-income and middle-income children?

One of the things we've often assumed [in reading research] is that low-income parents don't read as well to their children. And one of the things my research has shown is that they don't have access to materials. It's just assumed that print is ubiquitous in our society, but that's not necessarily the case. I've done studies on low-income vs. middle-income children, and there's a dramatic difference in terms of access to print, not just in terms of books but on many different levels. In low-income areas, children would not likely see adults involved in reading. Also, the school libraries are dramatically different. [In a study done in Philadelphia] children in a higher-income community had school libraries that were open [longer hours] and staffed by librarians with master's degrees. In the poorer areas, the libraries were hardly ever open, and the librarians didn't have [library] degrees.

What's the significance of that difference?

School libraries, as far as I'm concerned, are the centerpieces of good schools. I became very enamored of the Library Power schools in Philadelphia, where they actually transformed the school by putting the school library at the center. It was open all day, there was free access, computer access, and the school librarians worked very closely in mapping the curriculum at various grade levels.

What are some of the things you found in studying libraries and how children use them?

The studies really highlight the importance of early access to materials in children's literacy development…. We also did some very complex ethnography on how middle-income children used the preschool setting in libraries compared to children in low-income areas. In low-income areas, they were sent [to the library] without anybody for long periods of time, so they would wander from one activity to another and, because they weren't efficacious [at what they were doing], they would just flit. Sometimes their sibling would come and read to them, but the sibling would get annoyed and go off. In middle-class areas, when parents sent their preschoolers to the library, often they went along with them.

What can librarians do to help poor kids make better, more constructive use of their time when they visit?

We did subsequent studies on excellent librarians, and we found that in low-income areas, they often had to extend what they viewed as their job roles. Very often librarians don't see themselves as teachers, but in low-income areas they have to take on more teacher-oriented roles. That means actually showing a child how to select a book that's appropriate to their grade level. You know how a lot of librarians say, "Oh, it's over there." Instead, this involved telling children how to go about the task of finding a resource. Librarians had to become much more of a teacher and work with that child. Very often they had to set up rules where they said, "You can't stay, honeybunch, unless you have an adult with you."

You spent a lot of time studying literacy activities in day care centers in Philadelphia. Can you talk about what you saw?

It's worse than we expected. The libraries in day care centers are abysmal. Most kids have access to only one book or less in classrooms, and often that book is of poor quality—they're often donations or handoffs. This [most recent study] was a national study, and it provides some telling statistics. If we think our day care centers are going to be providing a safety net for access to books not provided elsewhere, that's not the case. The high-income centers are not much better than low-income centers, but in the high-income areas, you have parents who buy their children books.

What's the most important thing a librarian can do to help day care providers?

In my view, librarians should be giving them good criteria for [choosing] appropriate books for this age level. A lot of day care people have never had a course in reading, they've never had a course in children's literature. They pick up a book, they look at the pretty pictures, but they don't have a sense of what is age-appropriate or engaging for young children. Typically, when day care centers buy books, they never consult librarians. We saw books that are not really very good for teaching—they have too much print, or they're not very good books. [A day care center] should have a core collection, it should have a revolving collection, it should be refreshed on a regular basis. It should have multiple genres, it should have books that reflect the culture of the children. These are all things that are second nature to librarians, but that's not true of day care teachers.

What children's librarians can also do beautifully is to help day care providers learn how to read to children in a more interactive and engaging way. And a lot of librarians can help day care people in terms of storytelling techniques. Librarians have always known that storytelling is a wonderful way to encourage imagination and abstract thinking

Yet in your research on Philadelphia's Books Aloud program, you found that even when day care staff were given a lot of books and offered a great deal of help from librarians, many teachers were resistant to doing things differently. In light of that problem, what should librarians do?

Certainly not workshops. I'll tell you what worked, and that is peer coaching, the approach of "I'll do it, you do it; I'll try it, you try it." Peer coaching and demonstrations in the classroom are the only way to go, and getting teachers to see the reactions of the children and how an age-appropriate and engaging book really involves children. With the other kinds of books, [the day care providers] think it's the kids' fault and not the fault of the material and the way they're introducing it. Another way librarians could really help is by getting multiple day care centers involved; they could order books through their book wholesaler. That way, books that were $16 become less than $10. One of the reasons there are so few books in day care centers is that the prices are astronomical.

How can librarians convince school administrators, policy makers, and the community at large that they're a big part of helping young children to become readers?

Lots of times when I talk to librarians' groups they're just so glad that someone knows anything about libraries. Libraries are a centerpiece [of the community]. One of the frightening things to me is that a lot of computers are going into the schools, yet none of these children knows how to search for materials. Still, I have to say that many times, when I go into school libraries, I don't see [children] doing the kind of work I used to see in Library Power schools. School librarians need to really teach, to say, "If you are interested in doing a research report, this is how you go about it." Very often I don't see structured lessons, I see kids grab a book, come in, and spend a period there. If I go and have a library period like the one I just described, then who needs the library? But if I see that the librarian is teaching the critical skills of searching, and encouraging kids not to just write down verbatim what's in the book but to use books to make notes, then I'm going to see that librarian as much more critical. I think librarians need to be more aggressive in saying [to teachers], "How can I help you? Tell me what the curriculum is."

Tell us about the education department's new publication, "Put Reading First."

It's free, and it explains the research building blocks for teaching children to read. We have a teacher version and a parent version, and it would be extremely helpful for librarians to distribute them. Librarians would do themselves a great favor by being sensitive about how to teach reading. We don't expect them to be reading teachers—we have those. But what we know is that there are five critical skills in teaching children to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. This publication includes that information. And what a wonderful opportunity for librarians to highlight some of those essential skills and help our parents and teachers use books to help children with these kinds of reading skills. For example, [by telling them that] predictable books are a wonderful way for children to gain phonemic awareness. There are wonderful rhyming books that are terrific for that.

So you want librarians to work with parents and teachers on reading.

In other words, let's bridge our two worlds. Too often, you and I have been separate—you know, there's the library world and the reading world. And to me it's always been crazy, because how do you learn to read—through books! One way we can help is by highlighting [librarians]. I think so many librarians are the hidden stars of literacy. But one way you can help us is really to say to teachers, parents, and community workers: here are some critical skills we are learning about, just to be aware of them… [and] of the opportunities for connection, the opportunities for using certain books to build critical skills. For example, you might have librarians say, "Oh, this book is so wonderful. It's so rich in vocabulary, and information books often have more vocabulary [than others]." That kind of thing.

One other thing I'm dying to have happen is that I think every single children's report card that goes out in this nation should say: "If you contact your local library, here are age-appropriate books that you can read with your child." That would be a wonderful message and [a] wonderful [demonstration of] cooperation between the two worlds.