Community Impact
A
Tale of Two Children
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Success Story:
Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children
Aiming High
A collection of inspiring stories told by
Early Childhood Teachers
Introduction
It is common knowledge that a child’s preschool years present us with a wide open window of opportunity for learning. This notion is part of our national public education reform movement that now relies on children being ready for kindergarten. As a result, our communities face rigorous quality improvement initiatives that are transforming child care centers into “early care and education” programs.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania a generous grant that aimed to improve the emergent literacy skills of pre-kindergarten (ages 3-5) children in 16 child care programs located in North and West Philadelphia neighborhoods. The name of his 5-year project was called Early To Read (E2R).
By focusing a quality improvement effort on emergent literacy (what a child learns about reading and writing before they actually learn to read and write), E2R’s evaluation tells us that children acquired the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to become readers. This has happened because the quality of classroom literacy experiences improved and parents read more books to their children at home. E2R delivered these results by investing resources into three intervention strategies:
- Teacher Support: Teachers enrolled in specifically designed emergent literacy college level coursework at Saint Joseph’s University. They also received additional support from a literacy coach who visited the classrooms and helped transfer theoretical knowledge to classroom practice.
- Family Support: Raising a Reader, a program designed to build literacy skills in the home was implemented in all pre-kindergarten classrooms. Every week, families received their own “take home” bag with three high quality books. These books were rotated throughout the center on a weekly basis. Literacy workshops were also held throughout the project to bring together teachers and families.
- Center Support: Programs received annual funds for classroom libraries and materials to enhance emergent literacy development (i.e. puzzles, games, stencils)
Examples of emergent literacy development are revealed through short narratives written by teachers and parents in the E2R project. Below are brief explanations of emergent literacy components that are referenced throughout the book:
- Concepts of Print: understanding that a group of “squiggles” (letters) have meaning, that there is a one-to-one correspondence between words read and printed text, and that print is read from left to right and top to bottom
- Phonemic Awareness: being able to hear the differences and similarities among sounds (i.e. toe, tiger, and tickle start with the same sound)
- Phonics: the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds (“B” makes a “buh sound”)
- Letter Knowledge: recognizing all letters, in both upper case and lower case and in different fonts
- Book Knowledge: knowing the front and back of a book, the definition of an author and illustrator
The full impact of E2R has yet to be determined. Our results continue to help shape our early childhood community’s collective efforts to provide high quality early childhood experiences to help children enter kindergarten with the range of competencies they need to succeed.
This collection of stories, written by teachers and parents in Early To Read, serve to inspire you and bring forth the power of emergent literacy best practices. The book is translated into Spanish and divided into three sections: Our Classrooms, Our Parents, and Our Teachers. Whether is was overcoming the fear of going back to college, a meaningful moment with a parent or a funny story about a group of children playing in the housekeeping area, the authors have created a legacy.
Suzanne O’Connor
Project Manager
Early To Read
Listen to an interview with Suzanne O'Connor about early childhood education.
Aiming High
Order your FREE copy today!
You can order a free copy of Aiming High by completing the form below. Limit one copy of Aiming High per person. If you would like to order additional copies of the book or if you have any additional questions, please contact Suzanne O’Connor at soconnor@uwsepa.org.
You can also download the book here.
