Abstract
A 10-question Likert-type scale survey was presented to parents of children enrolled in the Imagination Library’s (IL) program. IL sends age-appropriate books once a month to children from birth to age 5 so that their parent can read to them. After registering for the program and receiving books, 93 parents answered the survey questions electronically. The questions noted the difference in family literacy behavior after receiving the books. Nine of the questions were multiple-choice whereas the last question was open-ended. This third-year survey was compared with the earlier surveys to establish reliability and used repeated questions to establish validity. The respondents were drawn from a rural minority population in an economically depressed area. The survey results suggested that parents spend more time reading to their children regularly after enrolling in the program. The percentage of parents who read to their children more than once a day rose from 24% to 43%. According to the survey, 48% of parents reported that their child was much more interested in reading. More than half of the parents (67%) reported that their child asked more frequently for books to be read to them after enrolling in the program. In addition, 68% of the families reported that multiple members of the family were engaged with the reading activities. Families report that reading the books had been a positive experience for their children and had helped 70% with vocabulary development and 66% with listening skills.
Highlights
The number of books in the home is a powerful indicator of future success in school (Evans, Kelly, Sfkora, & Trefman, 2010; Feitelson et al, 1986; Moerk, 1985; Robbins & Ehri, 1994)
How often did you read to your child before receiving books from the Imagination Library?
The average family read to their child once a day (M = 4.21) according to the results of Question 2: “How often did you read to your child after receiving books from the Imagination Library (IL)?” The number of parents who read more than once a day increased from 24% to 43% and the parents who read not at all shrank from 2% to 0
Summary
A tremendous vocabulary gap exists in students beginning Kindergarten. School-age students from third grade to sixth generally add new word meanings at about the same rate across vocabulary levels according to Biemiller and Slonim’s study (2001). Over two thirds of the homes with preschoolers have received more than 13,500 books during the past 26 months This question emerged during the assessment of the program: Would receiving books in the mail increase the time parents report reading to young children? A qualified survey was used which analyzes frequencies in the number of characteristics in a population; the open-ended comments question used coding suggested by Jansen (2010) This survey was sent to 333 parents (25% of 1,325 book recipients). The positive responses were subsequently sorted into topics: Multiple children benefited from the books, bonding occurred within the family, titles were interesting, and infants were included in literacy time
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