Starting and Sustaining A
Raising A
Reader
Community
Book Bag Movement in Your
Katie Behroozi, Raising A Reader Headquarters Sarah Bishop, United Way of South Hampton Roads
Imagine…
…all of our preschoolers spending hours each week in a parent’s lap, reading their favorite storybooks together. Then envision these children arriving in kindergarten, already in love with the printed page. Imagine….
Our Mission
To engage parents in daily “book cuddling” with their children, ages 0-5, ensuring healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills critical for
kindergarten success.
Raising A Reader Addresses a National Crisis
One in three children enter kindergarten lacking basic pre-reading skills.* 60% of the kindergarteners in the neighborhoods where children did poorly in school did not own a single book.†
73% of 2nd grade poor readers had phonemic awareness or spoken language problems in kindergarten.#
A child who is not a fluent reader by 4th grade is likely to struggle with reading into adulthood. In low-income urban schools, 70% of 4th grade children read below grade level.# 75% of school dropouts and 50% of adolescents and young adults have reading problems.#
*Jeff McQuillan, The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions, 1998. †U.S. Department of Education: 1996. Reading Literacy in the United States: Findings From the IEA Reading Literacy Study. # Facts on Early Literacy, www.asha.org
Why Share Books with Preschool Children?
“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.”
--Dr. Susan Neuman, Asst. U.S. Secretary of Education, Spring 2001
Raising A Reader History
Founded by group in San Mateo County, pilot and roll out funded by Peninsula Community Foundation and Center for Venture Philanthropy Modeled after successful factory program Excellent early results justified ramp-up and expansion. Raising A Reader Venture Fund—local Raising A Reader National Headquarters—started to replicate local.
How does Raising A Reader work?
Community agencies become licensed “Affiliates”
• Training • Program Materials • Ongoing technical assistance, learning, R&D
Typically implemented in childcare, home visiting, or adult education settings. Program year includes these basic elements:
• Implementers are trained in basics of motivating parents to share books with their children—and encouraging children to fall in love with books. • Parents receive training and “at the door” support from providers—also DVD for sharing at home • Children receive weekly installment of great books in red book bag • Families learn to share books through weekly rotation • Children and families are introduced to the public library
5 Anchor Behaviors: Our Theory of Change
Child drives the process
CHILD
Leads to healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills
Parents learn and engage in “readaloud” strategies
Book bag delivery system is turnkey
Implementers are trained to communicate early literacy strategies to parents
Children and parents get to know their local library
Improvements Over Time:
Reading Behavior
Read or Share Stories with Child Each Week Regular Routine for Reading with Child Take Child to the Library: Frequently vs. Infrequently Take Child to the Library: Not At All vs. At Least Once a Year Use of Any Library Services
Overall
Group SpanishSpeaking
VietnameseSpeaking
Checking Out Children's Materials Browsing and Playing in the Children's Section Listening to Story Time with the Library Staff Receiving Advice from Librarian About Children's Books
= Significant improvement (at the 95% confidence level) in reading behavior following intervention = Somewhat significant improvement (at the 90% confidence level) in reading behavior following intervention
Parents Reading to Their Child:
3x or More per Week
70% 60%
% Parents
33% Growth 59% Growth
50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Overall Pre-RAR Spanish-speaking Post-RAR
Statistically significant at 95% confidence level with sample size of 467. Parent survey designed by SRI. Data evaluated by Pacific Consulting Group. Conducted in 2000 and 2001.
Parent-child Library Visits:
Visit Once or More per Month
35% 30% 25%
86% Growth
% Parents
20% 15%
337% Growth
10% 5% 0%
Overall Spanish-speaking
Pre-RAR
Post-RAR
Statistically significant at 95% confidence level with sample size of 467. Parent survey designed by SRI. Data evaluated by Pacific Consulting Group. Conducted in 2000 and 2001.
Print Concepts National Comparison
(English Speakers)
Santa Clara Head Start (RAR) Versus National Head Start (non-RAR)
5.0
4.5 4.0
Santa Clara Head Start (RAR) Significant Difference National Head Start (non-RAR)
3.5 3.0
Score
2.5
2.0 3.59 1.5
Significant Difference
Significant Difference
1.0
1.84
1.61 0.67
1.74
0.5 0.60 0.0
Book Knowledge
Comprehension
Print Knowledge
Print Concepts National Comparison
(Spanish Speakers)
Santa Clara Head Start (RAR) Versus National Head Start (non-RAR)
5.0 4.5
Santa Clara Head Start (RAR) National Head Start (non-RAR)
4.0
3.5
Significant Difference
3.0
Score
2.5
2.0
Significant Difference
1.5 3.08
Significant Difference
1.0 1.56 1.28 0.5 0.44 0.0 0.42 1.56
Book Knowledge
Comprehension
Print Knowledge
Prenatal to three results:
Increase In Desired Behavior
with Moms In Home Visiting Program a book “It’s so nice to take 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 94% 70%
and show a mother how to share it and come back a week later and see her doing it.” 72% - Pre-to-Three Home Health Worker
Reads daily to own child
“Although I read to her all the time, her Red Book Bag seemed to be so special to her and actually solved our going to the Reads to other First visitto bed problems. After she read children her books she quietly library w/ child went to bed.” - Mom of 22-month-old
“Stanford Study” Preliminary Research Findings:
“Parent-toddler book-sharing in Latino Families: Effectiveness of Home-based Intervention Program on Emergent Literacy” (Perez-Granados, Huffman, & Latzke, 2007) Compared to a control group, Raising A Reader participants showed: and show a mother how to Greater Greater
share it and come back a increase in time spent book-sharing later and see her week doing it.” gains in overall development, including - Pre-to-Three Home Health Worker “Although I read to her all the time, her Red Book Bag seemed to be so special to her and actually time spentgoing to bed solved our asking problems. After she read her books she quietly went to bed.” - Mom of 22-month-old “It’s so nice to take a book
• Social development • Physical skills (self-help and motor) • Numeracy skills
Greater increase in the proportion of questions during read-aloud
Raising A Reader Today
A supporting organization of Silicon Valley Community Foundation 17 independent evaluations Silicon Valley programs (venture-funded) serve over 14,000 families.
National program stats:
• • • • 33 states 113 affiliates serving 175 communities 427,000 children served since 1999 121,000 bags currently rotating
Sample Affiliates
Rural: Aspen, Reading Road Show, Shasta YMCA Urban: United Way of the Bay Area, RARMA, Action For Children Chicago, Grace Hill Settlement House--St. Louis State movements: Massachusetts, Alaska, Oklahoma, Washingto n. Serving Native populations: Hawai'i, Alaska, Oklahoma, Save the Children Serving African-American populations: Richmond, Norfolk, St. Louis, Baton Rouge, North Charleston, Houston, Mississippi Serving Latino populations: San Mateo County, Pajaro Valley, San Joaquin County Serving Asian Immigrant populations: United Way of the Bay Area, Multnomah
Models for Affiliate Rollout
Number of Bookbag Kits
Three Models for Affiliate Rollout
700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
4 256 57 99 34 581
640
158 102
PILOT (Stillwater & OK) STEADY & STRONG (San Francisco, CA) RAPID-SCALE (San Mateo, CA)
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Eight years in Silicon Valley….80,000 children reached with 786 Bookbag Kits in rotation.
Raising A Reader in Norfolk, VA
A case study!
Sustainability tips
Sarah: “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly” partner meetings Katie: Diversified funding streams Sarah: Taking Brain Development presentation all over the community Katie: Community buy-in
Sarah: Delivery partner ownership Katie: Drawing on the network for support
Sarah: Unlikely allies