Effectiveness of a coordinated community effort to promote early literacy behaviors

The purpose of this study is to report on the effectiveness of a coordinated, community-wide intervention to promote early literacy behaviors with low-income parents, especially parents with limited English language proficiency. The interventions include book distribution programs that were based in clinical settings, childcare centers and home visitation programs. The intent of these interventions was to communicate a message that reading to infants and young children and accessing services at the public library are beneficial. The methodology involved in the administration of a Community Based Parental Survey (CBPS) included questions related to early literacy behaviors in order to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts. Two independent samples collected in 2001 and 2003 were compared. The data comparison between the two time periods showed a 77% increase in parents reporting that they showed books to their infants on a daily basis. There was also a 71% increase in parents reading books aloud to their children on a daily basis. Other indicators also improved. Establishing an early reading ritual encourages infants to have an association to books, helps in language acquisition and supports the social and emotional connection between a parent and his or her young child. The act of holding an infant and reading to him/her on a consistent basis can improve health literacy and hopefully improve student reading achievements. Early interventions like these are relatively low cost and can yield considerable long term results. We conclude that multi-level community based interventions show positive trends in promoting early literacy behaviors.