Improving Literacy Environments and Experiences for Children Birth to Five: Research and Resources

1. Improving Literacy Environments and Experiences for Children Birth to Five: Research and Resources Nell K. Duke & Annie M. Moses, Michigan State University & the Literacy Achievement Research Center

2. Plan for this Presentation • Results of survey and observation study • Professional resources for improving literacy for children birth to five • Excerpts of a videotape on promoting emergent literacy in child care settings • Strategies for improving literacy for children birth to five

3. Survey and Observation Study • Very little research has examined literacy environments and activities available in child care settings. • To our knowledge, no research has examined this in family and group home care settings. • Few needs assessments related to professional development around literacy birth to five are available.

4. Research Questions Survey: • What do center-based and home-based child care providers report that they know about and do with respect to emergent literacy environments and activities? Observation Study: • What do center-based child care providers actually do with respect to providing emergent literacy activities and environments? Survey and Observation Study: • To what extent do child care providers’ reports match what is observed in centers with respect to emergent literacy environments and activities?

5. Participants Survey: • A stratified (by care setting type) random sample of 337 center, group and home providers from across Michigan Observation: • 15 centers within 45 minutes of MSU (randomly selected but with some centers declining to participate) • 6 observed rooms had mostly 2-year-olds • 3 observed rooms had mostly 3-year-olds • 6 observed rooms had mostly 4-year-olds

6. Measures Survey: • Questions related to: • Providers’ use of ELA with infants, toddlers and preschoolers • Demographic information • Access to different media and preferences for receiving professional development materials • Response rate of 57.1%

7. Measures, cont. Observation: • PELLC survey • PELLC observation form: • identifying and background information • activities (whether activity was observed, how many times, and for how many minutes) • characteristics of the print environment, and final notes and comments • ELLCO (Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Record; Smith & Dickinson, with Sangeorge & Anastasopoulos, 2001): • literacy environment checklist • literacy activities rating scale

8. Measures Quality Survey: • Internal consistency, when measurable, high (Cronbach’s alpha .917 - .920) Observation: • Correlated well with ELLCO on comparable items • Rankings of centers correlated .74 Survey and Observation: • Generally corresponded well but with discrepancies on some items

9. The Survey: Select Results • Reading storybooks for each age was the highest reported ELA happening at least once a day: • For toddlers: 86.4% • For preschoolers: 89.4% • Other highly reported activities (between 80.5 – 87.5%) include: • Singing songs, having children look at books of their choice, have children draw or write (preschoolers), and including reading and writing materials in play centers (preschoolers)

10. The Survey: Select Results • Some of the lower reported ELA happening at least once a day (for toddlers & preschoolers): • Act out stories or have children do so (toddlers: 15.1%, preschoolers: 19.0%) • Teach parents how to read and write with children (toddlers: 7.7%, preschoolers: 8.6%) • Read information books or nonfiction (toddlers: 27.5%, preschoolers: 37.7%) • Show children how people use reading and writing in everyday life (toddlers: 26.9%, preschoolers: 36.5%) • Talk about or point to writing displayed in the room (toddlers: 44.7%, preschoolers: 54.9%)

11. The Survey: Select ResultsReporting 30 Minutes or More of Literacy Activities

12. The Survey: Select ResultsReporting 30 Minutes or More of Literacy Activities • 30 minutes or more least common with infants, then toddlers, then preschoolers • Even in preschool, more than 1 in 4 centers did not report providing 30 minutes or more • Center settings generally reported more time with literacy than family or group settings (statistically significant differences for all age groups)

13. The Survey: Select ResultsPrimary Caregiver Reported Understanding Note: Reported understanding generally lower in family and group care settings than in center settings.

14. Observations: Select Results • Total number of minutes spent in ELA: • Most number of minutes observed: • 210 minutes (43.75% of the 8 hours involved ELA) • Least number of minutes observed: • 27 minutes (5.63% of the 8 hours involved ELA)

15. Observations: Select Results • Storybook reading observed in all but one site (4.65 minutes - 60.71 minutes total) (information book reading observed in only three sites) • Other commonly observed activities include: • singing (13 centers) • asking children to explain something (9 centers) • allowing children to look at books of their choice (9 centers)

16. Observations: Select Results • Rarely observed activities include: • writing in front of or with children (4 and 3 centers respectively) • tell stories or have children act out or tell stories (1, 2 and 1 centers respectively) • encourage or teach parents to read and write with children at home (not observed at all) • show children how people use reading and writing in everyday life (2 centers) • take children to library or visit mobile library (1 and 0 centers respectively) • help children learn to read and write their names (6 centers) or other words (2 centers)

17. Observations Results: Access to Books

18. Observations Results: Books Displayed

19. Observations Results: Play Areas with Print

20. Observations Results: Number of Labels & Captions

21. Observations Results: Amount of Print on Walls

22. Professional Resources for Improving Literacy Birth to Five • College and university courses • District, regional, or state professional development initiatives • Professional conferences • Early Literacy Curricula, for example: • Breakthrough to Literacy • Literacy Express • High/Scope • And many others!

23. Professional Resources for Improving Literacy Birth to Five • Professional books, for example: • Starting Out Right (Burns, Snow, & Griffin, 1999) • Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children (Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000) • New IRA Preschool Literacy Series • Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five (Bennett-Armistead, Duke, & Moses, 2005) • And many more! • Videotapes and hypermedia materials

24. PELLC (Promoting Emergent Literacy In Licensed Care) Videotape • Focuses on research-based strategies for promoting emergent literacy in child care settings • Features photographs and videoclips from exemplary group and center settings (includes infants, toddlers and preschoolers) • Includes commentary from Governor Jennifer Granholm, two literacy professors, and child care providers Video authors: Duke, Moses, Billman, Zhang & Bennett-Armistead; Video partners: MSU FACT Coalition, Michigan FIA, Michigan Community Coordinated Child Care

25. PELLC (Promoting Emergent Literacy In Licensed Care) Videotape • Approximately 90 minutes, with six sections: 1. Promoting emergent literacy (20m) 2. Aspects of emergent literacy (12m) 3. Creating a rich literacy environment (18m) 4. Read aloud (16m) 5. Other literacy activities (14m) 6. Literacy beyond the walls of the care environment (16m)

26. Part 1: Introduction • Importance of literacy • Fundamental concepts underlying videotape: • developmentally appropriate practice • emergent literacy • responsive teaching • Importance of oral language • Strategies for using the videotape

27. Part 2: Aspects of Literacy to Develop in Early Childhood • Concepts of print • Phonological awareness • Letter-sound knowledge • Word recognition • Genre knowledge • Understanding of text • Production of text • Interest in and love of literacy and learning • World knowledge

28. Part 4: Read Aloud • Why: • Build phonological awareness & letter-sound knowledge • Build concepts of print • Build comprehension skills • Build knowledge about the world • How: • Lap reading with one or few children • Interactive reading • Expressive reading • Book Selection

29. Part 6: Literacy Beyond the Walls of the Care Environment • Literacy outdoors • Literacy on field trips • Environmental print walks • Field trips to literacy-focused destinations • Field trips to other destinations • Connecting with families

30. Connecting with Families • Incentive programs • Take home bags and cubbies • Literacy-related notices • Modeling and documentation • “Funds of knowledge” activities • Surveys/focus groups/interviews/home visits • Workshops and family coaching

31. An Example of an Effective Parent Involvement Program for Language in K Project EASE (Jordan, Snow, & Porche, 2000) • Five parent coaching sessions, one per month, on different themes related to language interactions around books Followed a discussion outline; provided a take home guide; followed by parent-child practice activity • For three weeks following: scripted activities, involving books, sent home related to that month’s theme • The five themes were words, words, words; telling personal event narratives; discussing storybook narratives; discussing information-rich books; learning about letters and sounds. Front

32. Strategies for Improving Literacy for Children Birth to Five • Implementing state-level initiatives (Michigan’s approach) • Making college and university courses accessible • Providing literacy-focused regional, local or care-setting-based professional development • Conducting family/parent education programs • Involving the K-12 community

33. Ways the K-12 Community Can Promote Emergent Literacy in Child Care Settings • Hold workshops for or with local child care providers • e.g., “Important knowledge skills for kindergarten” • e.g., “Working together: A summit of child care providers and elementary educators” • Distribute literacy-related materials to child care providers • e.g., Books and videotapes • Host literacy-related celebrations for children in child care (and elementary school) • e.g., A read-in, plays, and sing-alongs • Service learning programs involving child care settings as service sites

34. On Your Way Out . . . • Please sign up if you would like a copy of the paper about the survey and observation study • Please sign up if you would like to be notified if/when PELLC videotape is available for sale at cost • Please be in touch if you would like to pursue a doctorate specializing in early literacy 