In Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 Raising A Reader MA (RAR MA) launched 145 sites serving a capacity of 1525 children in the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. These sites included 84 family childcare providers, 60 classrooms, and 1 home visiting program. Many of the participating families also participated in a pre- and post- survey, which aims to analyze the impact of Raising A Reader program on family behavior of sharing books with their children. 127 families from five program (1) completed the pre-survey, which was distributed to all programs before they began to implement the red bag rotations. (2) 101 families from the same five programs completed the post-survey, as well as 20 families from a sixth program. (3) The results that follow reflect respondents’ recollection of their behaviors before Raising A Reader compared to after participation.
Behavior Change
Because research has shown that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children,” (4) we focus our attention on behavior changes between the pre and post surveys in two key areas: frequency of sharing books at home and use of dialogic (interactive) reading strategies. Overall, Lawrence families are showing impressive gains in these areas. After participating in Raising A Reader, 91% of families are now sharing books 3 or more times per week (Table 1).
In addition, families reported a significant increase in their supportive and interactive behavior while sharing books with their children. Parents reported that they changed their behaviors with an increase of the following dialogic reading strategies: asking questions, talking about the pictures, singing songs, and making up their own stories (Table 2). Children had a corresponding increase in their own interactive behaviors during shared reading: asking and answering questions, turning the pages, and reading/telling the story to the adult (Table 3). Additionally, after participating in RAR, 94% of parents reported that their children enjoy or very much enjoy sharing books with someone in the family.
Program Usage
On average, families reported participating in RAR for 6.22 months and 63% received the bags either 3 times a month or weekly. 65% of respondents shared either three or all four of the books in the bag the previous week. Program dosage seems to be somewhat related to reading frequency. Overall, 93% of respondents on the post-survey (n=121, including surveys from the Methuen YMCA which only completed the post-survey) reported sharing books 3 or more times a week. This percentage varied slightly depending on how often the family had received the books. 96% of families who received the bags at least three times a month reported sharing books compared to 88% who received the books two times a month or less
In addition, respondents on the post-survey were asked what types of training they had received: attending a parent workshop, viewing a video about dialogic reading, or another activity. 42% attended a workshop about sharing books, and 64% watched a video about sharing books. Interestingly, parents did not seem to relate the workshop about sharing books with RAR; only 6% reported attending a RAR-specific training. It is uncertain whether they have an unclear understanding of what Raising A Reader is, or whether they had indeed attended a separate training about shared reading. 95% of respondents who reported at least one of these activities (n=110) – workshop, video, or other- were sharing books 3 or more times a week, compared to 73% of those who participated in no activities (n=11) (Table 4).
Matched Pairs
In addition to analyzing surveys from all respondents, we also looked closely at 45 matched pairs, those parents who responded to both the pre- and the post-surveys. These parents’ responses showed slightly more change than the whole group’s.
After participating in Raising A Reader, 96% of matched respondents reported sharing books three or more times a week, compared to 62% before the program. (Table 5)
Program Satisfaction
Of those parents who reported that the question was applicable (n=85), 98% reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the overall program. This included satisfaction with the books, training, RAR staff, and interactions about RAR with their child’s caregiver.
Parent Comments
For me it is the best thing for the children because my son at the ages of 9 months (ever since) enjoys reading and seeing the pictures.
-Lawrence YWCA Parent
(translated from Spanish)
My child likes to read more than before. I give my thanks for the RAR program.
Asian Center Parent
An essential program for the community of Lawrence
– PCHP Parent
Key Findings
The percentage of families reading with their children 3 or more times per week increased 29 points and 47% from 62% on the pre survey to 91% on the post survey.
Looking specifically at matched pairs, the percentage of families reading with their children 3 or more times per week increased 34 points and 55% from 62% on the pre survey to 96% on the post survey.
Parents reported an increase in engaging in the following behaviors while sharing books with their children: asking questions (46%), talking about the pictures (48%), singing songs (48%), and making up their own stories (53%).
Parents reported an increase in their children’s interactive reading behaviors: answered questions about the story (36%), asked questions about the story (33%), listened to the story (32%), read/told a story from the pictures (20%), turned the pages (23%).
3. 94% of families reported that their children enjoy or enjoy very much sharing books with someone in their home after participating in Raising A Reader.
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
(1) The Asian Center, Breen Public School, the Lawrence YWCA, Kid Start, and the Parent-Child Home Program.(2) Demographic information gathered from the pre-surveys indicates a largely Hispanic/Latino population (83%), with just over half reporting English as the dominant language at home, and the remainder speaking primarily Spanish. Over half of the respondents had a household income of less than $20,000, with 87% less than $50,000. 6% of respondents had either none or 1-6 years of formal schooling, 24% 7-14 years, 39% had a high school degree 17% had two years of training with a degree beyond high school, and 9% had a BA or above.(3) The Methuen YMCA only completed the post-survey.
(4) Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading. The National Academy of Education, 1985.