Minnesota Family Literacy and School Readiness Study: Results through Year 2

Wilder Research. Available from: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. 451 Lexington Parkway North, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Tel: 651-280-2700; Fax: 651-280-3700; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.wilder.org/research.0.html

N

57

School Readiness; Profiles; Family Literacy; Cohort Analysis; Preschool Children; Parent Participation; Parents; Child Development; Kindergarten; Attendance Patterns; Measures (Individuals); Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation

This report presents findings from the two-year Minnesota Family Literacy and School Readiness study. It provides information on the impacts of participating Family Literacy programs and on the first and second cohorts of children (and their families) enrolled in these programs. The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation provided the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (Wilder Research) a two-year grant through its Innovation Projects to conduct the study. The goals of the study are to answer three questions: (1) What gains in developmental skills important for school readiness do children make at different levels of participation in Family Literacy? (2) What level of Family Literacy program dosage do children need to substantially benefit from the program with regard to preparation for kindergarten? (3) How is parents' involvement in their children's learning affected by level of participation in Family Literacy? The first section of the findings begins with a profile of the Family Literacy programs followed by a profile of the families including children and parents within these families, and family literacy dosage, including amount of participation (total hours) and attendance rate. The second section describes the child assessment results, parents' involvement in their child's learning and parents' literacy outcomes. The relationships between demographic characteristics and participation levels and child and parent outcomes are examined. Before presenting the findings, a description of the study methods is provided. Appended are: (1) Profile of Family Literacy programs; (2) Profile of children and parents; (3) Family Literacy dosage; and (4) Participant progress. (Contains 13 figures and 1 footnote.) [This study was funded by and prepared for The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation.]

ERIC

2010

ED511598