Program recommendations for East Boston Early Education Center\'s home reading program. With Maura Wolk. For class at HGSE (H703).

1. East Boston Early Education Center

2. EBEEC Staff and Students Staff 48.7% White 46.2% Hispanic 2.6 % Asian 2.6% Black Staff : Student – 1:13 90% of teachers are highly qualified Student Native Languages Spanish Portuguese Arabic Chinese Vietnamese 92% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch 92% of students are English Language Learners

3. Program Theories Early literacy intervention for low SES children Hart & Risley (1995); Reading First (2009) Literacy-rich learning environments Parental involvement Surround Care model

4. Program Goals Language development Literacy instruction Parental involvement in child education

5. Weakness Although the EBEEC encourages parents to read at home with their children: Noway to keep track No incentive No help with explicit and practical strategies to support shared reading interactions

6. Recommendations: Accountability for parents and teachers to participate Interactive techniques for parents Advice for conducting shared book reading, narratives, and arts and crafts activities Incentives to participate in shared book reading activities

7. Accountability & Incentive Book log To be completed by children and parents together To be used by teachers to track levels of participation Semi-annual book fair To reward families for their participation Community literacy

8. Shared Reading Activities Book reading routine and dialogic (?) reading Parent and child narratives Arts and crafts

9. Goals of Help parents maximize the learning potential of shared book reading Teach strategies for literacy-related interactions that contribute to children’s language development Provide incentives for parents and students to participate in shared reading at home

10. Shared Reading Establish a system of accountability Measure participation in order to track compliance and attrition and make necessary modifications or recommendations Promote rich home literacy environment

11. Program Strengths: Explicit instruction of literacy components Many “highly-qualified” teachers Most paraprofessionals have early education backgrounds and/or a college degree Culturally diverse staff Paraprofessionals trained through on-site mentorship

12. Parent workshops help build skills for students’ continued literacy and socio-emotional development at home 100% attendance Parent ESL and computer literacy classes Play room for parents with small children not registered in Boston Public Schools

13. Program Weaknesses: No summer component Ineffective professional development No emotional or mental health support offered to parents No data to track student progress after G1

14. Parents given no guidance for reading at home with children Parents not involved in classroom activities No monitoring of parent participation, evaluation progress, effectiveness of services offered, or follow-up after services have been used Effectiveness of parent programs not evaluated

15. References Bus, A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review ofEducational Research, 65, 1-21. Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Chapter 6: The early experience of 42 typical American children (pp. 119 139). Chapter 7: Accomplishments of the 42 children at age 3 and later (pp. 141-173). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., de Jong, M. T., & Smeets, D. J. H. (2008). Added value of dialogic reading parent-child book readings: A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 19, 7-26. Peterson, C., Jesso, B., & McCabe, A. (1999). Encouraging narratives in preschoolers: An intervention study. Journal of Child Language, 26, 49-67. United States Department of Education (2009). Reading First. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/index.html van Kleeck, A. (2004). Fostering preliteracy development via storybook interactions: The cultural context of mainstream family practices (pp. 175- 208). In C. A. Stone, E.R. Silliman, B. Ehren, & K. Apel (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy. New York: Guilford.