WMU Magazine
Early reading is goal for preschoolers in Battle Creek program
Despite today’s technical mindset and the predominance of computers, video games, iPods, iPhones, and interactive video games like Wii, there is no shortage of research focusing on the ABCs and the fundamental question of how we communicate. A team of Western Michigan University researchers is bringing its expertise to the issue by promoting literacy among pre-school children in a nearby community.
In fall 2006, Western Michigan University researchers were awarded a three-year, $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Early Reading First Program to promote literacy in preschool children in Battle Creek, Mich. Their work focuses on the fact that despite the reach of information technology, the need for literacy remains paramount in an information-based society.
The WMU research team says compelling research in early childhood literacy, reading and child psychology supports the basic premise that children’s success is directly related to the amount of language heard and the flow of words from activities like reading and conversation. The overriding assumption of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation, they note, is that society has an obligation to teach every child. And while some children may have special needs or special challenges that hinder them in their educational endeavors, these should not curtail efforts to educate them.
In fall 2007, a WMU Magazine writer sat down with two of the researchers, Dr. Esther Newlin-Haus, director of the Early Reading First Program in Battle Creek, and co-principal investigator Dr. Kristal Ehrhardt, both from WMU’s Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, to inquire into the Early Reading First Reading preschool center in Battle Creek. The first five-week summer program was winding down, and the pair provided an update on the grant’s successes.
With almost 400 children, ages 3 to 5, involved in the program, the grant is making an impact on the literacy instruction for preschoolers in the city. Of the 400 children enrolled in the center, almost 95% live in poverty. The challenges, the researchers say, include coaching the families on how to introduce literacy and language skills to their children while supplying them with the tools they need to do so.
The grant’s funded activities include parent workshops in which program leaders can share, encourage and offer parental advice on how to expand on the program’s goal of teaching preschoolers specific literacy skills like letter recognition. Employed are simple techniques that provide parents with activities to use at home and on outings like trips to the grocery store.
By coupling with Head Start, which is designed to reach at-risk children, the Early Reading First Program is an attempt to close the gap between this group and the general population at the K through third-grade level. Both Newlin-Haus and Ehrhardt note that most parents want the best for their children and desire to provide them with the tools to succeed in life. Early Reading First does that by giving children specific academic skills to succeed and the self-confidence needed to try.
While the data is yet to be analyzed from this past year’s efforts, Newlin-Haus says anecdotal evidence suggests that many more children know their letters than was the case when the grant work began. That spells success upon which to build.
“Reading is everything,” notes Newlin-Haus. “It is the key to academic success, for getting a job. If you cannot read, you cannot succeed in school; it’s that simple.”
The research team also includes co-principal investigators Drs. Karen Thomas and Shaila Rao, also from the WMU Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies. They join Newlin Haus and Ehrhardt in providing professional development to the Head Start teachers. Other team members are Lori Farrer, an instructor in WMU’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, along with Patti Cornelius and Dr. Carmen Cornieles-Domanico, who serve as literacy coaches.
The work of the literacy coaches has focused on curriculum, print-rich environment, writing centers, and ensuring that every center in the classroom is literacy rich. Coaches spend a half-day each week overseeing four classrooms, facilitating the progress taking place.
In recounting their work to secure the DOE grant, Newlin-Haus and Ehrhardt both emphasize that grant writing takes diligence and commitment. Their grant was not accepted the first time submitted, but the feedback was vital in helping them understand the role partnership building could play in securing the grant. As an example, they cite the work they needed to do with both WMU and Kellogg Community College to secure credit for the teachers who participated in the professional development aspect of the Early Reading First Program.
The grant utilizes research-based strategies to introduce preschoolers to books, vocabulary, the concept of letters, sounds, and writing. With the implementation of the program, the researchers evaluate progress of the project, assess the teachers and offer them tools to self-correct.
Referencing the 1995 book, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children by psychologists Drs. Betty Hart and Todd Risley, Ehrhardt emphasizes the role vocabulary plays in later academic success.
“The number of words—not merely the complexity of the words—but the actual number of words spoken to a child impacts their language and literacy development as early as kindergarten,” says Ehrhardt. “Unless we provide literacy-rich experiences to low-income, low-education families, there stands the real chance that these children will never catch up to their peers.”
Early Reading First exists to close that achievement gap that happens before kindergarten, according to Ehrhardt.
“It is never too early to start working to improve children’s literacy competency,” she says.
For Newlin-Haus, Kristal Ehrhardt and the rest of their WMU team, the other key ingredients to promoting literacy are passion, skill, persistence, and empowerment. They’re ready to supply those in their fight for early childhood literacy.