The Early Literacy Crisis

I was very pleased to see the exclusive report in the March 2010 "Parenting Early Years" magazine on "The Early Literacy Crisis". It speaks specifically to the need we are addressing through our Growing with Books Classes. According to the report by Lisa Moran:

"Research has repeatedly shown that access to books and one-on-one reading time is an important predictor of future literacy skills. Reading to your baby from infancy on exposes her to the alphabet, to the sounds that words make, and to the idea that print letters translate into spoken words. Talking to your child about a story boosts understanding and vocabulary. In contrast, not having this language and literacy exposure can quickly set kids up for failure. Many children who enter kindergarten without pre-reading skills in place never catch up, according to "America's Early Childhood Literacy Gap," a 2009 report from Jumpstart, a national early education organization dedicated to advancing school readiness in low-income communities. "By second grade, we can predict with reasonable accuracy who will go on to higher education and who will not, based on their literacy skills," says Jumpstart board member Laura Berk, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Illinois State University."

You can read the full report here:
Exclusive Report

-Dawn Noelle