UW research finds better-prepared care providers give children literacy advantage

Researchers from the University of Washington recently teamed with Pierce County librarians and 31 local day cares to study how early learning is affected when preschoolers are taught by child care workers who have good literacy training and materials.

What they found is that young kids progress faster when the adults who look after them all day are more confident and competent with reading skills. It’s something librarians have always believed; now they have research to back it up.

Starting this month, the Pierce County Library System will capitalize on those findings by expanding its pre-literacy outreach to 20 more in-home day cares.

The library system came up with the research idea and secured funding through outside benefactors. A UW professor and doctoral student trained six librarians to work with in-home child care providers. A Florida State University researcher helped with statistical analysis.

The children were between 3 and 4 years old and attended in-home settings – the most prevalent form of small child care in the county with more than 500 providers in business, according to a library system spokeswoman.

“This is groundbreaking research,” said Eliza Dresang, a professor for children and youth services at the University of Washington Information School. She led the study in 2010 and concluded it this spring.

A total of 33 children in 13 treatment groups were exposed to child care providers who were given skills training and literacy materials at the start of the research; another 53 children were in 18 control groups whose child care workers did not receive training and materials until the end.

Tests were given to children in both groups, before and after, on four pre-literacy skills: knowledge of letters of the alphabet, understanding the sounds that words make, print awareness and comprehension.

“We found that for children in the group where the day care workers were trained, levels went up,” Dresang said. The only category in which those children didn’t make significant improvement was comprehension.

The treatment groups were given learning kits from the Pierce County Library System at the start of the research. They also received newsletters and materials to develop their children’s skills.

Lana’s Country Childcare and Preschool in Roy was one of the control groups. Owner Lana King said that after she received and used the learning kits at the end of the study, her kids got more excited about reading and learning.

“The equipment they gave us increased their wanting to learn,” King said. “It really was worthwhile.”

Similar research was done by the Carroll County Public Library in Maryland in 2005. Judy Nelson, young services director for the Pierce County Library System, saw a presentation on that study at a conference.

“One of the nice things about our study (compared with the Maryland study) is their population is more homogenous than ours,” said Susan Anderson-Newham, early learning supervising librarian for the Pierce County System. “We were excited because we’re more diverse economically and socially.”

The library system recently won a Top Innovator Award from the Urban Library Council for the project, which was called “Our Children are Ready for Reading.”

The system also received $5,000 funding from its nonprofit foundation to equip 20 additional child care providers with kits and training. The project begins Saturday and runs through the end of the year.

“Most libraries just believe reading is good,” Dresang said, “but it’s great they were actually willing to put in the work to prove statistically that it is.”

Stephanie Kim: 253-597-8692
stephanie.kim@thenewstribune.com