Abstract of

Project EASE: The Effect of a Family Literacy Project on Kindergarten Students' Early Literacy Skills

Gail E. Jordan

Catherine E. Snow

Michelle V. Porche

A year-long intervention project was carried out with 248 kindergarten students, composed of 71 students in a control group and 177 students whose parents participated in an experimental program that included parent education sessions, at-school parent/child activities, and at-home book-mediated activities. The intervention, Early Access to Success in Education (Project EASE), was designed to increase the frequency and quality of language interactions through book-centered activities and to give parents information about and opportunities for engagement in their children's developing literacy abilities. Parents received information about ways to strengthen vocabulary, extend narrative understanding, develop letter recognition and sound awareness, produce narrative retellings, and understand exposition. Measures of home literacy support were collected from parents and a battery of language and literacy tests were adminisSe tered to intervention and comparison children prior to the intervention and at its conclusion. Children whose families engaged in the atschool and at-home activities made significantly greater gains in language scores as measured on subtests of vocabulary, story comprehension, and sequencing in storytelling than comparison children. The greatest gains were found in those low-achieving students who started out with low language skills at pretest and strong home literacy support. Parents in general showed high levels of participation in the prescribed activities, and they reported high levels of satisfaction. The study demonstrates the potential for schools to engage parents in a meaningful way in supporting their children's literacy development, and the sensitivity of children's oral language skills to the impact of structured enrichments.

Abstract from Jordan, G.E., Snow, C.E., & Porche, M.V. (2000). Project EASE: The Effect of a Family Literacy Project on Kindergarten Students' Early Literacy Skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 524–546. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.35.4.5