The Study
Believing that “non-mainstream” parents can learn to participate successfully with their children during book reading, Patricia A. Edwards, professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, developed a learning program for these parents and evaluated its outcome. Twenty-five lower socioeconomic status mothers participated in the program. Initial instruction focused on leader directed coaching; participants concentrated on peer modeling of appropriate book-reading behaviors in phase two. During the final phase, parents brought their children to the sessions and used the strategies they had learned to read with their children. Observational data gathered by the leader and observational reports of teachers were used to evaluate the program.

The Findings
The program demonstrated that “non-mainstream” parents can profit from learning to engage in book-reading interactions with their young children. As the parents fine tuned their book-reading interactions, their children became more active as readers and participants in the activity. As the children became more active conversational partners, they learned to ask and answer questions more effectively. According to their teachers, children who were a part of the book reading program

1. increased their knowledge of written language and story grammar;
2. progressed in grade-appropriate subjects such as: the alphabet, colors, locations, sequences, comparisons, etc.;
3. were better able to participate in classroom reading interactions. Strong support from the school and community contributed to the success of the program, in the opinion of the researcher.

What It Means to You
Although “read to your child” is the most frequently requested parent-involvement activity in the school, this directive cannot be effective until we shift from “telling” to “showing” “non-mainstream parents” how to read to their children. What steps are you taking to help low-income and/or low-literacy parents learn these skills? If parents are shown how to share books with their young children and are provided with successful models of book-reading, these parents can help their children grow toward literacy. If parental sharing of books with their children is the most powerful and significant predicator of school achievement, it is in the community’s best interest to make certain that parents have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform this task well. You may want to enlist the support of others — business leaders, community spokespersons, the clergy, ordinary townspeople and the media — as well as the school’s teachers, librarian and other administrators to make certain that parents receive the assistance they need and deserve.

For More Information
Consult Edwards, P.A. (1991). “Fostering Early Literacy through Parent Coaching.” In E. Hiebert (Ed.), Literacy for a Diverse Society: Perspective Programs, and Policies (pp. 199-213). New York, New York: Teachers College Press.

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