Introduction

Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national family literacy program. A local ROR requested an evaluation of their program to validate the program for its stakeholders. The main objective was to answer the question: is the program evidence-based?

The Reach Out and Read Assessment (RORA) project evaluated the local ROR program with an oral (bilingual) survey and a child assessment using the PLS-4: Preschool Language Scale, Fourth Edition (Zimmerman, 2002) instrument. A sample of families was asked to participate at their child’s six month-old well-baby visit with a follow-up at the 12-month well-child visit. Impact of the local ROR program on the families was measured against a control population as well.

The purpose of the quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the local ROR program and to provide feedback to the program, the volunteers, the medical community, and the research community. Previous research done with a similar questionnaire had shown positive results for the early literacy intervention (ROR, 2001; ROR, 2003-2006). Could the survey findings be replicated with a small sample? Can an assessment of the children show positive results with the youngest age group in a ROR program? The project expected to add to the growing research base which is showing that early literacy interventions have a positive impact on children.

An objective of early literacy interventions is to increase the school readiness abilities of young children at an age when parent input is significant (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2004; Dickinson, 2006). Literacy abilities at kindergarten have been shown to be related with reading abilities in the later elementary years (National Center for Family Literacy, 2005; Dickinson, 2006).

In the past 20 years, early literacy has become a frequent message directed toward parents in our society. ROR and other family literacy programs empower young parents by helping families to understand the connection between activities when the child is six months of age and learning to read during the school years. Shared book reading has been shown to enhance language, not the early literacy skills directly. Increasing a child’s vocabulary before learning to read can impact phonological awareness and listening comprehension. Learning vocabulary indirectly assists in learning to read (Dickinson, 2006). The National Early Literacy Panel has compiled a synthesis of early literacy research (National Center for Family Literacy, 2005).

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