Reading The Snowy Day – and More Research on Reading

It’s not likely to snow tomorrow (at least not here in Washington, D.C.) but imagery of snowmen and snow angels are likely to be filling the minds of thousands of children and adults nevertheless. Tomorrow is “Read for the Record” day, when children and adults around the country participate in an en-masse reading of the same book. This year’s pick is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and a free e-book version is available.

The reading campaign was started by JumpStart, a non-profit organization that sends volunteers into preschools to read to children. (To find out if JumpStart has an affiliation with your local pre-k, preschool or early childhood center, click here.)

The emphasis on read-alouds in the early years – before children are reading by themselves – is well-placed.  Research continues to show how imperative it is that children are exposed to many new words and ideas in their early years – exposure that comes from reading high-quality children’s books. And that’s not to mention the strong language skills that come from reflecting on and talking about books after the covers are closed.

Speaking of reading and research, here at Early Ed Watch we’ve been tracking some of the latest reports on literacy and reading improvement. Here are a few that have come across our desk in the past few months.

• Commentary and research from the Annenberg Institute on the value of using reading as a “leading indicator” of how well children will do in school

These papers reiterate research showing that first grade reading scores are “reliable predictors of future reading scores” and that reading skills in third grade are “predictive of future academic performance.” In non-academic terms, that means that if a child can read well by the end of first grade, it’s likely that they will be reading well in later grades. And if a child is reading well by third grade, they will likely do well in school.

• Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters

This report, released this spring as part of the KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, provides the foundation for a decades-long campaign to get all children in the United States reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

• The May 2010 issue of Educational Researcher, the journal of the American Educational Research Association

This issue is dedicated to more than a dozen commentary and follow-up reports on the 2009 National Early Literacy Panel report.

• A special issue of Science magazine

An April edition of Science included six articles and commentary from leading literacy researchers who discuss the interplay of science and literacy. It also included research from twin studies on how important effective teachers are in helping children learn to read.

• Research base for the U.S. Department of Education’s Blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The U.S. Department of Education has provided research documents to back up its proposal to revamp its literacy programs. Within this paper is a section on literacy research that highlights the necessity of an evidence-based pre-K-12 approach to strengthening literacy instruction.

Please let us know if you’ve come across other literacy research that we should check out.