Skip to main content

Reading is the Accessible, Low-Tech Solution to Overcoming the Pandemic Learning Gap

The closure of schools, day cares, and early childhood programming due to the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting many young children in the Lowcountry, and low-income communities are being impacted disproportionately.   The economic hardship created by the pandemic is compounded when families have to do without the vital resources that pre-schools and childcare centers provide.  And the longer these closures and programming disruptions continue, the greater the potential learning losses.

Low-income children risk being left behind

It is well accepted that poverty and inequality contribute to achievement gaps between children from different socio-economic households.  Performance disparities take root well before children enter kindergarten and do not go away.  The best way to lessen this gap for vulnerable children is through high-quality pre-kindergarten and early childhood programming.  These programs often provide an additional safety net, like nutritious meals, essential services, and interventions that go well beyond academics.  As more educational programs move away from physical classrooms and into homes through virtual platforms, low-income children are at even greater risk of being left behind.  


Although many organizations are offering free educational resources on line, not all households have computers or tablets for their children, many lack access to high-speed internet, and many parents do not have the time or technical know-how to navigate the digital world.  

Juggling the demands of jobs, childcare, and education

The nature of parents’ work may also compromise children when it comes to on-line instruction.  Lower paying jobs such as grocery clerks, warehouse workers, and delivery truck drivers tend to skew outside the home, so there is simply less available at-home time.  Now, families are dealing with childcare challenges, as well as the need to provide learning support for their children.  For families in survival mode, carving out time for a scheduled virtual learning activity with a young child is a big ask.  These inequities existed long before the pandemic, but for those who rely heavily on pre-schools and daycares, learning losses are now an even greater possibility.

Surrounding children with books

But the news is not all bad. One thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of books in the home and the availability of books through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  Reading aloud remains the single-most important thing parents can do to improve their young child’s literacy and kindergarten readiness skills.  Through the Imagination Library and BEGIN WITH BOOKS, enrolled children continue to receive free books in the mail each month – safe and easy access to an invaluable resource. 


Surrounding children with books, and reading to them regularly, does not require access to technology or digital knowhow.  Book play and reading can be done anywhere, at any time.  The presence of good children’s books in the home encourages independent book play by young children, which helps them develop book “awareness.”  Just looking at and recognizing pictures in a book helps a child realize that books contain pages; that pages contain different images, and that a book’s content relates to the real world – all valuable pre-literacy lessons.  Paging through picture books also stimulates a child’s imagination.


Parent-child interactions that focus on a shared book are valuable even in a low-literacy home or where English is not the primary language.  Paging through a book with a child, naming pictures (in any language), or making up a story (in any language) increases the child’s vocabulary, creates valuable “pre-literacy” experiences for the child, and supports parent-child bonding. 


Recognizing that home access to books is more critical now than ever, BEGIN WITH BOOKS has been scaling up its outreach efforts by arranging books donations to children’s health services, childcare centers, and pre-schools.  At the same time, BEGIN WITH BOOKS is delivering expertly selected books by mail to nearly 5,000 children every single month. 

Books are a great equalizer.  As parents adapt to this new learning environment, the best thing they can do to keep their young children learning through this pandemic is just KEEP READING to them.


 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Best of the Best

The Imagination Library is Filled with Award-Winning Books  - Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (DPIL) prides itself on the quality of the books in its collection.  It is no surprise, therefore, that many award-winning titles, authors and illustrators are currently on their book lists, or have been over the years.  Read on to learn a little bit about the more prominent awards given out for children's literature in this country and the many award-winning books found on DPIL shelves. Newbery and Caldecott Awards The Newbery Medal , established in 1922, is the oldest children's book award in the world.  It is awarded annually by the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.  With its intent and long history, it continues to be the best known and most discussed children's book prize in the country.   Likewise, the Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the ALA to the illu...
1 comment
Read more

The WHY, WHEN, and HOW of Learning to Write

Unlike learning to talk, children need to be taught  to write.  It's not enough to see you writing for your child to learn all they need to know.  They not only need to be taught how to write, but also need to understand when and why  we write, and all the many forms that writing takes.  How do printed words "work"?  What are the "rules" or concepts of print ?  It will take your child several years to learn all of this, and of course, they will continue the learning well into the elementary school years and beyond.  However, there are many things you can do to help them get a head-start and be ready for kindergarten. WHY Your child needs to understand that writing is a way of saying on paper the things we otherwise think to ourselves or say out loud.  Letters on a page mean the same thing as words they have heard spoken.  As we rely more and more on our smartphones and tablets for simple writing tasks, we are no longer modelling writin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Closing the Word Gap, One Story at a Time

The Word Gap? What is it and how do we go about closing it?  Perhaps you've heard it referred to as the 30-million word gap .  It's a catchphrase that's been circulating for years.  But what does it really mean? The phrase itself originated from a landmark study done over 25 years ago that compared the language development and reading achievement of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.  The researchers observed a large group of 7-month-old babies for one hour per day for two and a half years, until the children reached three years old.  Everything the baby heard or said was recorded.  ALL words were counted, duplicates and all.  The results were shocking.  Youngsters growing up in more well-off homes heard 30-million more words over two and a half years than those living in poorer households.  They also heard these words in a more conversational style compared to children in less well-to-do homes.  There was also a stron...
Post a Comment
Read more