A disappointing result

From The Information Book Flood: Is Additional Exposure Enough to Support Early Literacy Development? by Susan B. Neuman. A book flood is a policy of making many books easily and readily available to children. Sometimes in an unstructured and sometimes, as in this case, in a structured fashion.

Easy access to books is one of the five critical strategies in my research paper, Growing a Reading Culture. From the abstract.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the influence of a book distribution program targeted at enhancing children’s exposure to information books. The research examined whether a flood of information books in early childhood settings, placing libraries in a central role, could affect growth in language, content-related vocabulary, and concepts of comprehending information text. Fifteen childcare centers in a high-poverty urban area participated in the project (N = 501): 5 centers with libraries that were infused with information books and a monthly distribution program, 5 centers with libraries but no additional supports, and 5 “business as usual” centers. Multilevel modeling and analyses of covariance indicated that although the centers might have benefited from greater access to these resources, there were no significant effects on children’s outcomes. Findings suggest that both the theoretical and practical applications of book distribution programs need to be reevaluated if we are to improve child outcomes.

I am not surprised by the result. It mirrors other research, which sometimes have a weak positive effect and sometimes have a weak negative effect.

I have only seen positive effects with material effect sizes in the context of families. It corresponds with the findings from Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young Children, by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley.

Since Neuman is doing her research in high poverty urban areas, she is dealing with a large range of issues exogenous to the school environment. My suspicion is that are finding no effect because the school environment is being swamped by the home environment, particularly as it relates to valuation of education and beginning state language acquisition.

The strategy of book floods seem to work in the home in middle class families and above. This suggests a modified research approach. What are the necessary strategy adjustments to make book floods work in schools for the middle class students? Once you have that down pat (if it can be achieved), then what are the lessons learned that can then be transferred to low-income school environments.