The Harvard Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development

Summary
The Harvard Home-School Study is an ongoing research project which has followed a group of children from low-income backgrounds since the age of three (in 1991). The original purpose of the study was to investigate the social pre-requisites to literacy success, with an emphasis on the relationships between early experiences with language and later reading comprehension. The children have been assessed, observed and interviewed repeatedly, as have their parents and teachers.

The research has shown that pre-school language and literacy experiences were strong predictors of early language and literacy growth, which was in turn a strong predictor of reading comprehension by 4th Grade (age 9). Both home and school (kindergarten) factors during the pre-school years were important, but research linking pre-school and 4th Grade assessments of the children showed that the strongest predictor of their literacy development was support for literacy in the home. The areas of greatest impact were found to be sharing books, extended talk at mealtimes and during play and opportunities to chat about things beyond the here and now.

Project EASE
Based on the findings of this study, Project EASE (Early Access to Success in Education) was established. This is a programme run in kindergartens which helps parents understand and implement the kinds of language interactions that the research identifies as helpful, and it has been successful in improving the language and literacy skills of children who may otherwise have been at risk of difficulties.

Links:

• For more on the Home-School Study visit http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~pild/homeschoolstudy.htm
• For more on Project EASE visit http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~pild/projectease.htm
• Article on Project EASE from Literacy Today

References:
Roach, K. A. & Snow, C. E. (2000) 'What predicts 4th grade reading comprehension?' In C. Snow (Chair), Predicting 4th grade reading comprehension in a low-income population: The critical importance of social precursors from home and school during early childhood. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Dickinson, D.K., & Tabors, P.O. (Eds.) (2001) Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home and school. Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing.