The Take Home Book Program

A school-based program of family literacy

Stanford University

School of Education 

September 10, 2006

To those interested in the Take Home Book Program,

A two-year evaluation of the Take Home Book Program was conducted under my advisement during 2004-2006. The concluding report covers the kindergarten and first grade levels of the Take Home Book Program, a school-based program of family reading at kindergarten, first, and second grades.

17 kindergarten classrooms and 16 first grade classrooms participated in the evaluation. Children in the program classrooms took home a book each week for 30 weeks. At home, parents read the books aloud to their children and the children drew a picture and wrote a sentence about each story in the program journal. All children in the evaluation were given the California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP) assessment at the beginning and end of the school year.

The kindergarten data is a beginning point in determining the program’s future impact on children as they learn to read in first grade. Results of the kindergarten data show an increase in the program group over the control group at the end of kindergarten in timed letter recognition and timed letter sound production. Both of these skills are predictors of learning to read.

Results of the first grade data show a significant increase in the program group over the control group on measures of reading regular words, writing orthographic features, reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. Each of these four areas is important for successful reading and writing.

The narrative data collected from kindergarten parents and teachers is very positive and is consistent with the program’s findings since its inception in 1998. Ninety-seven percent of program parents report reading more with their child because of the program. Eighty-five percent of program parents report learning something useful from the program and the parent information provided by the program. At the beginning of the school year, control and program parents reported taking their children to the library the same amount; at the end of the school year, program parents were more likely than control parents to take their children to the library. The Take Home Program is clearly appreciated by parents and teachers.

Sincerely,

Connie Juel