Head Start is an ideal ally for promoting early literacy

Extending public library service to children who are struggling to become literate isn’t always easy. One of the best strategies we’ve found is to partner with organizations that make it their business to target at-risk families. Head Start has been one of our most effective partners.

Its staff are enthusiastic about books, reading, and libraries. Parent education is an important part of its mission. Most Head Start sites have dedicated time for monthly parent programs. Many have simultaneous interpretation equipment as well as a group of interpreters who are used to working with the diverse Head Start clientele. What a great resource to tap into!

Service to Head Start became a priority at Multnomah County Library (MCL) in the 1990s in response to the Library-Museum-Head Start Partnership initiated by the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book. We’ve expanded our service to the Head Start community over the past decade and now offer several types of programs for children, parents, and teachers. More than 7,000 children enjoy storytime programs each year at Head Start sites as well as branch libraries. Bilingual staff present Spanish/English storytimes in Migrant Head Start classrooms. MCL waives fines for Head Start families on an annual Head Start Day, which attracts hundreds of children and parents to branch libraries for an introduction to library services.

Over the past seven years, 500 Head Start staff have participated in the award-winning Early Words program. A series of classes developed in Portland, OR, Early Words promotes language and literacy development in young children by enhancing the knowledge and skills of their teachers and caregivers. The Early Words curriculums are available at www.multcolib.org/birthtosix/ecr/ewclasses.html.

Perhaps the library service most popular with Head Start teachers is a bimonthly book delivery to 40 sites. Plastic tubs of carefully chosen picture books provide classroom curriculum support.

MCL also provides books for Head Start children to take home through Raising A Reader, a national early literacy program currently operating through affiliate sites in 32 states. The library stocks Head Start classrooms with sets of book bags full of high-quality, culturally diverse picture books. Teachers organize a weekly book exchange and encourage children to ask their parents to read to them daily. Library staff offer both teachers and parents early literacy education to support the program. Currently, MCL serves more than 120 Head Start classrooms through Raising A Reader. Allyson Yoshiwara, the Head Start administrator for Portland Public Schools, praises Raising A Reader for the way it complements the Head Start curriculum. “We are committed to a classroom curriculum which exposes children to a wealth of good literature, yet the time we have with them is limited. The key to achieving literacy is creating 'families’ that read. That is what Raising A Reader does.”

Another national early literacy program that has been a good match for Head Start is the widely acclaimed Mother Goose Asks Why? and You Can Count on Mother Goose, created by the Vermont Center for the Book. MCL participated in a grant which brought the Mother Goose program to hundreds of Head Start parents over a three-year period. When the project ended, the library and Portland Public Schools secured funds to train Head Start staff to teach the classes on their own.

Head Start staff have become great advocates for public libraries throughout our county. As one director told us last spring, “The library has inspired even the Head Start bus driver to talk with the children about books.” We can’t think of a more empowering library partner than Head Start!