Beyond the numbers: Social and emotional benefits of participation in the Imagination Library home-based literacy programme

Abstract

As home-based literacy programmes proliferate, stakeholders are asking for evidence that programme goals are being met and for information on what types of programming provide the best cost-to-benefit ratio. Most programmes analyse impact on learning through objective measures such as test scores and academic performance, but neglect to investigate further reaching benefits of their programmes. This qualitative study explores parent perceptions of the social and emotional benefits of participating in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) home-based literacy programme. Interviews with 17 families in the programme revealed four key findings: (1) multiple members of families use and benefit from the books; (2) families take great pride in building their libraries; (3) families in the DPIL programme strongly associate reading with learning and academic success; and (4) the DPIL programme helps families build traditions and routines around reading. The social and emotional benefits of receiving books through this programme go far beyond cognitive and academic impact for the enrolled child and extend to the entire family.

Predictors of shared book reading at home with preschoolers: Are there differences between Roma and non-Roma low-income families?

“…SBR may be considered an informal (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002) and entertainment-focused (Pacheco & Mata, 2013) adult-child literacy practice that refers to the "exposure to children's books with a caretaker's direct involvement" (Celano et al, 1998, p. 172). SBR is one of the most studied activities in home literacy research, not only for how easily it can become a family routine (Neyer et al, 2018), but also for its associations with early cognition, including language acquisition (e.g., Resende & Figueiredo, 2018;Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002, 2014, emergent literacy (e.g., Bracken & Fischel, 2008;Evans & Shawn, 2008;Inoue et al, 2018;Mata & Pacheco, 2009), and early reading achievement (e.g., Barnes & Puccioni, 2017;Gottfried et al,2015;Salvador & Martins, 2017).…”

“…The positive effect of SBR extends to children's socioemotional skills (Baker, 2013;Rose et al, 2018) and positive parent-child relationships (Fletcher & Reese, 2005;Neyer et al, 2018). Children's involvement in SBR at a young age may boost their further interest and motivation for reading (Baker et al, 1997;Bracken & Fischel, 2008;Sonnenschein & Munsterman, 2002), which, in turn, may be associated with children's increased autonomous reading practice and later reading competence (Schiefele et al, 2012).…”

“…Considered in this study as a component of the HLE, SBR positively impacts children's literacy and linguistic outcomes, according to previous meta-analyses (Bus et al, 1995;Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994;Trivette et al, 2010). It is also associated with the development of important cognitive (Evans & Shawn, 2008) and socioemotional (Baker, 2013) skills, while potentially enhancing the relationship between the adult and the child (Kassow, 2006;Neyer et al, 2018).…”

WHAT WOULD DOLLY DO?: Dolly Parton as Authentic Leader

“…In 1986 she revitalized a theme park, Dollywood, near her ancestral home to generate economic revenue and jobs for the local community (Selinsky, 2001). One of her most prominent philanthropic endeavors is her Imagination Library, which started in 1995 as a response to high illiteracy rates in her hometown community (Neyer, Szumlas, & Vaughn, 2021). Her vision "was to foster a love of reading among her county's preschool children and their families" (Imagination Library, 2021).…”

“…The impetus for Imagination Library was her father, whom she felt was a brilliant man, but also surmised that he would have been able to do much more with his life if he had been literate (Dixon, 2020). What began as a local initiative is now sending over a million books a month to children worldwide (Neyer, Szumlas, & Vaughn, 2021).…”