Project: Imagination Library (Project #26B)

Lead Agency: Delta Health Alliance

In response to growing awareness that critical aspects of literacy acquisition begin at very early ages, The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (IL) program was developed to support the early literacy experiences of young children, birth to age five, by sending new age-appropriate books to children every month. Children registered in the program at birth could potentially receive 60 books through the end of program eligibility at age five.  By increasing the number and quality of early literacy experiences across the birth to kindergarten portion of the lifespan, the program is believed to make children more ready for school entry. The Imagination Library was designed around a very simple program theory that consists of three elements.  The primary element in the program theory is that shared reading of picture books between adults and young children in the home context is an important contributor to school readiness and later literacy achievement.  Two secondary elements also follow.  First, IL program developers believe that the presence of more new age-appropriate books in the home is likely to increase the number and quality of literacy experiences that young children have.  Second, the arrival of new books on a predictable monthly interval is likely to make children more excited about the receipt of new books and their use. Through the Imagination Library, services will include mailing a book a month to any child under the age of 5 to his or her home and enhancing the Imagination Library by having readers go into the daycares and Head Start Centers to read to the children.  By reaching at least 50% of the children, ages 0-5, the program anticipates impacting the assessed reading level of target children entering kindergarten. he Imagination Library program was developed to support the early literacy experiences of young children, birth to age five, by sending new age-appropriate books to children every month. The project also wants to foster relationships between families with young children and their future schools to make easy the child’s transition to kindergarten. This project is currently running in Bolivar, Coahoma, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Sunflower, and Washington counties.

The DHA will specifically target children under the age of five in these seven counties. DHA will continue enhancing the Imagination Library by having readers go into the daycares and Head Start Centers to read to the children.  By reaching at least 50% of the children, ages 0-5, the program anticipates impacting the assessed reading level of target children entering kindergarten.

Another component is to expand the Imagination Library Program to enhance daycares in the seven counties we currently target. The Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute implements the Mississippi Child Care Quality Step Rating System, a voluntary rating system for licensed early childhood facilities in Mississippi. Through this program, child care facilities can up to 5-star ratings. Facilities with 2-star to 5-star ratings receive a variety of ongoing quality bonuses from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Office for Children and Youth. Centers that participate in the Mississippi Child Care Assistance Program, a subsidy program for low-income working parents, can receive tuition subsidy bonuses for earning quality ratings. The bonuses are staggered:

2-Star – 7%
3-Star – 17%
4-Star – 22%
5-Star – 25%

Actual bonus amounts are based on daily tuition rates for children in different age ranges. Centers report the numbers of children whose parents are eligible for tuition subsidies and how many days per month the children in each age range actually attend (http://www.qualitystep.msstate.edu/criteria-overview.htm).

DHA is currently assisting two daycares (4 different classrooms) in Coahoma County who are working to reach a 2-star rating by enhancing their reading programs and building their libraries with books and educational material. Once a week, two Outreach Workers visit the daycare centers and read to various age groups. The books we read adhere to the lesson plans the daycares devise in accordance to the Mississippi Child Care Quality Step System and act as supplements to these lesson plans.  In addition to the weekly reading sessions, we donate books with lesson plans centered around the books, materials for the lesson plans, and other educational materials once a month to build up the daycare centers libraries. The purpose of this objective of the Imagination Library is two-fold. One is to assist daycares in providing a better educational environment for children to prepare them for school. The other purpose is to expand our outreach from providing books to children at home to also provide more access to books and learning tools in daycares.