Early Literacy Skills Can Lead to Academic Achievement Later

The May 2010 issue of the Educational Researcher journal of the American Educational Research Association was a special issue on the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) Report, which was released in January 2009.

This issue summarizes the landmark report and provides commentary from several well known authors, some of whom point out limitations of the reports methodology and interpretation of the data. Despite some debate regarding the NELP report, it serves as an important synthesis of approximately 500 studies of early literacy development.

The report addressed four main questions:

• What skills and abilities of young children (0 to 5 years old) predict later reading, writing, or spelling outcomes?
• What instructional approaches contribute to children’s gains in the skills that are linked to these later literacy outcomes?
• What environments and settings are related to gains in the skills that are linked to these later literacy outcomes?
• What child characteristics are related to gains in the skills and abilities that are linked to these later literacy outcomes?

The NELP panel concluded that early literacy skills have a strong, consistent relationship with later literacy skills such as decoding, reading, writing, spelling, reading comprehension, fluency and oral reading. The foundational skills that were the “strongest and most consistent” predictors of these critical literacy skills were correctly naming letters; breaking apart words into smaller sound units; rapidly naming sequences of letters, numbers, objects, or colors; writing one’s own name; and remembering the content of spoken language (e.g., following short, multi-step directions).

So what does this mean for parents and what should you look for in early childhood education programs?

The quick answer is look for evidence of literacy throughout your child’s program, from labels on cubbies to reading centers with a variety of books and other reading material to writing centers with appropriate materials where children can hone their early writing skills.

Other recommendations from the National Institute for Literacy include block and manipulative centers, where children can work on patterning with shapes and colors. Evidence of the children’s own writing should be visible throughout the classrooms. The program should also have a schedule that includes large and small group activities, with literacy elements in both including book reading, rhyming poems and songs, and word and letter games such as bingo or letter search.

Most importantly, you should see and  hear the teachers engaged in rich conversations with children that require back and forth between adult and child, and the use of multi-step directions during transitions that can help your child learn to follow sequential directions.

And remember, these types of activities don’t just belong in a preschool environment, it is important to build these opportunities into the time you and your family spend with your child. Early literacy doesn’t just lead to better reading, it can help your child reach higher levels of academic achievement in general.