| Sixty children, ages 4 to 5, and their parents participated in a 36 week study, located at three sites in Orange County, California, to determine if the children would increase their oral language proficiency levels through participation in language-rich and print-rich activities. Ninety percent of the children were Hispanic with a home language of Spanish. The children attended a two-day preschool session and a one-day parent/child Bridge session and received curricular interventions for oral language development and phonemic awareness. Teachers received 101 hours of training on language acquisition and emergent literacy. Parents attended a weekly parent/child Bridge session where they were instructed on principles of child development and emergent literacy. Between sessions, parents participated in oral language home activities and submitted a log of these activities. The children were administered the Pre-IPT Oral test at the beginning and end of the study to measure oral language gains in both English and Spanish.; The findings in this research study reported out of 60 students, a majority of the students increased at least one English designation level and 2 students gained two levels. Thirty-one students scored as Fluent English Speaking. Fifty-four students took both the English and Spanish Pre-IPT Oral test, 15 students increased at least one Spanish designation level and 38 students scored as Fluent Spanish Speaking. Students increased their English scores based on days of attendance and oral language home activities. Children whose parents had 7 to 9 years of schooling made the greatest gains in English. The largest student gain in Spanish scores was from the 8 students whose parents had some college experience. Parents, at each of the three schools, continued to be involved in their children's classroom following the end of the study. This study's findings revealed that by providing a no-cost preschool to the most at-risk children, primarily from Spanish-speaking homes, will increase both their English and Spanish language proficiency levels. This study also found that parent directed activities helped reduce the school readiness gap and that parents continued to be involved in their child's education. |
