The Missouri Reader Vol. 37, Issue 1 | Page 35

involvement in their prekindergarten program daily. The preschool program is designed to serve children and families identified as ―at-risk‖. Two groups of parents with children in the preschool program were involved in the study. One group of parents participated in the usual parent involvement program, which asked parents to find a book and read aloud to their children for 15 minutes daily at school before leaving their children. This group served as the control group. The other group of parents participated in the PARTNERS pilot. This group of parents received 15 minutes of dialogic reading training on Mondays, observed dialogic reading being modeled in the classroom on Tuesdays, and then practiced using dialogic reading with their children in the classroom on Wednesdays. This practice was especially important because providing parents times to practice with their children has been found to be more effective than providing services for either group alone (Cleveland, Corter, Pelletier, Colley, Bertrand, & Jamieson, 2006). Participants A total of 40 parents and caregivers participated in the study. A majority of the participants were the preschool children‘s parents. However, three grandparents and one babysitter participated in the study in place of a parent. Parents and caregivers whose children attended preschool in the morning participated in the dialogic reading training. Parents and caregivers whose children attended preschool in the afternoon participated in the traditional preschool parent involvement program and did not receive any training. Twenty-one parents and caregivers were in the morning dialogic reading group and 19 parents and caregivers participated in the afternoon group. An initial survey was given to determine if there were any significant differences between the groups that might impact the results of the study or give one group an advantage over the other. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding students‘ involvement in afterschool programs, the number of adults and children living in the home, number of books in the home, visits to the library, or the number of times children see a parent reading in the home. The groups were very similar. An important characteristic to highlight is that a majority of the parents and caregivers participating in both groups had a high school education or less and spoke a language other than English in the home (Table 1). Children’s Book Reviews The Missouri Reading Association values children’s literature and provides it’s readers with many valuable resources. One of the many great resources we provide are book reviews. Our children’s book reviews can be found at http://www.missourireading.org/professional-development/childrens-book-reviews Do you like to read and share your experiences with others? Would you want to contribute your expertise by writing a children’s book review? If you are interested in writing a book review for our website please send your review to [email protected] for consideration. In the subject line please use the key words: MO READER children’s book review ©The Missouri Reader, 37 (1) p.35