Becoming Literate in the City: The Baltimore Early Childhood Project

A comittee of authors
Cambridge University Press
321 pages
2.78 Mb PDF
ISBN-10 978-0-521-77677-6

Literacy is one of the most highly valued cultural resources of contemporary
American society, yet far too many children in the nation’s
cities leave school without becoming sufficiently literate. This
book reports the results of a 5-year longitudinal study in the city of
Baltimore, Maryland, tracing literacy development from prekindergarten
through third grade for a sample of children from low- and
middle-income families of European and African heritage. The authors
examined the intimate culture of each child’s home, defined
by a confluence of parental beliefs, recurrent activities, and interactive
processes, in relation to children’s literacy competencies. Also
examined were teacher beliefs and practices, and connections between
home and school. With its broad-based consideration of the contexts
of early literacy development, the book makes an important contribution
to understanding how best to facilitate attainment of literacy for
children from diverse backgrounds.