Ohio officials tout results of early literacy program

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(The Center Square) – Ohio officials are pointing to a new study that shows $13 million in taxpayer money on country legend Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio is demonstrating the fundamental relationship between literacy rates and access to books at a young age.

The program, which is supported through a combination of state and local funding sources, sends books to children from birth to age 5 monthly.

Ohio lawmakers decided to dedicate $5 million in taxpayer dollars to the program in the 2024-2025 operating budget and another $8 million in the state’s most recent two-year budget.

One reason for the program’s success is an initiative begun last year which gives parents the opportunity to enroll newborn babies while completing forms for a birth certificate.

The move saw a jump of 37,000 new enrollees last year. The combined total of children in Ohio receiving books from the program is 418,924.

Enrollment worldwide enabled researchers to take a closer look at the program’s impact on literacy. A study led by statistician Claire Galea which included data from the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

The research team found that children who received just 10 books were more than four times more likely “to demonstrate stronger emerging literacy skills – such as vocabulary and phonological awareness – compared to children not in the program.” The benefits extended to the children’s home environment, with caregivers being nine times more likely to read to them at least four days per week.

“This new research backs what Ohio families have been sharing with us – that children with Imagination Library books inside the home love to read, and read often, and are better prepared when they get to kindergarten,” said First Lady Fran DeWine, who initiated the program in 2019 alongside the Dollywood Foundation, Parton’s nonprofit.

Though the Imagination Library began in Parton’s native Tennessee, Ohio has become the largest statewide program in the country.

“We are proud of the fact that our friends in the Ohio legislature continue to financially support Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, along with local partners in every Ohio county,” said Gov. Mike DeWine.  “This new study, the largest in the world on shared book reading, provides more evidence that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is winning investment in children, families across the world, and especially here in Ohio.”

In addition to investments like the Imagination Library Program, the state’s effort to recuperate flagging literacy skills include a recently implemented curriculum shift toward the “Science of Reading.” DeWine launched ReadOhio in 2023.

Some have been impatient to see the efforts pay off.

The 2024-2025 school year found Ohio’s third- and fourth-graders hovering below 65% for proficiency. Experts say the journey toward literacy is best begun before students reach kindergarten, underscoring the importance of early education and home-based programs like Parton’s.

Both federal funding freezes and state budget cuts have struck blows to the network of early childhood education providers that offer many children their first exposure to literacy concepts outside the home.