On the road to reading

It all started when a group of Florida educators got together and decided they weren't going to let children get left behind just because they came from low-income families.

Today, the ELLM project — the letters stand for Early Literacy and Learning Model — has had surprising results in bridging the gap between poor prekindergartners and their well-to-do counterparts.

And its founders want to keep it going to spread throughout the state.

"We know there's a readiness gap between children from low-income families and their affluent peers," Cheryl Fountain, ELLM project director, told about 100 educators Feb. 3 at the ELLM Celebration Summit at Edison College's Collier County campus in East Naples.

"We know the most disturbing part is that those behind are likely to stay behind. By the time these children are 3 years old, the readiness gap has already begun."

Fountain was the keynote speaker at the summit, sponsored by the Collier County Early Literacy Partnership, the Chairman's Council of the Community Foundation of Collier County, Edison College, Florida Gulf Coast University and other partners.

Summit speakers told about the dramatic difference in the abilities of 825 4-year-olds to read and be prepared for kindergarten in Collier County public schools.

FGCU President Bill Merwin said the partnership among the various institutions and organizations has been a main part of ELLM's success.

"The project itself is the culmination of partnerships," Merwin said. "There are no fewer than 20 partners out there that have made this project possible.

The university is involved because we're a regional university, and it's our responsibility to improve the life of all Floridians in our area."

Ray Baker, superintendent of the Collier County School District, said ELLM clearly has had a positive impact on the Collier children involved in it.

"As a district, the Collier County system has sought funding to help us with these children before they enter kindergarten," Baker said. "Up to the third grade, children are learning to read. After the third grade, they're reading to learn.

Last year was the first year we implemented ELLM, with 49 prekindergarten classrooms.

We can already see the benefits of this program."

Baker said 4-year-olds at the end of the program's first year can recognize letters in their names, listen better than they did at the beginning of the year, and read and recognize words.

"These are just a few of the results we were able to glean from our research," he said.

"Collier's public schools are fully appreciative of the efforts ELLM and its partners brought to our schools."

Barbara Tarka Leonard, director of development for Edison College in Collier County, said she is "very impressed" with the impact ELLM had in Collier County in its first year.

"To see the numbers showing reading levels increased over 30 percent must have been very rewarding for all of those who gave their time and support to funding ELLM," Leonard said.

"Clearly, the Naples community embraced this project with participation from volunteers, the public school system and the university. It is encouraging for us at the college level to see our local leaders taking action and helping to educate our children.

"Kim Long's vision is already having an impact in bringing people together for a great purpose."

Long is executive director of Fun Time Early Childhood Academy in Naples and a leader in preschool preparedness.

Fountain, professor and executive director of the Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, said there are many reasons for targeting preschoolers from low-income families.

"One of the reasons is that research has shown 90 percent of the brain grows physically under 5 years old, and that connections within the brain also grow," Fountain said. "Children who come from more affluent homes have more of a vocabulary, they have books at home, they're being read to and they can recognize colors, shapes and words — because their brains and its connections grow more.

"Children from homes where they're not read to, where their parents don't converse with them, where they have no books of their own don't have this growth.

"It's known as the achievement gap, and much has been learned about it in the past 50 years."

ELLM was established at the Florida Institute of Education to continue and carry on the work of this research and to make dramatic improvements in the learning abilities of young children from low-income families.

"What we have learned is that if we're to close the achievement gap, we must begin earlier than we thought," Fountain said. "We know that with high-quality early care and learning, children will be more successful all their lives. In the end, more will have better jobs, a durable family life and engagement in civic life. ...

"An investment in high-quality early education has remarkable returns. When we discover this, we celebrate what we do."