A Giant Step toward Literacy

Annual award honors child-committed libraries

by Susan Salter

A child born in 2001 — when the No Child Left Behind Act was introduced — will start nearing kindergarten next year. Since his or her birth, the U.S. economy has been almost continually declining or flat; unemployment has challenged many families; and educational institutions have endured budget cuts. Will this 2001 baby greet 2005 ready to learn?

That question has been addressed — and answered — by the talent and dedication of school and public libraries. Since 2000, the annual Giant Step Award, co-sponsored by Thomson Gale and School Library Journal, has honored their efforts by selecting the U.S. or Canadian library that has designed and implemented the best children's program or service in their community. The annual award carries a $10,000 cash prize. The winning library is also featured in a School Library Journal cover story and is recognized at the American Library Association's (ALA) annual convention.

Notification of a win — via a phone call from School Library Journal — is an exciting experience. Just ask Ellen Fader, youth services coordinator in Multnomah County, Oregon. In 2003, the Multnomah County Library (MCL) won the Giant Step Award for its Early Words program that prepares preschoolers for reading.

Reading readiness for Multnomah County

According to Fader, Early Words was created from a real need in Multnomah County — where a 2000 survey of kindergarten teachers, indicated more than a third of the incoming children were deemed "not ready to succeed" because they lacked early-childhood language and pre-reading skills. Early Words' mission is to:

• Highlight the importance of early language and literacy development
  
  
• Promote relationships between adults and children through activities that foster language and literacy development
  
  
• Provide parents and caregivers with tips on how to incorporate reading and talking with babies and young children into their daily life

Training for parents and caregivers is facilitated through free workshops, free books and other resources. Through Early Words, "I learned how to interact with kids at storytime as opposed to just reading to them," daycare provider Adrianne Bailey told School Library Journal. Evaluations conducted by the MCL have verified the program's success.

Rewards that go beyond cash

Fader says that MCL knew exactly what to do with the Giant Step Award's $10,000 cash prize — create Early Words 2, a continuation of the successful prototype. "The money provides requested enrichment for those who have taken the first set of six classes," she notes. "Now we just need to find funds to translate the new curriculum into our target languages: Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese."

Beyond the cash prize, Fader says that winning the Giant Step Award has brought more presence and validation to Early Words. "The award helps position us in the community as a resource," she says. In addition, the MCL has completed participating as a demonstration site for a joint early-literacy project of the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children, divisions of the ALA.

What is Fader's advice for libraries seeking the kind of recognition a Giant Step Award can provide? Though she says the application process is easy, it's important first to "sit down and think about what it is you have discovered about your community," she says. "What's unique about your library or program? And if the results aren't there this year, keep performing the research and evaluation on your program to position it to qualify in another year." Strong evaluation, in fact, is a distinguishing feature in the judging of Giant Step Award candidates.

For more information on Early Words, visit www.earlywords.net or e-mail Ellen Fader at ellenf@multcolib.org.