Matching Children with Level-Appropriate Books and Engaging Families

 Arturo Aguilar                                      Maria Elena Ortega
Department of Economics, ITAM           Harvard Graduate School of Education

 Project Summary

Reading skills are an important determinant of education attainment and could influence other long-term outcomes. Research suggests that to develop reading skills, books are more efficient if tailored to the student’s reading level (i.e. within their proximal zone of reading development) and interests. In Mexico, as in every Latin American case, there is not a book-leveling methodology and school curriculum often follows the “one size fits all” rule. In this project, we aim to improve reading scores of primary students in grades 1 to 3 by fostering parents’ engagement and complementing it with a technology-based innovative tool (MATCH) that will link students with books that meet their assessed reading skills and main topic of interest. Our proposal focuses on: (i) providing a stock of leveled-books for early grade readers to be accessed through local community libraries; (ii) giving children access to a user-friendly tool that generates lists of recommended level-appropriate books; (iii) informing parents about their children’s reading abilities; and (iv) coaching parents on how to scaffold their children’s reading process and detect possible reading difficulties. We expect that this intervention will have a significant effect improving reading performance (e.g. fluency, comprehension) and promoting good reading habits among targeted low-income early grade readers in Mexico.

This project is supported by USAID, World Vision and Australian Aid through the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development