Vol. 38, No. 18

3-14-2007
By: Julia Harris

Publishing lab part of new childhood facility

Enticing early reading skills goal of children’s center

When a university-sponsored childhood facility opens in the Weinland Park neighborhood this fall, it will contain an innovative publishing center for young children.

The Early Childhood Development Center, spearheaded by the College of Education and Human Ecology, is now a muddy construction site framed by steel and concrete. In less than six months, however, the A. Sophie Rogers Laboratory for Child and Family Studies will move to the state-of-the-art laboratory school for 88 preschoolers, toddlers and infants.

The lab, now housed in Campbell Hall, will include the UPS Children’s Publishing Place for children under the age of three.

The publishing center, made possible by a $25,500 grant from the UPS Foundation, is designed to instill early reading skills, which have been proven crucial in helping children succeed in school and in life.

“Research shows that children begin to learn early reading skills years before they start school, including infants,” says Andrea Bowlin, director of special projects for the college. “When they’re engaged with other children and adults in developing and using print materials, they’re more likely to understand how print is used.”

Even babies can benefit from literacy training, Bowlin says. Letting infants touch — and, more likely, chew on — books is a gentle way of introducing literacy into their lives.

A good chunk of the grant will pay for the center’s necessities — such as a large-format printer for creating posters, voice-activated software for recording children’s stories, editing equipment and a binding machine — and an art teacher’s salary.

With these tools, and plenty of basic art supplies, the publishing center will encourage young children to create storybooks about their lives and learning and to share those creations with family and friends.

Because the publishing center’s programs are geared toward very young children, Bowlin says, their caregivers are likely to feel less intimidated by the content. The hope is that engaging families in the learning process will promote greater literacy in the community and help ensure the future academic success of neighborhood children.

“We really want to engage families in the learning environment, especially those families who may not have been as exposed to literacy,” Bowlin explains. “Statistics show that only 30 percent of area residents over the age of 25 have high school degrees or the equivalent.”

The publishing place is part of the EDC’s larger plan to turn the tide of poverty and illiteracy in the Weinland Park neighborhood, an area of documented unemployment and low educational attainment. The approach is multi-pronged and includes providing high-quality child care so that parents can work and building green spaces into the school so that kids can stay in touch with nature while remaining in a safe location.

“We are sparking new solutions and imagining new possibilities for schools, consumers and communities,” says David Andrews, dean of EHE. “This will lead to positive national change.”

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