Putting Books in the Classroom Seems Necessary But Not Sufficient

Abstract

The authors found statistically significant effects on the educational outcomes of kindergarten students enrolled in the classrooms of teachers who received a large supply of high-quality children's books and who participated in teacher development training. Kindergarten children who were taught by teachers who had a well-stocked classroom library and who had participated in a series of training sessions on the display and use of books in kindergarten classroom lessons achieved significantly higher scores on every measure of literacy development when compared with children who were taught by teachers who were provided with a well-stocked classroom library but not professional development support. Simply providing teachers with a generous supply of children's books had little effect on the educational outcomes of students.