Project Summary
The Colorado Lab supported the Imagination Library of Colorado (ILCO) in assessing the impact of their book program on kindergarten readiness. ILCO partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) book program to deliver a high-quality, age-appropriate book every month to all registered children ages 0-5 at no cost to the child’s family. In 2021, the General Assembly passed and the Governor signed a bill subsidizing half the cost of books for the program and mandating a program evaluation. Existing research on the causal impacts of the DPIL book program is limited and no one has examined the impact on kindergarten readiness.
The Colorado Lab partnered with five school districts with a large number of ILCO book program participants residing in their catchment areas to share kindergarten readiness data through the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC). The evaluation compared ILCO program graduates to demographically similar students in the same school district who had not participated in the ILCO program.
Steps to Building Evidence
This project used a matched comparison analytic design, which is at Step 4 on the Steps to Building Evidence.
Summary of Findings
ILCO participation led to a 0.13 standard deviation higher score on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment at kindergarten entry compared to similar children in the same school who did not participate. This increase is substantial, particularly given the low cost of ILCO implementation. ILCO participation also reduced the likelihood of scoring “well below benchmark” on the DIBELS, an indicator of a potential significant reading deficiency. No effects were found on children’s Language or Literacy scores on a kindergarten readiness assessment, the Teaching Strategies GOLD.
Actionability
The ILCO evaluation findings will contribute to the best available research evidence on book programs for young children. In conjunction with decision-maker expertise and information about community needs and implementation context, the findings have the potential to inform whether the state continues subsidizing the ILCO book program.
Participating school districts have also expressed interest in the results to inform their investment of time in recruiting families to enroll their youngest children in the ILCO book program. District personnel have also mentioned the possibility of developing a similar program for their early elementary-aged children if the results are promising.
Get Involved
For more information about working with the Colorado Lab, see Government and Community Partnerships or Research Partnerships.