Research confirms what many have long suspected: what someone already knows helps that person learn more. In other words, a person’s background knowledge is related to his or her ability to achieve (Tamir, 1996; Tobias, 1994).

With this research now a part of the educational mainstream, it is not surprising to see the surge toward early learning programs, particularly full-day, funded kindergarten for all children. Children who enter kindergarten with less academic background knowledge than other children begin their school experience at a disadvantage. Without intervention, they learn more slowly, and they achieve less. Once this disparity is established, it is difficult, though not impossible, to alter.

How can this inequity be corrected? In the November, 2008, Appleseed (What’s Current?) we learned that improved classroom instruction is the primary factor in producing gains in student achievement. Excellent teaching, then, is the key to transforming this disparity. That’s good news!

In fact, the news gets better! New data bolster the evidence for early efforts to build academic background knowledge. A current long-time study of child-parent centers in Chicago indicates that knowledge-building educational interventions that begin early positively influence the entire adult life course of learners. (This study is reported by study director Arthur J. Reynolds, a child-development professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, in the August 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.)

Although there are numerous research-based practices that contribute to the development of a kindergartener’s background knowledge, comprehension, and vocabulary—all of which are intertwined—one practice at the forefront is the interactive read-aloud. It is well established that reading aloud to children at home and at school reaps benefits. Yet the way children’s literature is read aloud makes a significant difference in the child’s academic achievement (Teale and Yokota, 2000). The read-aloud experience must be interactive.

In an interactive read-aloud, the reader pauses (even during the first reading of the story), to interject quick definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary (Mother Rabbit was displeased—that means she didn’t like it); guides discussions about the pictures; and asks questions that require children to analyze, hypothesize about, and explain story events. Just reading a story falls short if children listen passively. Interactive read-alouds build students’ academic background knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, thinking skills, and the ability to explain story events. When children who enter school with limitations in these skills have ongoing read-aloud opportunities, a transformation occurs. Inequities diminish and achievement grows. The acquisition of these skills is related to success in school as well as throughout students’ lives. Why settle for anything less?

Tamir, P. 1996. Alternatives in assessment of achievements, learning processes, and prior knowledge, 93–129.

Teale, W. H. and J. Yokota. 2000. Foundations of the early literacy curriculum. In Beginning reading and writing, edited by D. S. Strickland and l. M. Morrow,  3–22. New York: Teachers College Press.

Tobias, S. 1994. Interest, prior knowledge, and learning. Review of Educational Research 64 (1): 37–54.