The challenge
Children from low-income homes heard far fewer words before kindergarten.
The case
Children from low-income families often hear far fewer words at home before kindergarten, which is linked to later learning gaps. After winning Bloomberg's 2013 Mayors Challenge, Providence, Rhode Island, launched Providence Talks: families get regular home visits or playgroups, and children wear small recorders that count words and back-and-forth exchanges, with coaches sharing the results. Evaluations found that parents who started out talking least with their children increased conversations significantly. Whether this leads to lasting gains for children is still being studied. In Brown University's evaluation, home-visit families who started below the median rose from the 11th to the 42nd percentile in adult words heard, while the comparison group also rose, to the 35th.
Why the results were mixed
Giving parents simple, concrete feedback changed everyday behavior, especially among those who started furthest behind. Long-term effects on children's learning are not yet established.
Sources
- Wong, K., Thomas, C. & Boben, M. (2020). Providence Talks: A citywide partnership to address early childhood language development. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 64, 100818.
- Bloomberg Cities (2018). New evidence helps more cities adopt Providence Talks model.
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