Collaborative Efforts to Improve School Readiness and Literacy in Cincinnati
Research has shown that children participating in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library are significantly more likely to be ready for kindergarten compared to students who are not participating in the program.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, in partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools and Reach Out and Read, partnered together in 2015 to increase the number of books children have in the home by providing access to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Among kindergarten classes at Cincinnati Public Schools, Kindergarten Readiness Assessments rose by 15.4% among kids who participated in the program for only three years. Scores rose from 42.9% in the 2016-2017 incoming kindergarten class to 58.3% in the 2018-2019 incoming kindergarten class