Evaluation: Colorado Humanities Motheread/Fatheread Study

Colorado Humanities, in partnership with OMNI Institute, conducted a randomized controlled trial impact study of the MFC program to test the impact of parental program participation on child literacy outcomes.

The assessments came from parent surveys and preschool teachers’ ratings of children’s literacy and language skills. Between spring 2014 and spring 2016, 148 parents in five schools in Morgan County, CO, took part in the study. The impact study addresses a set of confirmatory questions about the efficacy of the MFC program on children’s literacy and language outcomes and mediation of those outcomes via parents’ outcomes.

In tandem with the MFC impact study, an implementation study was also conducted to assess MFC program fidelity. It was found that parents in the study had more active reading behaviors and read aloud with their children more often after participating in MFC. Parents’ participation also had an impact on their children’s literacy skills, as measured by parent assessment. The program appears to have a delayed but meaningful effect on the Teaching Strategies GOLD language score, a comprehensive observational measure designed to assess child development and learning from birth to Kindergarten.