At Motheread, Inc., we know that for students to be engaged and motivated, instruction must be relevant to their lives. From the start, we have taught students while researching and adapting to what they teach us. Our curriculum development and evaluation processes engage scholars, education experts, and researchers who help us make instruction relevant, meaningful, and effective.
Research Studies
Studies have demonstrated the success of the Literacy Invites and Nurtures Kids’ Success (LINKS) initiative. As part of the initiative, childcare teachers learn literacy skills and effective teaching strategies to use in their classrooms as well as how to involve parents in literacy activities at home. Dr. Bertha M. Gorham, then director of the Early Childhood and Family Support program at RTI International, conducted a follow-up study of the LINKS process. She found that teachers who participated in the initiative improved their literacy practices in reading storybooks to preschoolers, regardless of the teacher’s race, previous education, or years of experience. In surveys after the LINKS programming ended, 97 percent of caregivers said they knew more about emergent literacy for the ages of children they served. The same percentage reported that they were using their new knowledge and skills.
Not only have early childhood educators benefited from this initiative, so have the children in their classrooms. A second study was conducted by Dr. Jody L. Cleven of North Carolina State University. This research examined the effects of Story Exploring training and mentoring on the receptive and expressive vocabulary and story retelling of 121 four-year-old children. Analysis showed that on expressive vocabulary, children taught by teachers who received the training and mentoring significantly outperformed children whose teachers did not receive training and mentoring. Data also showed a highly significant difference among scores for children in the two groups on the retelling rubric.
Research Material
Measuring Success—Review of Research and Evaluation (PDF, 303KB)
Research Bibliographies (PDF, 30KB)
Research Bibliographies – Children (PDF, 17KB)
Training and Mentoring Childcare Providers in Storysharing (PDF, 29KB)
Early Literacy Initiatives PDF, 26KB)
Research Project for Contextualized Teaching (PDF, 29KB)
Research Basis for Story Exploring (PDF, 57 KB)
Public Information Material
Motheread Report to the Community 2009-2010 (PDF, 2.7MB)
Literacy Changes Lives (PDF, 416KB)
NCCCS 2008-2009 Annual Report (PDF, 1.06MB)
Measuring Success—Review of Research and Evaluation (PDF, 303KB)
Patterns for Change, NCCCS 2009-2010 Annual Report (PDF, 2.6MB)
Curriculum Scholars
Ceola Baber
Assistant Professor, Education
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Kimberly M. Blaeser
Assistant Professor, English and Comparative Literature
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Valerie Brown
Independent Scholar/Consultant
Raleigh, North Carolina
Sally Buckner
Professor, English
Peace College
Victoria E. Campos
Assistant Professor, Romance Languages
Wake Forest University
Alma Concepcion
Independent Scholar/Artist
Princeton, New Jersey
Jim Conner
Specialist, Adult Education
North Carolina Department of Community Colleges
Hanna Fingeret
Executive Director, Literacy South
Associate Director, Adult Education
North Carolina State University
Lauro H. Flores
Chair, Latin American Studies
University of Washington, Seattle
Barbara Fox
Director, Graduate Programs
Coordinator, Graduate Studies in Reading
North Carolina State University
Juanita Garciagodoy
Professor, Spanish
Macalester College
Susan Jane Gardner
Assistant Professor, English
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Catherine Ingram-Fogel
Coordinator, Department of Women and Children
University of North Carolina School of Nursing
Stanley Knick
Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Director, Native American Resource Center
Pembroke State University
Beverly Jones
Professor, History and
Director, Institute on Desegregation
North Carolina Central University
Laura Justice
Assistant Professor, Education
University of Virginia
Ralph Larossa
Professor, Sociology
Georgia State University
Henry Levinson
Professor, Religious Studies and Chairman, Religious Studies
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Christena Nippert-Eng
Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
Illinois Institute of Technology
Ramon Eduardo Ruiz
Professor Emeritus, Latin American History
University of California, La Jolla
Hephzibah Roskelly
Professor, English
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Mary Dunn Siedow
Director, North Carolina Literacy Resource Center
Raleigh, North Carolina
Catherine Snow
Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education
Harvard University
Joseph Sparling
Senior Investigator, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Elizabeth Sulzby
Professor, Education
University of Michigan
Lynn Vernon-Feagans
William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Early Childhood, Families, and Literacy and Professor of Psychology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mark I. West
Professor, English and American Studies
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Peter H. Wood
Professor, History
Director, Graduate Studies
Duke University
Terry Zug
Professor, English
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Evaluation Scholars
Dorothy Browne
Associate Professor, Maternal and Child Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Bertha Gorham
Independent Scholar/Researcher
Research Triangle Institute
Lucinda MacKethan
Professor, English
North Carolina State University
Sandra L. Martin
Assistant Professor, Maternal and Child Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Andrew Pates
Independent Scholar/Researcher
Snow Camp, North Carolina
Patricia Pearce
Assistant Professor, Child Development
Coordinator, Birth-Kindergarten Teacher Certification
Meredith College