Findings from Ready To Learn: 2005-2010

This new report, developed with cooperation from PBS and the U.S. Department of Education, reaffirms the important role that public media plays in educating children ages 2-8.

Research on Ready To Learn, an innovative initiative funded by Congress and the U.S. Department of Education, provides definitive new evidence that shows children from disadvantaged families who interact with public media make remarkable gains in mastering the fundamentals of early literacy ­ letter recognition, letter sounds, and vocabulary and word meaning. In some cases, growth on targeted skills is so significant that children are able to successfully narrow or close the achievement gap with their middle-class peers. The high-quality literacy programs and content that public media developed through Ready To Learn reach more than five million children a day at cost of less than half a penny per child ­ significantly less than most other early literacy initiatives. As part of its 2005-2010 grant award to CPB and PBS, the U.S. Department of Education required that at least one-fourth of Ready To Learn funding be devoted to rigorous studies of Ready To Learn-supported television programs, including SUPER WHY, Martha Speaks and The Electric Company; interactive games; classroom materials; teaching and learning tools; and community engagement activities. The CPB and PBS Ready To Learn grant funded a highly qualified team of educational researchers, made up of leading scholars at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, the Education Development Center, SRI International, and the American Institutes for Research, to conduct studies on Ready To Learn content, materials, resources and community engagement strategies. The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded CPB and PBS another five-year Ready To Learn grant in 2010 to focus on math concepts, continue early literacy projects and develop innovative new teaching tools, including multi-media classroom tools, augmented reality games and transmedia gaming suites.