Baby face qualitative Evaluation

3. 
Program ratings
 Parent 
educators 
Supervisors 
Years in program
 
 
Mean 4.7 
4.8 
Rating of 5 
74% 
85% 
Rating of 4 
23% 
15% 
Rating of 3
3% 
0% 

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Baby FACE 
Wilder Research, January 2015 
 
Qualitative Evaluation 
37 
Impacts on children and families
Child development
At least one staff member, if not all, at each site where data were collected noted how the Baby 
FACE program is having an impact on some or all areas of child development.
Staff noted over and over again how the program is preparing children for kindergarten. Pre-
literacy skills and language development were mentioned most frequently, as staff referenced the 
free books and parents reading to their child as key aspects of the program. Children are interested 
in books, are learning how to turn pages and talk, and are developing large vocabularies. 
I believe an example is a family where one child now aged out, four years old, and she is reading 
the books . . . to her little baby brother [who is] 6 months old. It enhances the cognitive skills. She 
was pointing to the pictures of what the book said. She is definitely school ready.
Because we were giving out books and were really emphasizing on reading, one of the huge 
impacts was giving the books and building their library. I see their bookcases with 3-4 shelves full 
of books, over 100 books. Reading to their children every day is really getting their children ready. 
I think that the parents, just reading to their children, exposing them to vocabulary, they will be 
ready to learn when they start going to school. They will be more aware of their environment.
I see an increase in our kids, all the way across. They are more excited about books, about writing 
their names. The ones I really know and have done a lot of visits with, I can see big growth and 
that it is helping. 
Through reading. Even though the parents don’t have high potential to read themselves, they work 
very hard to read to their children. They are working hard on the side themselves, just so they will 
be able to read well enough to be able to read to their kids. And that carries over even into them 
being able to help their kids with their homework. 
Staff also noted that the program is contributing to the development of motor skills, as evidenced 
by children writing their names, and social-emotional development, including attachment to 
parents, and learning to play with other children. Again, these skills were being enhanced 
because of the activities parents were doing with their children. Social skills were being 
developed through Family Circles.
You know that the activity has worked, because you see growth in gross motor skills or in fine 
motor development. 
Learning different ways to hold a pencil for writing and for drawing; those fine motor skills. 
They have learned how to socialize with other children, doing pretend things and playing. 
The kids in this program are not shy and not intimidated. Those kinds of kids are easier to teach. 
They will ask questions. The program has opened up communication between parent and child, 
and they are more comfortable around different people. Socially, emotionally, all around, they are 
doing a better job. 

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