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Early Childhood Education Matters
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library In Colorado
November 2025
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83,000+ Colorado children receive a book each month.
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Imagination Library's first local affiliate launched in Colorado in 2005. There are now 59 nonprofit partner organizations all across Colorado.​
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Imagination Library is fully open and enrolling children in 61 out of Colorado's 64 counties, mailing books to 28% of eligible children statewide.
The brain is more influenced by experience in a child’s earliest years. The brain’s ability to adapt—known as brain plasticity—declines as we age.
Adapted from a graph created by Pat Levitt in collaboration with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2009).
​ Currently in Colorado classrooms, 60% of 3rd graders are not reading at grade level. Third grade is considered an important milestone in a student’s career in terms of reading proficiency and is correlated to whether a student will graduate from high school. Recent studies show that 85% of a child’s core brain development occurs before the age of three. Additional studies have shown the importance of early reading by connecting greater home reading during the pre-kindergarten year with later development of brain areas supporting mental imagery, narrative comprehension and oral language skills.
Additional research indicates the dramatic correlation between the number of books in the home and future academic achievement. Researchers have concluded that children growing up with a home library, even as small as 25 books, achieved 2.4 more years of education than children from bookless homes. Children participating in DPIL are 30% more likely to start school kindergarten-ready.
Colorado Evaluation & Actions Lab
Evaluation Results
Report Highlights:
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Children enrolled in ILCO scored 0.125 standard deviations higher on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment at kindergarten entry compared to non-participants in the same schools.
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ILCO participants were 16–24% less likely to score “well below benchmark” on DIBELS, reducing the need for costly remedial reading support.
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Benefits were seen broadly across student groups, with no significant differences for multilingual learners or children from low-income families. This increase is substantial, particularly given the low cost of ILCO implementation. This can set students on a positive reading trajectory and reduce the system, district, and school resources needed to make up early gaps.
​Authors:
Allie Kallmann Wegner, MA, M.Ed., Staff Researcher II, Colorado Evaluation & Action Lab
Kristin Klopfenstein, PhD, Executive Director, Colorado Evaluation & Action Lab
Phil Pendergast, PhD, Assistant Professor, Western Washington University
Parent/Caretaker Statewide Survey
ILCO emails a satisfaction survey to all parents with children enrolled in the program. From this survey, we measure the success of the program by gleaning the number often parents read to their children, how prepared the parent feels the child is for kindergarten, and the impact the Imagination Library program has on the child’s literacy.
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Parent/Caretaker Survey results from 31 ILCO counties administered between July 2024 through June 2025
Counties include: Adams (Aurora), Arapahoe, Archuleta, Alamosa, Bayfield, Broomfield, Conejos, Costilla, Delta, Denver, Dolores, Douglas, Garfield, Jackson, Jefferson, Larimer, Las Animas, Logan, Mineral, Mesa, Montezuma, Montrose, Morgan, Otero, Ouray, Park, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, Summit, Weld.
Recipients: 31,720
Responses: 3,943
Response Rate: 12%
64% report “I am reading more often to my child”
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42% report “Other Members of the family read more often to my child”
Parent Comments
“Mi niño es pequeño tiene dos años ,no habla mucho y la lectura ayuda con su vocabulario”
- Weld County Parent
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“Thank you so much for providing books for my child! His enthusiasm and love for books has grown 100 fold and I love that we can go get more books for him to enjoy. He loves other books by the authors that have written the books that he’s received in the mail. It’s been a huge success for our family.”
- Broomfield Parent
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“I can't thank you enough for this amazing program. Our kids love all the books - they are the centerpiece to evenings and bedtime for our family.”
- Denver Parent
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“Without this resource I’m not sure I would have books in my home. I love seeing my little one enjoying story time.”
- Routt County Parent​
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"WE LOVE this ----truly we are so beyond grateful for this program. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU"
- Larimer County Parent
“I love seeing the excitement on her face when she sees that a new book has arrived. That book will then be her ‘favorite’ for the next week or so.”
- Jefferson County Parent
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“Su vocabulario a tenido un mayor crecimiento además de la pronunciación de palabras a mejorado muchísimo”
- Aurora Parent
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