citycouncil@birminghamal.gov
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement with Small Magic to provide early childhood education services to children up to five years old.
The agreement, an additional $250,000 in funding, will allow Small Magic to expand the reach of its flagship program to impact kindergarten readiness.
Small Magic (originally called Birmingham Talks) was founded in 2019 by the City of Birmingham, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and The Overton Project. Over the past five years, the organization has scaled up to become one of the largest implementers of “early literacy edtech” in the nation. Small Magic previously received an investment of $1 million from the City, with an additional $500k in ARPA funds and the $250k that was approved today.
Since 2019, over 400 children in Birmingham have taken part in this program which utilizes technology similar to a “Fitbit” that counts words and translates this data into a user friendly report. A trained coach then works with the caregiver to increase interactive talk and early literacy.
Children need to hear 21,000 words a day for optimal brain development, however 92 percent of children in this program were hearing less than that when they started. Research has shown that the more words and “conversational turns” children are exposed to, the more ready they are for kindergarten, college, and the workforce.
“This is really important to help our children be ready to succeed in the classroom because reading always starts at home,” Councilor Crystal Smitherman told reporters following the meeting. “This is another tool for parents to be able to get their children reading at grade level. They’ve been able to serve families in 70 of our 99 neighborhoods, which is really great to see.”
