ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of adult mediation of educational television in three contexts: parent-child coviewing at home, efforts designed to benefit preschool children in child care settings, and school-age efforts in school and after-school programs. Parents can buy educational home videos, and teachers and child-care providers can elect to show educational television in classrooms, day care centers, or after-school programs. Implications of the variability among providers are discussed at greater length in the 'Issues Raised and Lessons Learned' section. The British television series Playschool provides insight into still another type of parental influence. Study by NFO Research found that parents who read books daily were more likely than less frequent readers to encourage their children to watch Reading Rainbow. One such project grew out of the PBS Ready to Learn (RTL) initiative, which is described in more detail in the section on preschool child care.
