Supporting young children's vocabulary growth: The challenges, the benefits, and evidence-based strategies
An overview of research evidence on ways to build the vocabulary of young children
Other
The impact of teacher responsivity education on preschoolers' language and literacy skills
A study of the effects of teacher conversational responsivity training on preschoolers' language and literacy development over an academic year, with additional analyses of the relationship between language development and both entry level language skills and teachers' frequency of use of specific responsivity strategies, based on data from 230 children and their 49 teachers in 38 diverse early care and education centers
Reports & Papers
Outcomes of a universal shared reading intervention by 2 years of age: The Let's Read trial
A randomized trial of the effect of a nurse visitation shared reading intervention at 4- through 8-months, 12 months, and 18 months on child expressive vocabulary, communication, and home literacy environment outcomes at 2 years, based on data from 780 families with infants from maternal and child health centers recruited from 5 areas in Melbourne, Australia
Reports & Papers
Unique effects of a family literacy program on the early reading development of English language learners
A study of the impact of the Family Literacy lunch time intervention on the early English reading development of speakers of English as a first language and English language learners, based on a linguistically and culturally diverse sample of 132 kindergarten children and their parents in Canada
Reports & Papers
Promoting at-risk preschool children's comprehension through research-based strategy instruction
An account of improvements in reading strategies and vocabulary after participation in a 24 session 8-week research-based reading comprehension strategies intervention as well as a study of the fidelity of implementation of the intervention, based on data from 30 low socioeconomic status children and teacher journals in an urban Mid-Atlantic Title 1 full-day public prekindergarten program
Reports & Papers
Child and parent characteristics, parental expectations, and child behaviours related to preschool children's interest in literacy
An examination of the relationship between children’s literacy interest and parent and child characteristics, parental expectations of their children's school attainment and achievement, and the childen's positive and problem behaviors from parent questionnaires and teacher ratings of behavior of 61 children ages 34 to 69 months from 5 child care centers in a mid-sized midwestern city
Reports & Papers
To read or not to read: A meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood
An examination of the association between print exposure during leisure time reading and acquisition of reading skills across various ages and educational levels, based on a series of meta-analyses on 99 studies, published between 1990 and 2009, that focused on leisure time reading of preschoolers and kindergartners, children attending first through twelfth grade, and college and university students
Literature Review
A randomized trial examining the effects of parent engagement on early language and literacy: The Getting Ready intervention
A study of the effect of the Getting Ready school readiness parent engagement intervention on preschool children's language and literacy development that includes a study of family and child risk factors as moderators of effects, based on data from 217 children, 211 parents, and 29 Head Start teachers in 21 schools
Reports & Papers
A synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes among preschool through third graders at risk for reading difficulties
A meta-analysis of child cognitive and reading outcomes associated with teacher-delivered read aloud instruction for children considered at risk for reading difficulty in preschool through third grade, and an identification of features of instruction associated with improved outcomes, based on a secondary analysis of 18 studies published from 1984 through 2008
Reports & Papers
Evidence of alphabetic knowledge in writing: Connections to letter and word identification skills in preschool and kindergarten
An investigation of the relationship between children's writing and the development of alphabetic knowledge, of letter identification, and of word reading skills throughout the preschool year and a second study comparison of two scoring rubrics for children's knowledge of writing names and letters, one composed of a single component and a second of multiple components, based on data 286 children and their teachers in 46 state-funded preschool and Head Start classrooms in two mid-western states with kindergarten follow-up
Reports & Papers
Aligning measures of quality with professional development goals and goals for children's development
Arguments for the improvement of the quality of early childhood education and care through the alignment of measurable professional development goals for educators with developmental goals for children
Other
Children's opinions about learning to read
A study of children's perceptions of their own literacy and of their own learning to read, based on interviews with 43 Finish children in Northern Finland
Reports & Papers
Using a teacher rating scale of language and literacy skills with preschool children of English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and bilingual backgrounds
Three studies of English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and English/Spanish bilingual children, including a study of language background differences in the relationships between scores on the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL) measure and the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4), a comparison of the TROLL scores of the children of the three groups, and a study of the language backgrounds of children scoring below the 10th percentile, based on data from 353 children in early childhood education programs in an urban area of the Southwestern United States
Reports & Papers
Project Upgrade in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 2003-2009
A two-year experiment, Project Upgrade tests the effectiveness of three different language and literacy interventions, Ready, Set, Leap! (RSL!), Breakthrough to Literacy (BTL) and Building Early Language and Literacy (BELL) implemented in child care centers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that served children from low-income families. One hundred and sixty-two centers were randomly assigned to one of three research-based curricula or to a control group that continued with its existing program. The curricula, while grounded in a common set of research findings, differed in intensity, pedagogic strategies, and use of technology. In each center, one classroom that served four-year-old children was selected for the study. Teachers and aides assigned to the three treatment groups received initial and follow-up training as well as ongoing mentoring over a period of approximately 18 months, from Fall 2003 to Spring 2005. The study tested two kinds of outcomes: teacher behavior and interactions with children, and aspects of the classroom environment that support children?s language and literacy development, measured through direct observation; and children?s language and pre-literacy skills, measured by their performance on a standardized assessment.
Data Sets
Effect on preschoolers' literacy when never-married mothers get married
An examination the relationships between children's vocabulary and family structure and a second study of possible mediators of that relationship that includes household income, quantity of maternal involvement with the child, and depressive symptoms of the primary caregiver, based on data from 2,800 mothers and their child at 9-months-old and again from both when the child was 48-months-old
Reports & Papers
Predicting ELL students' beginning first grade English oral reading fluency from initial kindergarten vocabulary, letter naming, and phonological awareness skills
A study of the relationships between both English letter naming fluency and initial sound fluency at kindergarten entry and both first grade English vocabulary skills and oral reading fluency, based on data from 2,481 English language learners in 291 Florida Reading First schools from the 2004-2005 school year
Reports & Papers
Quantifying phonological representation abilities in Spanish-speaking preschool children
A study of preschool children's representation-related phonological processing abilities (RRPPA), a validation of psychometric properties of typical measures of RRPPA, and a description of Spanish phonological representation abilities of Spanish-English bilingual children, based on data from 129 Spanish-speaking preschool children in attendance at 24 center based preschool programs in Houston, Texas
Reports & Papers
Spanish phonological awareness: Dimensionality and sequence of development during the preschool and kindergarten years
A psychometric validation of the dimensionality and continuum of Spanish phonological awareness in preschoolers and kindergartners and a second psychometric study of the sequence of emergence of Spanish Phonological awareness skills in preschoolers and kindergartners, based on data from 1,265 monolingual and bilingual children 3- through 6-years old in four program evaluation projects in Texas and Florida
Reports & Papers
E-books effectiveness in promoting phonological awareness and concept about print: A comparison between children at risk for learning disabilities and typically developing kindergarteners
A comparison of the effects of an educational e-book on improvements in Phonological Awareness and Concepts About Print scores between samples of children at risk for learning disabilities and typically developing children, based on data from 136 kindergarteners in Israel
Reports & Papers
Teachers' language practices and academic outcomes of preschool children
An examination of research on the role of language in later reading, a description of home and classroom factors that foster early language growth, and an overview of research on preschool interventions to enhance teachers' language practices and the academic outcomes of preschool children
Other
Taking the pulse: Full day k in British Columbia year one: Twelve case studies
A study of the first year of implementation of full-day kindergarten in British Columbia, Canada, based on site visits, teacher and staff interviews, teacher and administrator focus groups, and parent surveys
Reports & Papers
Welcoming families: A parent literacy project in a linguistically rich, high-poverty school
An account of the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of a project designed to encourage shared book reading between a parent and a child from a project initiated by an elementary school described as a high in poverty and high in linguistic diversity
Other
Preschool behavior problems in classroom learning situations and literacy outcomes in kindergarten and first grade
An estimation of the influence of behavior problems on children's literacy outcomes, based on a sample of 2,682 four-year-old Head Start children assessed during preschool, kindergarten, and first grade
Reports & Papers
Ready or not?: Assessing kindergarten readiness in Central Texas
A study of the school readiness of Central Texas kindergarteners in four competency domains and of the relationship of school readiness to children's economic status and prekindergarten attendance, based on teacher assessments for a representative sample of 913 children
Reports & Papers
Overview of play: Its uses and importance in early intervention/early childhood special education
An overview the purposes for which play is studied in early education and early intervention
Other
