The broad goals of this proposal are to evaluate the benefits of an academically-focused preschool curriculum on the school readiness skills and subsequent academic achievement of children who are Spanish-speaking English-language learners (ELLs) and to evaluate the benefit of delivering the curriculum to children using two variations of language of instruction. The project involves a 5-year cluster-randomized study that will compare outcomes for 1296 children enrolled in 108 preschool classrooms in multiple sites in CA, FL, KS, and NM who are exposed to one of three types of early childhood curricula: (a) A business- as-usual group (i.e., schools that continue to employ the curriculum currently in use), (b) A standard implementation of the Literacy Express Preschool Curriculum in English-only, and (c) A modified Two-Way bilingual implementation of the Literacy Express Preschool Curriculum adapted specifically for Spanish- speaking ELL children.
The specific aims are to determine: 1. whether a high quality school readiness curriculum will significantly increase ELL children's academic performance in literacy and math;2. whether children's socio-emotional development differs as a function of classroom curricula;3. whether variations in the language of instruction significantly affect the impacts of the curriculum on children's school readiness outcomes in literacy, math, and socio-emotional development, and 4. to examine classroom, teacher, child, and family factors that may potentially moderate the efficacy of the curriculum for children's literacy and math skill development. Children will be followed longitudinally and assessed near the end of their kindergarten and 1st grade years to estimate the longer-term impacts of the three curriculum conditions on academic skills in reading and math, and on socio-emotional outcomes. Spanish-speaking ELL preschool children are at high risk for school failure. The proposed intervention and the anticipated positive outcomes have the potential to reduce the incidence of the negative sequelae associated with low school readiness skills of children who are Spanish-speaking ELLs and to increase their chances of high academic success in reading, math, science and socio-emotional functioning in kindergarten and beyond.

Public Health Relevance

Spanish-speaking ELL preschool children are at high risk for school failure. The proposed intervention and the anticipated positive outcomes have the potential to reduce the incidence of the negative sequelae associated with low school readiness skills of children who are Spanish-speaking ELLs and to increase their chances of high academic success in reading, math, science and socio-emotional functioning in kindergarten and beyond.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
1U01HD060292-01
Application #
7599300
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1-DSR-H (08))
Program Officer
Mccardle, Peggy D
Project Start
2009-02-01
Project End
2013-12-31
Budget Start
2009-02-01
Budget End
2009-12-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$588,820
Indirect Cost
Name
Florida State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
790877419
City
Tallahassee
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32306
Lonigan, Christopher J; Goodrich, J Marc; Farver, JoAnn M (2018) Identifying differences in early literacy skills across subgroups of language-minority children: A latent profile analysis. Dev Psychol 54:631-647
Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J (2018) Language-minority children's sensitivity to the semantic relations between words. J Exp Child Psychol 167:259-277
Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J (2017) Language-Independent and Language-Specific Aspects of Early Literacy: An Evaluation of the Common Underlying Proficiency Model. J Educ Psychol 109:782-793
Lonigan, Christopher J; Allan, Darcey M; Phillips, Beth M (2017) Examining the predictive relations between two aspects of self-regulation and growth in preschool children's early literacy skills. Dev Psychol 53:63-76
Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J; Farver, Jo Ann M (2017) Impacts of a Literacy-Focused Preschool Curriculum on the Early Literacy Skills of Language-Minority Children. Early Child Res Q 40:13-24
Lonigan, Christopher J; Allan, Darcey M; Goodrich, J Marc et al. (2017) Inhibitory Control of Spanish-Speaking Language-Minority Preschool Children: Measurement and Association With Language, Literacy, and Math Skills. J Learn Disabil 50:373-385
Milburn, Trelani F; Lonigan, Christopher J; Allan, Darcey M et al. (2017) Agreement Among Traditional and RTI-based Definitions of Reading-Related Learning Disability with Preschool Children. Learn Individ Differ 55:120-129
Lonigan, Christopher J; Phillips, Beth M (2016) Response to Instruction in Preschool: Results of Two Randomized Studies with Children At Significant Risk of Reading Difficulties. J Educ Psychol 108:114-129
Lonigan, Christopher J; Lerner, Matthew D; Goodrich, J Marc et al. (2016) Executive function of Spanish-speaking language-minority preschoolers: Structure and relations with early literacy skills and behavioral outcomes. J Exp Child Psychol 144:46-65
Lonigan, Christopher J; Phillips, Beth M; Clancy, Jeanine L et al. (2015) Impacts of a Comprehensive School Readiness Curriculum for Preschool Children at Risk for Educational Difficulties. Child Dev 86:1773-93

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