Program Description
Literacy Express provides preschool teachers with extensive professional development and materials focusing on phonological awareness, print knowledge, dialogic (shared) reading, and oral language. The curriculum is organized in 10 thematic units, taught in interactive small-group sessions.
Program Outcomes
Literacy Express was evaluated in two related studies. In the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation research, 12 preschools in Florida were randomly assigned to receive Literacy Express or control treatments. Literacy Express students scored significantly higher than controls on Woodcock Johnson Letter-Word Identification (effect size=+0.30), and non-significantly higher on WJ Spelling (ES=+0.05) and TERA (ES=+0.17), but not the TOLD (ES=-0.04), for an average of +0.13. A second study mostly used measures made by the researchers, but also found positive effects on the PLS Expressive Language measure (ES=+0.27). The preschool differences qualify Literacy Express for the ESSA “Strong” category, with a mean effect size across language and literacy of +0.24. However, at kindergarten follow-up, the effects were no longer significant.