Project Ready! An Early Language and Literacy Program to Close the Readiness Gap

Figures & data

Table 1. Comparisons between implementation school and economically matched and economically controlled schools.

	Implementation school			matched control			Economically-ADVANTAGED CONTRol
	Demographics of Students
	All	3 year olds	4 year olds	All	3 year olds	4 year olds	All	3 year olds	4 year olds
Mean Age	4.2	3.7	4.6	4.5	3.7	4.8	4.4	3.9	4.8
Male	21	8	13	12	2	10	14	8	6
Female	10	7	3	10	4	6	11	4	7
% Poverty	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	0%	0%	0%
African	5%	–	–	5%	–	–	0%	0%	0%
African-American	15%	–	–	25%	–	–	0%	0%	0%
Latinx	70%	–	–	55%	–	–	0%	0%	0%
White	10%	–	–	15%	–	–	100%	100%	100%
English Learner	60%	60%	60%	45%	45%	45%	0%	0%	0%

Table 2. Instructional routines used in project ready.

Instructional routine	Primary skills in every lesson
123 Story Book Routine – Connected to the theme Before Reading Introduce the theme/topic Introduce the book Point out title, author, and illustrator During Reading Reading with very few interruptions so children get a sense of the full story. Model thinking aloud. Draw children’s attention to key content and vocabulary using student friendly definitions. (Each book had around 6 key vocabulary words.) After Reading Ask for opinion Ask questions about the book. Activity with content & vocabulary Reinforce across the day!	Knowledge Building – book connected to theme Listening Comprehension & Oral Language – listening to a book and answering questions; retelling/ summarizing; inference; sequencing; stating an opinion, Vocabulary – story vocabulary (characters, setting, etc.); academic vocabulary; vocabulary connected to the theme. Print Concepts
2. SAMMY Wordless Books Routine – Connected to the theme Show children the book, reading title & author Ask children what they think this book is going to be about. Model the story. Teacher tells the story asking a few basic questions along the way. Make sure they understood what happened after the story is told by asking W questions (who are the characters, where did it take place, etc.) Your Turn: Read the book again, this time letting the children tell the story. Provide prompts as needed. After reading activity.	Knowledge Building – book connected to theme Listening Comprehension & Oral Language – listening to a book and answering questions; retelling; inference; using more complex sentences, Vocabulary – story vocabulary (characters, setting, etc.); vocabulary connected to the theme. Print Concepts
3. Telling Terrific Tales Read story (no book) and lay out puppets as you introduce each character. Show sequence cards and engage children in retelling what happened first, next, and last in the story. Handout puppets and assign parts. Re-read the story engaging the children to play their part. Help the children retell the story using the puppets. *Once the story is told a number of times and known well, add the materials to center play (basket with cards and puppets) for children to explore in free play.	Knowledge – Common fairytales and fables Listening Comprehension & Oral Language – listening to a story and answering questions without the aid of book; retelling a story; sequencing; using more complex sentences.
4. Alphabetics Phonological Awareness (PA)—using PA Level Activity Cards (3 different levels of difficulty) My Name: Name Recognition & PA Activity connected to skill level. PA Game (always) Read poem with featured letter Letters Introduce the letter bags for the day one at time (3 total with 1 unknown and 2 known) Explore the letters of the day. Pick 2-3 activities things to do using Letter Work Activities Make/write the 3 letters Pick 1-2 material to work with (ex. playdough, writing boards, pencil, etc.).	Phonological Awareness Letter Names and Sounds Basic Vocabulary Writing Skills Name Recognition

Table 3. Scope and sequence of key skills.

Unit	Key knowledge taught
Unit 1—Kindness	Ways to show kindness to our friends, family, animals, and our planet Professions: veterinarian, zookeeper, animal shelter worker. Life cycle of dogs and cats Veterinarians’ tools: stethoscope, thermometer, scale, x-ray, etc. Earth is our planet Recycling, conservation Earth Day Math concepts: numbers (counting and number recognition), shapes, colors, directional words. Common stories (Telling Terrific Tales): Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Unit 2—North America	Maps and Globes Continents N. America is our continent Countries: USA, Canada, Mexico Animals of N. America and Where they live: Forest, farm, desert Amphibians: frogs and salamanders Life cycle of a frog and salamander Scientists and what they do Scientific tools: microscope, magnifying glass, binoculars, etc. Fossils and rocks Math concepts: numbers (counting and number recognition), shapes, directional words. Common stories (Telling Terrific Tales): Three Little Pigs
Unit 3—Astronomy	Earth, Planets in our solar system, Universe Scientists and what they do: astronomer, astronaut, engineer. Science tools: telescope Moon Moon landing Mars and Mars Rover-Curiosity NASA Stars and constellations Math concepts: numbers (counting and number recognition), shapes, directional words, size work (vocabulary and comparison of different sized objects) Common stories (Telling Terrific Tales): Little Red Riding Hood
Unit 4—South America	Maps and Globes Continents and Water Formations (Ocean, River) S. America is our continent Countries: Brazil, Argentina Animals of S. America and where they live: Rainforest and animals Plateau and llamas Ocean and ocean Animals Math concepts: numbers (counting and number recognition), shapes, directional words, sizes (small, medium, large), patterns Common stories (Telling Terrific Tales): The Little Red Hen
Unit 5—Botany	Plants and flowers Butterflies and bees Trees and birds Life cycle of butterfly, plants What living things need to grow Scientists and what they do: Botanist, Naturalist. Science Tools Stars and constellations Math concepts: numbers (counting and number recognition), shapes, directional words, measurement—weight and length Common stories (Telling Terrific Tales): Jack and the Beanstalk
Phonological skill sequence	Phonological Awareness Skills are introduced based on mastery of previous level. Three levels of activities were implemented: Level 1: Getting Ready for PA Basic vocabulary: Directions; order and sequence; prepositions Listening activities Following directions Environmental sounds Sentence segmenting Level 2: Beginning PA Word awareness and segmenting parts Compound words Syllables Level 3: Phonological Awareness Isolating initial syllable Isolating initial sounds Rhyming
Letter sequence	Letters were introduced in this order. Moved to new letters based on mastery. S, M, A, T, C, O, H, Z, I, D, N, L, E, B, W, U, X, F, V, R, J, K, P, Q, G, Y

Figure 1. Mean pretest and post-test PELI composite scores across the three groups.

Table 4. Percentage of children at-risk for reading concerns across the three schools.

School	Three-year-olds		Four-year-olds
	Pretest (%)	Post-test (%)	Pretest (%)	Post-test (%)
Implementation	65	5	100	19
Matched control	67	50	95	73
Advantaged control	18	0	8	8