Literacy and Language Outcomes of Balanced and Developmental Approaches to Early Childhood Education: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Evaluating Programs and Practices That Foster Literacy and Language Development

Abstract

This systematic review of research on early childhood programs seeks to identify effective approaches capable of improving literacy and language outcomes for preschoolers. It applies consistent standards to determine the strength of evidence supporting a variety of approaches, which fell into two main categories: balanced approaches, which include phonemic awareness, phonics, and other skills along with child-initiated activities, and developmental approaches that focus on child-initiated activities with little emphasis on early literacy skills. Thirty-two studies that met inclusion criteria evaluated 22 programs and found that programs that have a balance of skill-focused and child-initiated activities had stronger evidence of positive literacy and language outcomes at the end of preschool and on follow-up measures than programs with a more developmental focus.

Authors

• Bette Chambers, University of York

• Alan Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Robert Slavin, Johns Hopkins University