Effectiveness
The Ladders to Literacy program was found to have potentially positive effects on alphabetics and fluency and mixed effects on comprehension.
Program Description
Ladders to Literacy is a supplemental early literacy curriculum published in Ladders to Literacy: A Kindergarten Activity Book. The program targets children at different levels and from diverse cultural backgrounds—those who are typically developing, have disabilities, or are at risk of reading failure. The activities are organized into three sections with about 20 activities each: print awareness, phonological awareness skills, and oral language skills. While a Ladders to Literacy curriculum is also available for preschool students (Ladders to Literacy: A Preschool Activity Book), this intervention report focuses on the Kindergarten version of the curriculum.
Research
Four studies of Ladders to Literacy met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations. The studies included 760 students from Kindergarten classrooms at more than 14 elementary schools in urban and rural Midwest districts. The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Ladders to Literacy to be medium to large for alphabetics and comprehension and small for fluency. No studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations addressed general reading achievement.
