Literacy Express

Literacy Express was found to have positive effects on oral language, print knowledge, and phonological processing and no discernible effects on cognition and math for preschool children.

Literacy Express is a preschool curriculum designed for three- to five-year-old children. It is structured around units on oral language, emergent literacy, basic math, science, general knowledge, and socioemotional development. It can be used in half- or full-day programs with typically developing children and children with special needs. It provides professional development opportunities for staff; teaching materials; suggested activities; and recommendations for room arrangement, daily schedules, and classroom management.

Three studies of Literacy Express that fall within the scope of the Early Childhood Education review protocol meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. The three studies include 1,004 preschool children from three to five years of age from 70 preschools in Florida and California.

Based on these three studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Literacy Express on preschool children to be medium to large for oral language, print knowledge, and phonological processing and small for cognition and math. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations examined the effectiveness of Literacy Express on preschool children in the early reading and writing domain.