Effectiveness
Findings
The WWC review of interventions for Early Childhood Education addresses child outcomes in six domains: oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, early reading and writing, cognition, and math. The studies included in this report cover four domains: oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, and math. The findings below present the authors’ estimates and WWC-calculated estimates of the size and the statistical significance of the effects of The Creative Curriculum® on children.8
Oral language. Three studies presented findings in the oral language domain. PCER Consortium [Chapter 3] (2008) analyzed the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on oral language using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–III (PPVT-III) and the Test of Language Development–Primary: III (TOLD-P:3). The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® group and the control group are not statistically significant or substantively important (that is, an effect size of at least 0.25) on either of these measures. According to WWC criteria, the study shows indeterminate effects on oral language.
PCER Consortium [Chapter 2] (2008) examined the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on oral language using the PPVT-III and the TOLD-P:3. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® group and the control group are not statistically significant or substantively important (that is, an effect size of at least 0.25) on either of these measures. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on oral language.
Henry et al. (2004) compared children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® to children in preschool classes using High/Scope, High Reach, and several other curricula. They report that at the end of preschool, no differences on standardized measures in the oral language domain emerged between children who were in preschool classrooms using The Creative Curriculum® and children who were in preschool classrooms using either the High Reach or the High/Scope curriculum. Using data on PPVT-III and Oral and Written Language Scale (OWLS) Oral Expression subtest scores at the end of the preschool year supplied by the authors, the WWC calculates that the differences between children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® and those in preschool classes using other curricula are not statistically significant or substantively important (that is, an effect size of at least 0.25). According to WWC criteria, the study shows indeterminate effects on oral language.
Print knowledge. Three studies presented findings in the print knowledge domain. PCER Consortium [Chapter 3] (2008) analyzed the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on the Test of Early Reading Ability (TERA-3), the Woodcock-Johnson–III (WJ-III) Letter-Word Identification subtest, and the WJ-III Spelling subtest. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or large enough to be substantively important on any of these measures. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on print knowledge.
PCER Consortium [Chapter 2] (2008) examined the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on the TERA-3, the WJ-III Letter-Word Identification subtest, and the WJ-III Spelling subtest. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or large enough to be substantively important on any of these measures. According to WWC criteria, the study shows indeterminate effects on print knowledge.
Henry et al. (2004) compared children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® to children in preschool classes using High/Scope, High Reach, and several other curricula. They report that at the end of preschool, no differences in the print knowledge domain emerged between children who were in preschool classrooms using The Creative Curriculum® and children who were in preschool classrooms using either the High Reach or the High/Scope curriculum. Using data on WJ-III Letter-Word Identification subtest scores at the end of the preschool year supplied by the authors, the WWC calculates that the difference between children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® and those in preschool classes using other curricula is not statistically significant or substantively important (that is, an effect size of at least 0.25). According to WWC criteria, the study shows indeterminate effects on print knowledge.
Phonological processing. Two studies presented findings in the phonological processing domain. PCER Consortium [Chapter 3] (2008) analyzed the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on phonological processing using the Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological and Print Processing (Pre-CTOPPP) Elision subtest. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or substantively important on this measure. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on phonological processing.
PCER Consortium [Chapter 2] (2008) also analyzed the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on phonological processing using the Pre-CTOPPP Elision subtest. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences betweenThe Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or substantively important on this measure. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on phonological processing.
Math. Three studies presented findings in the math domain. PCER Consortium [Chapter 3] (2008) analyzed the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum® on math using the WJ-III Applied Problems subtest, the Child Math Assessment–Abbreviated, and the Shape Composition task. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or large enough to be substantively important on any of these measures. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on math.
PCER Consortium [Chapter 2] (2008) also examined the effectiveness of The Creative Curriculum®on math using the WJ-III Applied Problems subtest, the Child Math Assessment–Abbreviated, and Shape Composition task. The authors report, and the WWC confirms, that differences between The Creative Curriculum® and control groups are not statistically significant or large enough to be substantively important on any of these measures. According to WWC criteria, this study shows indeterminate effects on math.
Henry et al. (2004) compared children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® to children in preschool classes using High/Scope, High Reach, and several other curricula. They report that at the end of preschool, no differences in the math domain emerged between children who were in preschool classrooms using The Creative Curriculum® and children who were in preschool classrooms using either the High Reach or the High/Scope curriculum. Using data on the WJ-III Applied Problems subtest scores at the end of the preschool year supplied by the authors, the WWC calculates that the difference between children in preschool classes using The Creative Curriculum® and those in preschool classes using other curricula is not statistically significant or substantively important (that is, an effect size of at least 0.25). According to WWC criteria, the study shows indeterminate effects on math.
Rating of effectiveness
The WWC rates the effects of an intervention in a given outcome domain as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings (as calculated by the WWC), the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and the comparison conditions, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Appendix E).
8 The level of statistical significance was reported by the study authors or, when necessary, calculated by the WWC to correct for clustering within classrooms or schools and for multiple comparisons. For an explanation, see the WWC Tutorial on Mismatch. For the formulas the WWC used to calculate the statistical significance, see WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Appendix C for clustering and WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Appendix D for multiple comparisons. No correction for clustering was needed for the studies by the PCER Consortium (PCER Consortium [Chapters 2 and 3], 2008) because its analysis corrected for clustering by using HLM. A correction for clustering was needed for the Henry et al. (2004) study, so the significance levels in this report may differ from those reported in the original study. No corrections for multiple comparisons were needed in any of the studies because the findings were not statistically significant.