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Early Childhood Education
Effectiveness
Findings
The WWC review of interventions for early childhood education addresses children’s outcomes in six domains: oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, early reading and writing, cognition, and math. The studies included in this report cover two domains: oral language and print knowledge. The findings below present the authors’ estimates and WWC-calculated estimates of the size and the statistical significance of the effects of Headsprout® Early Reading on children.7
Oral language. Huffstetter (2005) analyzes the differences between Headsprout® Early Reading and comparison groups for one measure in the oral language domain, the Test of Language Development–Primary: 3rd Edition (TOLD–P:3). The authors report, and the WWC confirms, a statistically significant positive effect of Headsprout® Early Reading on oral language of children in this study.
Print knowledge. Huffstetter (2005) analyzes the differences between Headsprout® Early Reading and comparison groups for one measure in the print knowledge domain, the Test of Early Reading Ability–3rd Edition (TERA–3). The authors report, and the WWC confirms, a statistically significant positive effect of Headsprout® Early Reading on print knowledge of children in this study.
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, 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).
7 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. For theHeadsprout® Early Reading study summarized here, no corrections for clustering or multiple comparisons were needed.