Program information

Developer and contact

Developed by Christopher J. Lonigan, Ph.D.; Jeanine Clancy-Menchetti, Ph.D.; Beth M. Phillips, Ph.D.; and colleagues, Literacy Express is currently available in limited commercial distribution through Literacy Express. Email: LiteracyExpress@hotmail.com.

Scope of use

Literacy Express has been implemented by preschool and child care programs in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Texas. These programs have included typically developing children, children with special needs, and English language learners. However, information is not available on the number or demographics of children or centers using this program.

Teaching

Literacy Express is a preschool curriculum intended to improve children’s language development and early literacy achievement that can be implemented in various early childhood settings. It includes daily individual, small-group, and large-group activities and a balance of teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities. Literacy Express is structured around 10 thematic units, covered in three to four weeks each, that can be integrated into classroom activities.⁶ The units are sequenced in order of increasing complexity, each building on the previous one. In each unit, teachers use three specific and brief small-group activities daily (dialogic reading, phonological awareness activities, and print knowledge activities) with groups of three to five children. Teachers also select from a number of suggested large-group activities for each unit that involve active child participation to use skills learned in the small-group activities in new contexts. The curriculum includes both teacher- and child-directed math and science activities that follow a developmental scope and sequence. The curriculum also provides suggested activities—art, cooking, science, discovery, and gross and fine motor activities—for many independent play centers. The complete curriculum package includes a teacher’s manual; 10 thematic unit guides; a unit guide for augmentative or summer activities (“Off to Kindergarten”); and key curriculum materials such as shape materials, more than 80 thematically linked picture books and alphabet books, and phonological awareness activity picture cards, letters, and numbers. Teachers participate in a two-day professional development workshop at the beginning of the school year and in either two additional half-day workshops or one additional full-day workshop.

Cost

The current cost for a complete Literacy Express classroom package is $2,300. Professional development fees vary by the size of the group and the number of trainers.

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