Intervention: Ready, Set, Leap!®

Intervention: Ready, Set, Leap!®
October 2008

Research

Three studies reviewed by the WWC investigated the effects of Ready, Set, Leap!^®. Two of these studies (RMC Research Corporation, 2003; PCER Consortium, 2008) were randomized controlled trials that meet WWC evidence standards. The remaining study did not meet WWC evidence standards.

Meets evidence standards

RMC Research Corporation (2003) included 254 preschool children from 17 inner-city schools in Newark, New Jersey. The study compared oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, and early reading/writing outcomes for children in the intervention group that participated in Ready, Set, Leap!^® in addition to the standard preschool curriculum (High/Scope) to a comparison group that participated only in High/Scope.⁷

The PCER Consortium (2008) study included 286 preschool children from 39 classrooms in 21 full-day preschools. All of the preschools were in an urban area of New Jersey. The study compared oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, and math outcomes for children in the intervention group that participated in Ready, Set, Leap!^® to a comparison group that participated in classrooms using a High/Scope approach.⁸

Extent of evidence

The WWC categorizes the extent of evidence in each domain as small or medium to large (see the What Works Clearinghouse Extent of Evidence Categorization Scheme). The extent of evidence takes into account the number of studies and the total sample size across studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations.⁹

The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Ready, Set, Leap!^® to be medium to large for oral language, print knowledge, and phonological processing, and small for early reading/writing and math. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations examined the effectiveness of Ready, Set, Leap!^® in the cognition domain.

⁷ According to the developer’s website (www.highscope.org), High/Scope is a flexible framework for setting up and managing a preschool classroom. “Active learning“ is a central tenet of the approach, in which children are encouraged to learn through direct, hands-on experiences. Adults support that learning through scaffolding and interaction, using techniques such as focusing on children’s strengths and problem solving.
⁸ No other information on the comparison condition is provided.
⁹ The Extent of Evidence Categorization was developed to tell readers how much evidence was used to determine the intervention rating, focusing on the number and size of studies. Additional factors associated with a related concept—external validity, such as the students’ demographics and the types of settings in which studies took place—are not taken into account for the categorization. Information about how the extent of evidence rating was determined for Ready, Set, Leap!^® is in Appendix A6.

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Research

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