Jill Pentimonti

Interventions that improve the language and literacy outcomes of dual language learner (DLL) children before they enter kindergarten can improve the long-term academic outcomes of these children and produce long-term savings in supplemental and remedial education supports. Evidence about promising early interventions for DLLs is therefore highly policy relevant, especially since DLLs are a large and growing share of the U.S. student population. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a targeted shared book reading intervention for improving the language and literacy skills of prekindergarten (Pre-K) children who meet screening criteria on the Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI). Existing research suggests that shared book reading supports young children's knowledge and skill development in three areas most closely linked to later reading achievement: (1) oral language, (2) print knowledge, and (3) phonologi...

The purpose of this project is to expand and validate a new version of an observational measure called the Systematic Assessment of Book Reading (SABR), developed with funding from previous studies funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Measuring the quality of interactive shared book reading within the early childhood classroom represents a specific dimension of teacher-child interactions that is of great interest to researchers and practitioners. However, there are very few standar...

The primary purpose of this project is to increase fundamental understanding of the role of lower and higher level language skills in listening and reading comprehension, and develop effective classroom-based approaches to increase language, general knowledge, and comprehension skills in prekindergarten through grade three. Researchers will begin by conducting basic studies to identify promising targets for intervention. Interventions will be developed and refined through an iterative proce...