Structured Abstract
Sample
More at Four currently serves over 10,000 low-income children, of which approximately 20 percent are Latino children. A total of 60 More at Four teachers and classrooms with Latino children will be recruited and randomly assigned to either a treatment or comparison group. A minimum of 240 Latino four-year-olds and their families will be recruited to participate in this study (120 from treatment and 120 from comparison classrooms).
The professional development intervention consists of three components:
- acquisition of content knowledge through training institutes
- ongoing support from a bilingual consultant to help teachers implement new instructional strategies
- opportunities for reflection and shared inquiry with other teachers through regular community of practice meetings.
The content for the professional development activities will be based on Learningames (the Abecedarian Curriculum) and LiteracyGames, a special version of Learningames recently updated and expanded to promote language and literacy skills in early childhood classrooms. Both curricula will be adapted for use with Latino children who are English language learners.
Research design and methods
A battery of measures will be administered in early fall and late spring to examine changes in teaching practices, the quality of the literacy environment, and children's developmental growth in language proficiency and literacy. Measures of treatment fidelity will assess implementation of the intervention on three levels: training facilitation, consultation content and process, and classroom teaching practices. The study also will identify a variety of child, family, and program factors that may moderate children's language and literacy outcomes.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Book chapters
Castro, D.C., Peisner-Feinberg, E., and Buysse, V. (2010). Language and Literacy Development in Latino Dual Language Learners: Promising Instructional Practices. In O. Saracho, and B. Spodek (Eds.), Language and Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education (pp. 65-93). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Journal articles
Buysse, V., Castro, D.C., and Peisner-Feinberg, E. (2010). Effects of a Professional Development Program on Classroom Practices and Outcomes for Latino Dual Language Learners. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2): 194-206.
Castro, D., Paez, M., Dickinson, D., and Frede, E. (2011). Promoting Language and Literacy in Young Language Minority Children: Research, Practice and Policy. Child Development Perspectives, 5(1): 15-20.
Gillanders, C., and Castro, D.C. (2011). Storybook Reading for Young English Language Learners. Young Children, 66(1): 91-95.
** This project was submitted to and funded under Teacher Quality: Reading and Writing in FY 2004.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
