Eric.ed.gov – Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

“Let’s Begin with the Letter People”[R] is an early education curriculum that uses 26 thematic units to develop children’s language and early literacy skills. A major focus is phonological awareness, including rhyming, word play, alliteration, and segmentation. Children are encouraged to learn as individuals, in small groups, and in a whole-class environment. Teacher resource books and a set of classroom books and other program materials are available as a program kit. Two studies of “Let’s Begin with the Letter People”[R] meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards and no studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. The two studies include children in 49 classrooms in 25 preschools in Houston, Texas, and southeastern New York State. Based on these two studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for “Let’s Begin with the Letter People”[R] to be medium to large for oral language and print knowledge and small for phonological processing and math. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations examined the effectiveness of “Let’s Begin with the Letter People”[R] in the early reading and writing or cognition domains. “Let’s Begin with the Letter People”[R] was found to have no discernible effects on oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, or math. Contains 21 appendices: (1) Study characteristics: Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Consortium, 2008 (randomized controlled trial); (2) Study characteristics: Fischel, Bracken, Fuchs-Eisenberg, Spira, Katz, & Shaller, 2007 (randomized controlled trial); (3) Outcome measures for the oral language domain; (4) Outcome measures for the print knowledge domain; (5) Outcome measures for the phonological processing domain; (6) Outcome measures for the math domain; (7) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the oral language domain; (8) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the print knowledge domain; (9) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the phonological processing domain; (10) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the math domain; (11) Summary of follow-up findings for the oral language domain; (12) Summary of follow-up findings for the print knowledge domain; (13) Summary of follow-up findings for the phonological processing domain; (14) Summary of follow-up findings for the math domain; (15) Summary of findings for comparisons between Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R] and Waterford Early Reading[TM] Level One for the oral language domain; (16) Summary of findings for comparisons between Let’s Begin with the Letter People [R] and Waterford Early Reading[TM] Level One for the print knowledge domain; (17) Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R] rating for the oral language domain; (18) Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R] rating for the print knowledge domain; (19) Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R] rating for the phonological processing domain; (20) Let’s Begin with the Letter People[R] rating for the math domain; and (21) Extent of evidence by domain. [The following two studies are reviewed in this intervention report: (1) Fischel, J. E., Bracken, S. S., Fuchs-Eisenberg, A., Spira, E. G., Katz, S., & Shaller, G. (2007). Evaluation of curricular approaches to enhance preschool early literacy skills. “Journal of Literacy Research,” 39(4), 471-501; and (2) Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) Consortium. (2008). Doors to Discovery and Let’s Begin with the Letter People. In “Effects of preschool curriculum programs on school readiness” (pp. 85-98). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. (Contains 86 notes.)