Ready, Set, Leap!
OVERVIEW
The Ready, Set, Leap! Program is a comprehensive one-year preschool curriculum. It includes instruction in academic, music, visual arts, and social/emotional development skills to the end of enhancing early reading skills. The program utilizes children’s books grouped thematically and uses interactive electronic technology which allows for multisensory strategies to be implemented. There are activities planned throughout the day primarily targets oral language, phonological knowledge, and print knowledge. Several evaluations of the Ready, Set, Leap program have been conducted and have shown mixed results. While one study found that Ready, Set, Leap! was effective in increasing participants early literacy skills, another study found that the program did not provide gains above and beyond an existing preschool curriculum.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Target population: preschool children
The Ready, Set, Leap! Program is a comprehensive one-year preschool curriculum. It includes instruction in academic, music, visual arts, and social/emotional development skills to the end of enhancing early reading skills. The program utilizes children’s books grouped thematically and uses interactive electronic technology to engage children in developing early reading skills. There are activities planned throughout the day primarily targets oral language, phonological knowledge, and print knowledge.
EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM
Layzer, J. I., Layzer, C. J., Goodson, B.
D., & Price, C. (2007). Evaluation of child care
subsidy strategies: Findings from Project Upgrade in
Evaluated population: 1600 four year-old
children living in Miami-Dade
County
Approach: 162 child care centers from Miami-Dade County Florida were randomly assigned to one of three different programs (Ready, Set, Leap!; Building Early Language and Literacy (B.E.L.L.); Breakthrough To Literacy (BTL)) or a control group which received normal services provided at the child care center. After random assignment was conducted at the child care center level, 1 classroom in each center was selected for the study. Classrooms consisted of four year-old children and all children in a selected classroom took part in the study. All classrooms, intervention and control, received a package of literacy materials and $500 each year to reduce teacher turnover during the study. Baseline measures of classroom environment, classroom activities, child language development, and child literacy development which consisted of phonological awareness, print knowledge, and definitional vocabulary. Data were collected again after six months of the intervention implementation and after 18 months of implementation. Two cohorts of children were evaluated based on the same design.
Results: After six months of program implementation, teachers in the treatment groups were more likely to engage children in oral language development, phonological awareness, learning about print, activities to encourage children to read and use print. The intervention did not have any impact on the resources that classrooms had available to children. Children in the Ready, Set, Leap! Intervention condition had higher scores on measures of definitional vocabulary, phonological awareness, print knowledge, and early literacy than children in the control condition.
RMC Research Corporation. (2003). Ready, Set, Leap!
Program:
Evaluated population: 17 high-poverty inner-city
elementary schools in
Approach: The schools were randomly assigned to either be experimental schools (8 schools) or control schools (7 schools). In each school, 1 to 4 classrooms participated in the study. In total, there were 129 participants in the experimental group and 125 participants in the control group. Participants were pre- and post-tested with measures from the DIBELS test of early literacy skills (the Initial Sound Fluency subtest and the Letter Naming Fluency Subtest), the Woodcock-Johnson III (Letter-word identification subset, passage comprehension subtest, sound awareness-rhyming subtest), the Comparative Test of Phonological Processing (Blending words subtest), and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III. In addition, teachers were observed for phonology knowledge, phonemic awareness, phonics, and print awareness. In addition, teachers were monitored for adherence to the Ready, Set, Leap! Program.
Participants in the Ready, Set, Leap! Program received one academic year of Ready, Set, Leap! Program integrated in the High Scope framework whereas participants in the control group received only the High Scope framework.
Results: At post-test, participants in the experimental group did not significantly differ from control participants on all measures. However, when the researchers controlled for implementation, they found that students in the Ready, Set, Leap! Program scored significantly higher than control participants on early literacy skill development.
SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
Program curriculum available for purchase at: http://www.leapfrogschoolhouse.com/do/home
Program costs begin at $1,995 and are available in English and Spanish.
References
Abt. Associates (2007). Ready,
Set, Leap!®
Layzer, J. I., Layzer, C. J., Goodson, B. D.,
& Price, C. (2007). Evaluation of child care subsidy
strategies: Findings from Project Upgrade in
RMC Research Corporation (2004). Ready, Set, Leap!TM program:
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: 4 years / Program age ranges in the Guide: early childhood
Program components: child care/early childhood education, school-based
Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development
Keywords: Early Childhood, Children, Preschool, Social and Emotional Health, School-Based, Education, Education, Cognitive Development, Child Care.
Program information last updated 7/19/07
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© Child Trends 2003 |
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