BrightStart!

NBS! is a small-group, emergent literacy intervention that provides extra support for preschoolers who are at risk for later reading difficulties. Developed by a team at the Nemours Children’s Health System, NBS! was initially used in a community partnership with preschool programs in Jacksonville, Florida. Research conducted during this partnership showed that the intervention improved preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills. It is now commercially available to early childhood programs and educators.

In this research project, Crane researchers studied the commercially available version of NBS! as used in Columbus-area early childhood classrooms. The team partnered with Ready4Success who used an emergent literacy screener to identify eligible preschool children in each classroom. Some of these children were randomly selected to experience the NBS! lessons across their preschool year. For half of the selected children, the lessons were provided by their classroom teacher. For the other half, the lessons were provided by a Ready4Success member (“community aide”) who visited the classroom to deliver intervention. We measured all participating children’s literacy skills at the beginning and end of the preschool year and followed children as they matriculate through elementary school. Ultimately, this project determined whether NBS!, when carried out by teachers and community aides in typical early childhood classrooms, benefitted children’s early literacy learning and helped close reading achievement gaps.

To learn more about NBS!, visit the website or see the complete program here.

This study examined preschool children identified as at-risk for later reading difficulties and different combinations of risk factors. They found that there were four different groups of children, based on cognitive, psychological, ecological, and child-replated factors. The researchers then examined the effects of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) intervention on children’s emergent literacy skills and found that some groups responded better to the intervention than others. Specifically, the researchers found that NBS! was most effective for developing the letter-writing skills of children in one of the groups. These findings may help clarify for whom interventions are most effective.

Intervention can positively impact children’s emergent literacy development, and dosage (amount of intervention experienced) is an important component for achieving impacts. In this study, Crane researchers observed teachers and community volunteers providing emergent literacy intervention in real preschool classrooms to identify teacher, classroom, and child factors associated with intervention dosage. Intervention dosage was mostly influenced by instructor and classroom factors rather than child factors. Intervention dosage was higher when (1) instructors felt that they could make a difference in children’s literacy learning, (2) instructors had more positive perspectives about the intervention, (3) small groups included fewer children, and (4) classroom teachers felt efficacious in instructional decision making.

Young children at-risk for literacy difficulties may not fully benefit from small-group literacy instruction if teachers have difficulty managing behaviors or if children are not engaged during instruction. The research team explored whether the collective behavioral engagement of small groups and teacher behavior management skills were related to preschooler’s early literacy gains. The findings indicate that when children in small groups are engaged during instruction, they are more likely to gain expressive vocabulary skills. This suggests that maintaining child engagement during lessons may enhance fundamental early literacy skills.

Supplemental, small-group emergent literacy intervention is a benefit for preschool-aged children identified as at risk for later reading difficulties. Crane researchers examine the effects of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) intervention on children’s emergent literacy skills, when implemented by teachers and community aides in authentic preschool classrooms. Their findings have implications for revising the NBS! theory of change, conducting dosage and as-treated analyses, and moving research-based interventions toward scale-up.

Young children’s writing skills often receive less attention than their reading skills, and few early writing assessments are available. In this study, Crane researchers collaborated with Dr. Hope Gerde to examine the emergent writing skills of preschoolers identified as at-risk for later reading difficulties. The results showed that these children also had less-developed writing skills as compared to their peers and suggest that early writing differences can be identified through assessment. The findings indicate that early identification, and therefore intervention, is also possible for writing skills through literacy screenings.

Small-group emergent literacy interventions can boost early skills in preschoolers and set up a solid foundation for continued literacy learning. As these types of interventions are more and more available to preschool teachers, understanding whether they can be effectively implemented in typical classroom settings remains largely unknown. Crane researchers examined the Nemours® BrightStart! Program and its implementation in classroom settings. The findings have important implications for intervention development, use, and scalability.

Shayne Piasta, PhD

Principal Investigator

Read more about Dr. Piasta here.

We would also like to recognize the work of our former doctoral students, Leiah Groom and Robin Sayers, project coordinator Dr. Naomi Schneider, and field assessors Caleb Stinson and Marilyn Rogers.

Many thanks to Shelby Dowdy and the Ready4Success team!