Efficacy of the TELL curriculum (Gray et al., 2024)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language (TELL) curriculum package for improving the early literacy and oral language skills of preschoolers from low-income families.

Method: In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), TELL was implemented in 30 TELL and 28 business-as-usual classrooms. TELL is a Tier 1 whole-class curriculum package that includes a scope and sequence of instruction, lesson plans and materials, high-quality books, curriculum-based measures (CBMs), and professional development training and coaching.

Results: Implementation fidelity was high; however, due to COVID-19 school closures, we did not collect end-of-year data for our third cohort of teachers. Results indicated significant TELL effects on all code-related CBMs and two code-related distal measures as well as receptive and expressive vocabulary CBMs. No significant differences were found on distal measures of oral language/vocabulary or listening comprehension.

Conclusions: Results of the present study, paired with findings from an earlier TELL RCT with children with developmental speech and/or language impairments, suggest that children enrolled in TELL classrooms achieve higher outcomes on a variety of code-related and vocabulary measures by the end of their final preschool year.

Supplemental Material S1. Detailed description of curriculum-based measures (CBMs) analyses.

Supplemental Table S1. Professional development training topics.

Supplemental Table S2. TELL Classroom Quality of Implementation and Fidelity Assessment.

Supplemental Table S3. Mean percentage of time oral language and early literacy activities were observed in classrooms.

Supplemental Figure S1. Letter Sounds curriculum-based measure estimated marginal means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S2. Print Awareness curriculum-based measure estimated marginal means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S3. Beginning Sounds curriculum-based measure estimated marginal means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S4. Uppercase Letter Naming curriculum-based measure estimated marginal means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S5. Receptive Vocabulary curriculum-based measures observed means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S6. Expressive Vocabulary curriculum-based measure observed means and standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S7. Expository Book Summary curriculum-based measure observed means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S8. Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI) Alphabet Knowledge subtest observed means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Supplemental Figure S9. Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI) Phonological Awareness subtest observed means, standard error bars, and between-group t test results.

Gray, S. I., Wilcox, M. J., & Reiser, M. (2024). Efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language curriculum with preschoolers from low-income families. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 55(3), 696–713. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_LSHSS-23-00140