Efficacy of the BrightStart! Program for Promoting Emergent Literacy Skills of PreKindergarten Children at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Ohio, 2016-2020

The Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) study was a randomized controlled trial of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) program. It was implemented as a small-group intervention to promote the emergent literacy skills of prekindergarten (PreK) children at risk for reading difficulties. In this project, the researchers studied short- and long- term impacts of NBS!, including whether it reduced the reading achievement gap. Study participants included three sequential cohorts of teachers and children, and consisted of classrooms from state and local prekindergarten programs.Classrooms were randomly assigned to one of the three study conditions: NBS! teacher implemented (in which the classroom teacher provided treatment) NBS! community aide implemented (in which treatment was provided by a community aide)business-as-usual control.The study involved 290 children with full battery of assessments (plus 281 children with a partial battery) enrolled in 98 prekindergarten classrooms. Data were collected from 2016-2020.