Barbara Wasik

• Temple University

This study explored the use of sophisticated vocabulary, complex syntax, and decontextualized language (including book information, conceptual information, past/future experiences, and vocabulary information) in teachers’ instructional interactions with children during the literacy block in prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. The sample in...

This study investigates translation strategies that enhance idea generation and linguistic construction in early childhood composing, focusing on high language-growth prekindergarten to first-grade classrooms. Our sample included 28 teachers from two under-resourced districts in the Northeastern United States, serving 324 children. Using an explora...

Story Talk is an evidence‐based language intervention that has produced significant increases in children's vocabulary (Wasik & Hindman, 2020). This paper begins with a discussion of the importance of language development in learning to read, which is the basis for Story Talk. Next, a description of Story Talk components and the strategies that tea...

Back-and-forth conversations with adults are critical for developing children's language, and, therefore, an important part of the early childhood classroom learning environment; however, the specific nature of teacher feedback, one component of teacher–child conversations, on child language has not been widely studied. This article examined presch...

This paper presents the results of an intervention study focused on understanding how a 5-month, vocabulary-focused texting program called Text to Talk can enhance home-school connections concerning vocabulary and preschool children's language learning. Classrooms (49) were randomly assigned to intervention or control status in an urban preschool p...

Turn and Talk is widely used in early‐grade classrooms, but very little rigorous research or evidence‐based guidance has been offered to teachers. In this exploratory paper, we take the first step toward establishing a teacher‐friendly discussion on this common technique. After briefly describing the Turn and Talk technique, we first ask: What does...

Conversations between an adult and a child are effective ways to promote language and vocabulary development in young children. Considerable attention has been paid to teachers asking open‐ended questions to promote conversations. However, the feedback that follows the question is also an important part of promoting back‐and‐forth dialogue, and les...

Child-directed speech (CDS), which can help children learn new words, has been rigorously studied among infants and parents in home settings. Yet, far less is known about the CDS that teachers use in classrooms with toddlers and children’s responses, an important question because many toddlers, particularly in high-need communities, attend group-ca...

Teaching science can provide opportunities for young children to explore and learn about the world around them and, equally important, to support children's language development. Yet, recent research suggests that children's access to science education is limited, especially in early and elementary education. Since language is critical to children'...

Texting is increasingly used by teachers to communicate with families about classroom logistics and to support learning at home. The authors review the research evidence supporting texting as a tool for increasing family members’ engagement and their children’s learning, including the authors’ own evidence‐based texting program, Text to Talk, which...

Adult interactions with young children provide important language experiences necessary for children to develop the early precursor skills to be ready to read. This study examines the complexity of preschool and kindergarten teachers’ syntax and the relations between teachers’ syntax and children’s vocabulary development. Thirty-three teachers’ syn...

With the advance of technology, additional opportunities for professional development are available through nontraditional means. In this review, we examine the effectiveness of technology-mediated language and literacy professional development (Tech PD) programs for teachers and students in early childhood settings. We review Tech PD interventions...

Research Findings: This study examined how teacher–child conversations unfold during shared book reading in Head Start classrooms as well as the relations between that talk and children’s vocabulary learning. Book reading experiences in 27 Head Start classrooms were videotaped and coded for teacher talk, child responses, teacher follow-up remarks,...

Sustaining Early Childhood Learning Gains - edited by Arthur J. Reynolds January 2019

Preschool teachers from a high-poverty, urban school district were trained to implement Story Talk, a book reading intervention designed to increase children's vocabulary and language development using supportive materials and strategic individualized coaching. Thirty-five teachers were randomly assigned by site to the intervention (20) or the cont...

Developing young students’ language and vocabulary is critical in laying the foundation for learning to read. Asking open‐ended questions, which require more than a one‐word response, is an effective strategy that teachers can use to elicit students’ comments and engage students in extended conversations. However, to facilitate students’ responses,...

New technologies offer exciting opportunities for improving home-school communication, family engagement, and children’s learning in early childhood. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study focused on understanding how texting might enhance family-school engagement in early childhood settings. Using focus groups and surveys of teach...

Circle time is a near universally used preschool activity; however, little research has explored its nature, content, and quality. This study examined activity types, teacher and child talk, child engagement, and classroom quality in a sample of public preschool classrooms in an urban, high-poverty school district. Results demonstrated that teacher...

Play is an important activity in young children’s lives. It is how children explore their world and build knowledge. Although free play, which is play that is totally child directed, contributes to children’s learning, self-regulation and motivation, adults’ participation in children’s play is critical in their development, especially their languag...

This paper reviews high-quality empirical studies on book reading practices in early childhood that have resulted in increases in child vocabulary. The overarching purpose of this work is twofold: first, to tease apart the myriad ways in which effective book readings can be delivered; and second, to identify questions that remain about book reading...

The current study examined whether Head Start children who experienced a high-quality preschool intervention, Exceptional Coaching for Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL), as three-year-olds began the subsequent pre-kindergarten (or four-year-old) year with stronger language and literacy skills than same-age peers who entered ExCELL in pre-kinderg...

Recent attention to the word gap has renewed public interest in the striking vocabulary disparities between children in poverty and their higher income peers during the 1st years of life. Children's outcomes-and the nation's well-being-could be improved by additional research into the mechanisms of vocabulary learning, as well as translational rese...

This article describes how a research-practice partnership has informed the iterative development of a web-mediated early childhood language and literacy professional development (PD) intervention. Funded through the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, this new PD model is based on an effective in-situ intervention. As we translated the face-to-f...

Vocabulary development is critical for children's ability to learn to read and their success at school. Vocabulary has also been identified as a key factor in the achievement gap, with children from low-income families knowing significantly fewer words when they enter school. Although book reading has long been celebrated as an effective way for te...

Interventions that affect children’s vocabulary development focus on the quality of language as well as quantity. Children need opportunities to talk, use vocabulary words, and respond to adults’ questions. Adults need to create opportunities to talk, provide quality feedback on children’s language, and use a lot of new vocabulary repeatedly in mea...

Research Findings: In order to identify the active ingredients in an effective professional development intervention focused on enhancing preschool vocabulary instruction, this study examines the frequency with which teachers and children discussed theme-related vocabulary words during shared book reading. Head Start teachers received 1 year of tra...

Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how early childhood programs prepare young children for science. Due to a number of factors, including educators’ low self-efficacy for teaching science and lack of educational resources, many early childhood classrooms do not offer high-quality science experiences for young child...

In the current study, we employed the 2006 cohort of the large-scale, nationally representative, Head Start Family and Child Experiences (FACES) dataset to construct a snapshot of vocabulary instruction and learning in high-poverty preschools. Specifically, we examined Head Start teachers' reports of the frequency of vocabulary instruction in their...

Writing is a critical emergent literacy skill that lays the foundation for children’s later literacy skills and reading achievement. Recent work indicates that many early childhood programs offer children materials and tools for engaging in writing activities but teachers rarely are seen modeling writing for children or scaffolding children’s writi...

Explicit instruction on the skill of creating mental imagery from text supports reading comprehension and recall. This article shares a strategy for teaching students how to process what they read by comparing mental imagery to “brain movies.” It emphasizes choosing appropriate fiction and nonfiction texts to encourage readers to build the skill of...

This exploratory study examined the Morning Message, an activity that is widely practiced in many early childhood curricula but has almost no empirical data to support its effectiveness. In total, 7 Head Start teachers and the 59 four-year-old children in their classrooms participated in this study. Using a qualitative observation system, we examin...

This exploratory study investigated how 2 years of a coaching-based language and literacy intervention were linked to Head Start teachers' classroom environments and instructional interactions, as well as to the vocabulary, alphabet, and sound awareness learning of their preschool students. In total, 16 Head Start teachers participated in the inter...

Evidence shows that the Matthew effect is a persistent problem among early education interventions. The current study examined the degree to which the ExCELL (Exceptional Coaching for Early Language and Literacy) language and literacy professional development intervention for Head Start preschool teachers, shown in prior research to improve teacher...

This study examined the ways in which the language that Head Start teachers used during book reading, as well as the extent to which they made explicit connections between book reading and other instructional activities, were linked to preschoolers' vocabulary development. Participants included 10 Head Start teachers and 153 children in their class...

This study unpacks the effective Exceptional Coaching for Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL) professional development intervention to understand how the language and literacy coaching that teachers receive is linked to changes in their knowledge and then how this knowledge is related to classroom practice. In total, 17 lead teachers participated...

This study examined 1 tool for evaluating Head Start teachers’ knowledge about early language and literacy. Results indicated that teachers varied in their knowledge. Teachers with more knowledge had more education, as did teachers who received language and literacy professional development. Teachers with greater knowledge also demonstrated higher...

The Morning Message is a commonly implemented activity in early childhood settings, appearing as a part of the daily schedule in many classrooms. However, there is limited research on what are the most effective ways to use the Morning Message to promote print awareness. The goal of this paper is to present suggested guidelines for implementing the...

In a randomized control study, Head Start teachers were assigned to either an intervention group that received intensive, ongoing professional development (PD) or to a comparison group that received the “business as usual” PD provided by Head Start. The PD intervention provided teachers with conceptual knowledge and instructional strategies that su...

Language and, specifically, vocabulary development plays a critical role in early literacy development. This article describes Exceptional Coaching for Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL), which is a research‐based, effective preschool program that focuses on developing Head Start enrollees' language and preliteracy skills. The ExCELL program empl...

Although the Head Start program places great emphasis on family involvement, educators do not currently have a brief but comprehensive measure to collect information from families about the kinds of learning experiences they provide for children at home. The current study explored the utility of the Family Literacy Survey, a parent-report survey ga...

The current study investigated the nature of Head Start children's home literacy environments and the associations between these resources and children's early-language and literacy skills. At the beginning of the preschool year, families of 302 children completed the Family Literacy Survey. In general, Head Start families reported providing a vari...

Children's vocabulary development represents a critical foundation for their reading skills. This article describes a curriculum-based vocabulary progress monitoring tool that was used to track the development of Head Start children—and particularly those at highest risk for later reading difficulty—as they learned new words during the school year...

Conversations are a primary tool for language development in preschool classrooms. Unfortunately, opportunities to have meaningful conversations between children and adults may not exist in preschool classrooms, especially those that serve children from high poverty contexts. Conversation Stations were implemented in preschool classrooms to ensure...

A secondary analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Sample (N = 17,401) was conducted to determine the factors that are most strongly associated with math achievement during kindergarten, first grade, and third grade. Factors from the following three categories were considered: antecedent factors (e.g., family socio-econom...

This study investigated the nature of Head Start teachers’ beliefs about early literacy and the teacher background factors that relate to these beliefs. Twenty-eight Head Start teachers were given the Preschool Teacher Literacy Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ) and a background questionnaire. Reliable belief subscales reflecting code, oral language, book...

Small group instruction is important yet it is one of the most underused strategies in early childhood classrooms. This paper presents guidelines based on research-based best practices for using small groups in early childhood. In addition, the benefits of small group instruction for both children and teachers are described. Specific suggestions fo...

Acquiring vocabulary words is an important aspect of preschool language development. Children who do not have opportunities to learn words at an early age will be at a disadvantage in developing a solid and diverse vocabulary base. A rich vocabulary facilitates early reading development. Without well-developed vocabularies, children are at risk for...

A language and literacy intervention was implemented in 10 Head Start classrooms. Teachers were trained in specific book reading and conversation strategies. The focus of the intervention was to train teachers how to increase opportunities for language and vocabulary development in young children. At the end of the year, children in the interventio...

In the past decade, educators and policy makers have focused considerable attention on the role of early experiences in young children’s development. The research strongly suggests that the experiences that children have early in life lay the foundation for later growth and development. This has been documented in three influential National Researc...

This report evaluates whether a program for older volunteers, designed for both generativity and health promotion, leads to short-term improvements in multiple behavioral risk factors and positive effects on intermediary risk factors for disability and other morbidities. The Experience Corps(R) places older volunteers in public elementary schools i...

This article reports on the short-term impact of a school-based program using older adult volunteers and aimed at improved academic achievement and reduced disruptive classroom behavior in urban elementary school students. The Experience Corps Baltimore (Maryland) program places a critical mass of older adult volunteers, serving 15 hours or more pe...

Population aging portends a crisis of resources and values. Desired solutions could include intergenerational strategies to harness the untapped potential of older adults to address societal needs and to generate health improvements for older adults. Despite the desire of many older adults to remain socially engaged and productive, the creation of...

The effects of a book reading technique called interactive book reading on the language and literacy development of 4 yr olds from low-income families were evaluated. Teachers read books to children and reinforced the vocabulary in the books by presenting concrete objects that represented the words and by providing children with multiple opportunit...

The effects of a book reading technique called interactive book reading on the language and literacy development of 4-year-olds from low-income families were evaluated. Teachers read books to children and reinforced the vocabulary in the books by presenting concrete objects that represented the words and by providing children with multiple opportun...

Clarifies issues surrounding teaching of the alphabet to preschoolers. Considers the meaning of "teaching" and examines links between letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, and learning to read. Presents suggestions for teaching the alphabet within developmentally appropriate practice guidelines, including beginning with the familiar, creating a con...

The goal of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) Early Learning program is to ensure that young children reach the 1st grade with the necessary skills and competencies to be effective learners. This goal has been accomplished by 2 integrated areas of research. One area of research focuses on the development...

The goal of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) Early Learning program is to ensure that young children reach the 1st grade with the necessary skills and competencies to be effective learners. This goal has been accomplished by 2 integrated areas of research. One area of research focuses on the development...

ABSTRACTS The America Reads Challenge Act of 1997 makes a national commitment to the goal that every child will read independently and well by the end of the third grade. The primary means of achieving this goal are to place 1 million volunteers in schools to tutor children in reading. This article reviews both the quantitative and qualitative find...

Several components are essential to the success of tutoring programs in reading.

Despite the fact that, in a few years, a fifth of the US population will be older than 65 years and people will be living a third of their lives after retirement, we have developed few avenues that would permit older adults to play meaningful roles as they age and few institutions to harness the experience that older adults could contribute to soci...

The America Reads challenge makes a national commitment to the goal that every child will read independently and well by the end of the third grade. The primary means of achieving this goal is to place one million volunteers in schools to tutor children in reading. However, little is known about the effectiveness of using volunteer tutors in the sc...

This article examines the research evidence on the effects of preschool reading practices on young children, with specific emphasis on the effects of school-based programs for young disadvantaged children. The goal of this article was two fold: (1) to assess the research evidence on the effects of preschool storybook reading, and (2) to derive prac...

The purpose of this article is to describe the current state of research on Success for All, a program built on the idea that every child can and must succeed in the early grades, no matter what it takes. The idea behind Success for All is to use everything we know about effective instruction for students at risk to direct all aspects of school and...

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This article presents the effects of variations of a schoolwide restructuring program, Success for All, on student reading achievement and other outcomes in elementary schools serving large numbers of disadvantaged students. Success for All uses research-based preschool and kindergarten programs, beginning and intermediate reading programs in Grade...

This review examines the effects of three educational practices on children's readiness for first grade. The practices, kindergarten retention, developmental kindergarten, and transitional first grade, are intended to provide children with an early extra year to give them more time to prepare academically and socially for regular first-grade classr...

Conducted 2 experiments to explore the relation between conceptual and procedural knowledge in the domain of mathematics. The simultaneous activation view, which argues that computational errors arise from impoverished concepts and that errors can be eliminated by giving concrete referents to symbols, was compared with the dynamic interaction view,...

Reviews the literature (published 1981–1987) on metacognition (MC) about reading. Historical patterns of publication are identified and the types of research that have been conducted are described, including training studies attempting to increase teachers' and students' MC about reading in the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all...

Over the past decade, there has been a growing consensus . . . that prevention of learning problems [and early intervention in preschool, kindergarten, and/or first grade] makes much more sense that remediation. The purpose of this book is to review research on the most widely proposed alternatives intended to keep at-risk students from failing i...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Temple University, 1987. Bibliography: leaves 58-67.