Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction

This study used a process modeled after the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) methodology to systematically identify effective early childhood curricula, lesson packages, instructional practices, and technology programs in studies conducted from 1997 to 2017. The findings revealed that instruction that teaches a specific domain is likely to increase performance in that domain. Meanwhile, interventions that teach language exclusively may be more beneficial when conducted in small groups or one-on-one rather than in larger group sizes. In addition, teaching both phonological awareness and print knowledge may improve print knowledge and may also lead to improvements in decoding and early writing performance.