Pre-K Lessons Linked to TV Produce Gains in Literacy, Study Says

Video and interactive games are effective in teaching disadvantaged preschoolers some of the literacy skills they need for kindergarten, according to a large-scale evaluation financed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The randomized controlled study looks at a technology-supported literacy curriculum that involved video from “Super Why!,” “Sesame Street,” and “Between the Lions,” programs that are produced by PBS as part of the Education Department’s Ready to Learn Initiative. The study also includes online games developed by the programs’ producers, which targeted some of the same literacy skills as the shows themselves.

Researchers found that the 398 low-income children picked to participate, from 47 preschool centers in New York City and San Francisco, on average made significant gains in acquiring skills such as naming letters, knowing the sounds associated with those letters, and understanding concepts about stories and printed words. The study compares the children’s performance with that of preschoolers taking part in a technology-supported science curriculum. Each set of children received 25 hours of...