Two curricula designed to enhance the early literacy skills of 4-year-old preschool children were evaluated against a third, comparison condition. Thirty-five Head Start preschool classrooms were assigned randomly to incorporate one of two early literacy curricular approaches, Let's Begin with the Letter People ® or Waterford Early Reading Program ® Level 1, into their current curriculum, the High/ Scope ® Educational Approach, or to use the High/Scope method alone. Results indicated that children in the literacy intervention classrooms demonstrated significantly stronger outcomes in the areas of emergent writing, book and print knowledge, and general reading readiness skills. Minority language status also played a significant role in outcome, regardless of intervention condition. Implications for early childhood literacy interventions, especially important for children of low-income families, are discussed.School readiness is a complex phenomenon including a spectrum of skills and characteristics in health, social, emotional, motor, and intellectual development. Emergent literacy refers to the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that serve as developmental precursors to formal instruction in reading and writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). The concept of emergent literacy implies a developmental continuum of oral language and early literacy skills, serving as a foundation for more formal instruction in reading, writing, and spelling once in elementary school. Several components of emergent literacy likely contribute to a child's eventual reading ability, including alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness,
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