Opening the World of Learning: Features, Eeffectiveness and Implementation Strategies

Opening the World of Learning (OWL) is a comprehensive pre-K curriculum that has a particular focus on language and literacy. This article describes the general structure and content of OWL and reports results of a secondary analysis that examined results from multiple waves of data collected from eight Early Reading First Programs that served over 3,000 children. Results indicate consistent positive effects across projects, with year-to-year improvements in children's scores, with substantial growth being observed after year one in language, print knowledge, and phonological awareness outcomes. Firsthand experiences of those implementing OWL provide insight into some of the challenges programs face as they implement the curriculum and strive to accelerate children's language and literacy development. [article abstract]