The goal of the PAVEd for Success program is to improve the literacy outcomes of children attending prekindergarten and kindergarten. In order to ensure proper program implementation, teachers received professional development training during a three-day institute held before the beginning of the school year, during a two-hour on-site workshop that was conducted two weeks after the start of the intervention, and again as classroom-based support throughout the intervention.

All teachers received training on components that are universal and integral to any preschool literacy program, including storybook reading, child participation in talk with teachers, alphabet knowledge, and provision of classroom environments rich in print. A group of teachers also received training on phonological awareness activities, another group was additionally trained in explicit vocabulary enhancement practices, and yet another group was trained in both additional topics.

The school year was divided into two phases: implementation and sustainability. During the implementation phase, program staff provided teachers with support as they implemented the program, provided feedback on implementation practices, and encouraged teachers to report any difficulties they were facing as they implemented the program. During the sustainability phase, teachers were given permission to select and continue using the practices that they believed were the most beneficial to the children.

The goal of the PAVEd for Success program is to improve the literacy outcomes of children.

Children’s preliteracy skills were evaluated during prekindergarten and their reading skills were assessed at the end of kindergarten. The evaluation showed that only children in the UQLP+PAVE condition significantly improved their phonological awareness when compared to control classrooms (UQLP+PAVE p=0.002; UQLP+PA p=0.123; UQLP+VE p=0.947; UQLP p=0.504).

Also, when tested in kindergarten, children in the UQLP+PAVE condition read significantly more words on the Early Decoding Test than controls (p=0.015), but a significant difference was not seen when comparing children in any other condition to controls (p>0.05).