Teaching Early Literacy &
Language (TELL) Projects

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TELL is a universal, Tier 1, whole-class curriculum designed to improve school readiness in oral language, pre-reading, and pre-writing. TELL provides developmentally appropriate integrations for math, science, and social-emotional teaching objectives and curricula.

TELL was developed by preschool teachers, administrators, and speech-language pathologists from 15 Phoenix area school districts.

TELL is evidence-based and aligns with early childhood learning standards, position statements, and assessments.

Overall, TELL increases the language and literacy richness of classroom environments, promotes high quality teacher-child interactions, and increases teachers’ use of high-level language in the classroom.  (Wilcox, Gray, & Guimond, 2012; Fox, Cai, & Wilcox, 2013).

TELL Curriculum for Economically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

There is a growing body of evidence that preschool can have positive, long-lasting benefits for all children and that children from economically disadvantaged families may benefit more from high quality preschool programs than children from higher SES families (Schweinhart, 2013).

TELL for this preschool population is a three year research study, to demonstrate TELL’s effectiveness for improving the oral language and early literacy skills of preschoolers from economically disadvantaged families. This requires a randomized controlled study design where half of the classrooms are assigned to implement TELL and the other half continues business as usual instruction.

In the first two years of the project TELL was implemented in 36 classrooms in Maricopa County. In the the 2019-2020 school year an additional 28 Maricopa County classrooms will be added for a total of 58 classrooms in the three years of the project.

TELL Long Distance

TELL Long Distance is a replication efficacy study of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language (TELL) curriculum and its associated professional development (PD). We focus on young children with developmental speech and/or language impairments (DSLI) enrolled in IDEA Part B preschool classes investigating the efficacy of (a) web-based TELL PD and (b) variations on the PD components that are provided to teachers (i.e., training workshop, professional learning communities, individualized coaching). There is no greater challenge to scaling up efficacious curricula than determining how to deliver cost efficient, effective professional development - a key component of the TELL curriculum package. A new meta-analysis shows that the PD components provided in TELL can be very effective and we have data to show this, but effect sizes are typically reduced at scale. We test web-based virtual PD that the Kraft meta-analysis suggests is a promising approach for providing highly effective PD amid resource constraints. In addition, in response to findings from this meta-analysis, we address the lack of access to PD in rural and resource-poor communities by leveraging technology to increase the number of teachers who can access high-quality PD in the absence of local expertise. Research has already shown that virtual PD may be as effective as in-person PD.

Developing an Extension of the TELL Curriculum for 3-Year-Old Children with Developmental Speech and/or Language Impairment

TELL was originally designed for 4-year-olds, with developmental speech and/or language impairments, entering kindergarten the following year.  Many teachers who participated in previous TELL studies had mixed age classrooms with children as young as 3-years-old and requested the curriculum be updated to include developmentally younger children.

 TELL for 3-year-olds is a four year research project designed in response to educators’ request to enhance the current TELL curriculum to promote high-quality, differentiated instruction for three-year-olds with developmental speech and/or language impairments in preschool classrooms.  Year 1-3 of the study is the development phase. The TELL Research team will work with an Advisory Team, made up of two administrators, preschool special education teachers, and a speech and language pathologist to formulate TELL package revisions. In Year 2, the teachers and administrators will conduct brief trials to evaluate the revisions and to inform if additional revisions are needed. In Year 3 teachers will participate in a feasibility study teachers to determine how well teachers can implement the TELL components with three-year-olds in their classrooms and to determine the level of satisfaction with the TELL package revisions. A randomized controlled study design where half of the classrooms are assigned to implement TELL and half continue business as usual instruction will be implemented in Year 4.