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DLM Early Childhood Express/Imagine It!

An Evidence-Based Practice

This practice has been Archived and is no longer maintained.

Description

DLM Early Childhood Express and Imagine It! (previously Open Court) are two separate early childhood education curricula that have been paired and found to be effective in improving performance in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten settings.

The DLM Early Childhood Express is a comprehensive, research-based program created according to state and national early-childhood guidelines. The program links language and early literacy, math, science, social studies, fine arts, health and safety, personal and physical development, and technology. Materials include lesson plans with 36 engaging and relevant weekly themes complete with activities that help children make connections, expand on experiences, and build new knowledge of a variety of topics.

Imagine It! is a literacy-based curriculum that focuses on five key areas of reading: phonemic awareness, systematic explicit phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The Imagine It! syllabus includes fiction and nonfiction literature, novels, essays, poems, songs, and articles.

This program is locally funded by the Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County.

Goal / Mission

To improve the school readiness of children in Palm Beach County.

Results / Accomplishments

The Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County designed and implemented an evaluation of the combined DLM/Imagine It! program in the county. The study found that students who participated in the DLM and Imagine It! curriculum and received intensive curriculum coaching performed significantly better (p<0.05) on measures of vocabulary and letter/word identification than their counterparts who did not participate in the curriculum and received no coaching.

A broader 2008 study of public pre-kindergarten classrooms in Florida found that implementing DLM Early Childhood Express with Open Court (now Imagine It!) resulted in positive outcomes in reading, phonological awareness, and language development in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. The paired program was also found to positively impact phonological awareness instruction at the classroom level. The study, part of a larger evaluation of preschool curricula conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences' Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Consortium, determined that some of these positive outcomes were significant at levels ranging from p<0.05 to 0<0.001.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Children Services Council of Palm Beach County
Primary Contact
Erin Gallagher
Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County
2300 High Ridge Road
Boynton Beach FL 33426
561-740-7000
erin.gallagher@cscpbc.org
http://www.cscpbc.org/
Topics
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
Education / Literacy
Education / Student Performance K-12
Organization(s)
Children Services Council of Palm Beach County
Source
SRA/Wright Group/McGraw-Hill Publishing
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
Palm Beach
For more details
https://www.mheonline.com/program/view/1/7/2180/DL...
http://www.mheresearch.com/assets/products/72b32a1...
Target Audience
Children
Submitted By
Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County

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Related Content for: DLM Early Childhood Express/Imagine It!

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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