Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week’s webinar, “Best Practices for English Learners in Prekindergarten” with experts Dr. Patricia Garcia-Arena, Principal Researcher, and Dr. Rebecca Bergey, Senior Researcher, at the Center for English Learners at the American Institutes for Research. You can access the webinar below, or here on Youtube.
The webinar showcases COLLTS, which stands for Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talents in Students. COLLTS is a research-based early childhood curriculum newly released from The Center for English Learners at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).
A major goal of the Center for English Learners at AIR is to create the highest quality PreK curriculum to meet the needs of Dual Language Learners and that all children can benefit from. The COLLTS program is distributed exclusively by Bebop Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books.
Purchase the COLLTS curriculum in:
Order the read aloud book bundles in:
Where can I learn more about the research study behind the COLLTS curriculum?
In 2019, COLLTS was used in treatment classrooms to support Dual language learners’ (DLLs’) oral language development. The intervention consisted of teacher professional development; curricular materials that guided teachers in principles of effective instruction; interactive book reading, in which children are exposed to language in rich semantic contexts; and targeted skills instruction to build foundational literacy skills. Key findings of the research study include:
- Children who participated in the intervention showed significantly larger gains than children in control classrooms in three domains of oral language. These domains have consistently been shown to be developmentally sensitive and positively related to the bilingual reading achievement of DLLs
- The study demonstrates that an intervention can be easily integrated into preschool programming and result in significant improvements in children’s oral language, compared with children in control classrooms whose teachers did not receive COLLTS curriculum and training.
Read the Journal Article: Developing Oral Language in Young Dual Language Learners, Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talent in Students (COLLTS)
Learn more about the pilot and study findings here. And watch the webinar about Research findings here.
Can we see a sample of the PreK curriculum before we buy?
Yes! On our website, you can preview an English unit and a Spanish unit. Please contact COLLTS@leeandlow.com to see a full unit in English and full unit in Spanish.
Can we pilot before we buy for the whole school/district/library system?
Yes! Please contact COLLTS@leeandlow.com to order one kit and book bundle to pilot.
Can we get additional professional development for our preschool program?
Yes! Please contact Dr. Patricia Garcia-Arena at pgarcia-arena@air.org.
Where can I learn more?
Fill out our interest form and we’ll be in touch!
