Early Reading First  

Are you an Early Reading First Grantee or are you in the process of writing an Early Reading First grant and interested in using HighScope products?

As a leader in early literacy product development and training, HighScope is proud to offer Early Reading First grant writers and grantees information about our current products and training. If you would like further information about how we can help you with Early Reading First, please contact us at reading@highscope.org or call 734.485.2000. 

Here is some information on our literacy curriculum and assessment products and related training options.

EARLY LITERACY PRODUCTS

1. Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum (GRC), Second Edition

The Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, Second Edition, is a comprehensive set of detailed plans for 126 teacher-led small-group activities and an accompanying children's book collection. The activities actively engage and instruct young children in literacy comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and concepts about print. Developed by Dr. Andrea DeBruin-Parecki & Mary Hohmann.

The activities in this second edition of Growing Readers are a compilation of the activities in the first-edition kit and the Growing Readers Set 2 activities. The cards in this new edition have been reorganized for ease of use.

The Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, Second Edition, features

• A comprehensive teacher guide, including complete instructions, background information, Scope and Sequence, Individual and Group Progress Profiles, and Activity Log
• 126 Small-Group Activity Cards with detailed instructions for classroom activities
• 46 Short Activity and Teaching Strategies Cards
• 25 Quick Look Cards
• 13 Vocabulary Cards 
• Activity Support Cards 
• A 2-year subscription to Letter Links Online

PLUS a richly varied collection of nine new and classic children's books 

N-P1393SET $499.95 per kit, including the children's book set. »For more information or to order»
              
Also available—Growing Readers Supplemental Spanish Storybook set (4 books); N-PGR02 $24.95 »For more information or to order»  

► If you own the first-edition Growing Readers kit and would like to add to your current set, you can purchase Growing Readers Set 2.  

► Additional information about Growing Readers, Second Edition: Please note: Preview copies of Growing Readers materials are not available. Please see the links in the right column for related information. 

2. The Early Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA)
 
The Early Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA) is an authentic assessment in the form of a children's storybook. The assessment measures children's progress in four key areas of early literacy: comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and concepts about print. To conduct the assessment, a teacher reads the story with an individual child, stopping where indicated in the book to ask questions or elicit ideas. The Early Literacy Skills Assessment measures progress in all early literacy programs—it is compatible with the Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, but may be used with other early literacy curricula as well. The assessment meets the psychometric standards of demonstrated reliability and validity. The ELSA instrument was developed by Dr. Andrea DeBruin-Parecki.

The ELSA comes in two main versions, one featuring the Violet's Adventure storybook assessment tool and the other with the Dante Grows Up tool. Each comes in a separate kit with all the related forms you will need for a year of assessment. Spanish versions of each storybook assessment kit are also available.

Many programs use the Violet's Adventure version of ELSA for pre- and post-assessment in the first year of a literacy program and the Dante Grows Up version for pre- and post-assessment in the second year. However, the two versions are interchangeable, as long as the same version is used for both pre- and post-assessment in a given year. Some programs may prefer to use the Dante version the first year, or to use Violet with some children and Dante with others. This is fine; however, if one storybook is used for a particular child's pre-assessment, the same storybook must be used with that child for the post-assessment at the end of the year. Then, if the program continues for a second year, each child should be assessed with the storybook version not used with that child in the first year. 

Details of the contents of each of the ELSA kits are given below, plus information on an instructional video used to establish reliable scoring of the ELSA.

► Supplemental information on the ELSA: An ELSA presentation is available with sample pages, comparative instrument chart and other information (PDF format, 19 pages); the ELSA Research Report describes the psychometric properties of the instrument.
   
Following are detailed descriptions of each of the ELSA products:

Early Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA) Featuring Violet's Adventure (Version One Kit) The storybook assessment tool featured in this kit is Violet's Adventure, the story of a young unicorn who becomes lost and finds her way back to her mother with the help of some new friends. The assessment kit provides all the materials needed for pre- and post-assessment in one classroom serving up to 25 children. 

Contents: 

• 2 copies of Violet's Adventure
• 1 User Guide
• 2 scoring pads (60 each, Score Sheet and Child Summary forms)
• 12 Class Summary forms
• 60 Family Report forms

N-P1270 $149.95 per kit.  »For more information or to order»
Also available — All-Spanish ELSA Kit Featuring La Aventura de Violeta This kit includes all the components listed above for the standard kit, translated into Spanish. N-P1320  $149.95 per kit.  »For more information or to order»

Early Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA) Featuring Dante Grows Up (Version Two Kit)
This kit enables programs to continue ELSA assessment for a second year or may be used as an alternative tool for the first year of assessment (see information above). The assessment tool is Dante Grows Up, which depicts a gentle young dragon on a journey with his friends. The assessment kit provides all the materials needed for pre- and post-assessment in one classroom serving up to 25 children. 

Contents:

• 2 copies of Dante Grows Up
• 1 User Guide
• 2 scoring pads (60 each, Score Sheet and Child Summary forms)
• 12 Class Summary forms
• 60 Family Report forms

N-P1286  $149.95 per kit. »For more information or to order» 

Also available — All-Spanish ELSA Kit Featuring El Cambio en Dante
This kit includes all the components listed above for the standard kit, translated into Spanish. N-P1322  $149.95 per kit. »For more information or to order» 

Also available — Scoring the ELSA: Establishing Reliability (DVD Program)
This DVD is designed to help those new to the ELSA establish reliable scoring. It includes a brief narration describing the instrument plus three authentic episodes in which an adult does a complete ELSA with a child. A complete Spanish version is also included on the DVD, with three additional child episodes. Viewer guide included.
Price: N-P1294; $84.95. »For more information or to order» 

EARLY LITERACY TRAINING

1. Two-day Growing Readers Curriculum (GRC) training $225.00 per person
This two-day workshop provides a detailed look at HighScope's Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, Second Edition. Describes how to the components of GRC including child-centered, content-rich small-group activity plans; vocabulary, quick look, and vocabulary cards; a sample book set; and progress profiles.

Day 1 lays out the whole curriculum — its research base, literacy content, developmental organization, steps for implementation, and ongoing observational assessment tools.

Day 2 focuses specifically on strategies for actively engaging preschool children in small-group activities in comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and concepts about print.

2. One-day ELSA training
$125.00 per person
In this one-day workshop participants will learn how to administer the ELSA assessment in a way that maintains the validity and reliability of the tool. Participants will develop an understanding of this authentic assessment and how the tasks embedded in the storybook tool relate to scientifically based reading research. By viewing video examples of teachers using the ELSA with children, they will see how this unique storybook tool engages preschool children in a task that is personally meaningful, takes place in a real-life context, and occurs during a natural part of their daily activity. 

3. Two-day ELSA training
$225.00 per person
This two-day workshop covers the administration of the ELSA and background information on literacy in more depth.
Note: Professional development in a variety of areas related to early literacy is available. Content and cost are dependent upon a program's needs.

For more information on literacy training, please contact:
Gavin Haque, Director of Educational Services, at training@highscope.org