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Nemours Children's Health | Nemours KidsHealth

Tools for Educators

About Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart!

A Unique, Proven Approach to Promoting Reading Success

With the vision of helping every child become a reader, Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! specializes in developing research-based products, resources and services to promote a strong reading foundation for children. Our services include: 

  • Unique and highly effective instructional curricula for infants through first grade
  • Professional development for educators and training on all our curricula
  • A family literacy website Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! to assist families in building a strong literacy foundation for children, from birth through age 5.

Curricula

Our multisensory curricula include practical, research-based tools that integrate child development, early education and pediatric health principles to build early literacy skills.

Infant and Toddler Curricula: These comprehensive curricula focus on increasing quality interactions between caregivers and the children in their care while building a foundation for strong language and literacy skills.

Level One Curriculum (Preschool)

This supplemental curriculum (20 lessons) is designed to boost early literacy skills for preschoolers ages 3–5. It is used in small groups to teach foundational literacy skills to emergent readers.

Level Two Curriculum (K–1st grade)

Level Two Curriculum (K–1st grade): This supplemental curriculum (36 lessons) continues to build on concepts for beginning readers. It guides kindergarteners and first graders toward mastery of foundational literacy skills without fear of failure.

Professional Development & Research

To help educators implement our curricula, we have professional development opportunities that can be tailored to meet the needs of your program.

Curriculum and Implementation Training for Teachers
Our hands-on teacher training takes a deep dive into each of our four levels of curricula so that your staff has the tools to apply it successfully.

Training Descriptions

Email us to request a quote.

Certified Trainer Course
We offer “train the trainer” courses for administrators or coaching staff looking to provide training within their organization.

Training Descriptions

Email us to request a quote.

Research

NCRBS! has undergone rigorous research for many years, and results show that it significantly boosts early literacy skills in at-risk young children. For example, in successive studies involving about 3,300 preschoolers who were behind in their early literacy skills, we found that nearly 2/3 moved to the age-appropriate range, with an average gain of 114%, after participating in the NRBS! program. This research has been published in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals:

  • Bailet, L, Repper, K, Piasta, S, & Murphy, S (2009). Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 42(4), 336–355. doi:10.1177/0022219409335218
  • Bailet, L, Repper, K, Murphy, S, Piasta, S, & Zettler-Greeley, C (2013). Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure: Years two and three of a multi-year study. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 46(2), 133–153. doi:10.1177/0022219411407925
  • Zettler-Greeley, CM, Bailet, LL, Murphy, S, DeLucca, T, & Branum-Martin, L (2018): Efficacy of the Nemours BrightStart! Early Literacy Program: Treatment outcomes from a randomized trial with at-risk prekindergartners. Early Education and Development, DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2018.1475202

Family Literacy Website — Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart.org

Our website provides free tools and resources to help families with children from birth to age 5 prepare for reading success. The website includes:

  • A free preschool reading screener for families of kids ages 3 to 5. The screener makes it easy for parents to check their child’s reading readiness skills and then delivers a plan that helps families keep kids on track.
  • At-home activities sorted by age and skill level that support literacy development in a fun and engaging way.
  • Book recommendations with tips on how to read aloud to children. Related activities help reinforce pre-reading skills.
  • Parenting articles from our experts to help get children on the path to reading success.

For Additional Information

Email: nemoursbrightstart@nemours.org

Our Impact: Developing Happy, Healthy Readers

38

Number of states where Reading BrightStart!'s tools and resources are being used.

5,100+

Number of Early Childhood Educators trained to use Reading BrightStart! curricula.

287,000+

Number of children supported with Reading BrightStart!

20,100+

Number of parents who have assessed their 3-, 4-, or 5-year-old child’s reading readiness skills with the Reading BrightStart! Preschool Reading Screener

Bridging Health & Education. Created by experts in education and pediatric health, Reading BrightStart! is the only early literacy intervention on the market that focuses on building literacy skills from birth as a means of improving long-term health.

Closing Gaps in Preschool Reading Skills. Research has demonstrated that children whose reading skills are supported through Reading BrightStart! improve their foundational literacy skills enough to move them out of the “struggling learner” label and into what is considered strong and very strong skill acquisition.

Based in Pediatric Best Practices. While many literacy-building interventions are computer-based or app-based, Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! excludes screens, in keeping with best practices in pediatric health and brain development.

No-Cost Support to Parents. Among competitors, Reading BrightStart! is the only intervention that offers parents/caregivers a free web-based preschool reading skills assessment with recommendations based on results