Preschool-aged children identified as at risk for later reading difficulties can benefit from supplemental, small-group emergent literacy intervention. As such interventions become commercially available and marketed to preschool programs, it is important to understand their impacts when implemented by intended end users under routine conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) intervention on children’s emergent literacy skills, when implemented by teachers and community aides in authentic preschool classrooms. We randomly assigned 98 classrooms to one of three conditions (NBS! teacher-implemented, NBS! community aide-implemented, or control). Children enrolled in these classrooms who met eligibility criteria and were identified as at risk via an early literacy screener (n = 281) completed pretest and posttest emergent literacy assessments; those assigned to NBS! conditions received intervention from their classroom teacher or a community aide affiliated with a local kindergarten-readiness initiative. Intent-to-treat analyses showed no significant impacts of NBS! on any outcome, and an instrumental variable, as-treated approach showed one significant intervention effect on letter writing. Consequently, we did not replicate results of prior, highly controlled efficacy trials. Findings have implications for revising the NBS! theory of change, conducting dosage and as-treated analyses, and moving research-based interventions toward scale-up.

被确定有以后阅读困难风险的学龄前儿童可以从补充性、小组紧急识字干预中受益。随着此类干预措施变得商业化并推广到学前教育项目，了解其在常规条件下由预期最终用户实施时的影响非常重要。在这项研究中，我们检查了 Nemours BrightStart! 的效果！（国家统计局！）由教师和社区助理在真实的学前教室中实施对儿童新兴读写技能的干预。我们将 98 个教室随机分配到三种条件之一（NBS！教师实施、NBS！社区助理实施或对照）。就读于这些教室的儿童符合资格标准，并通过早期识字筛查程序被确定为有风险（n= 281) 完成了测试前和测试后的新兴读写能力评估；那些分配给国家统计局的人！情况得到了课堂老师或隶属于当地幼儿园准备计划的社区助理的干预。意向治疗分析显示 NBS 没有显着影响！对于任何结果和工具变量，处理方法都显示出对信件写作的显着干预效果。因此，我们没有重复之前高度对照的疗效试验的结果。研究结果对修订国家统计局有影响！变化理论，进行剂量和治疗分析，并将基于研究的干预措施扩大规模。