Testimonials

What Researchers Are Saying

Nemours BrightStart! contributes to the knowledge, scientific evidence, and scholarly resources concerning reading failure in children. Here is a sampling of what researchers are saying about Nemours BrightStart!:

“Nemours BrightStart! provides a tremendous service to the local community through successful screening and early intervention services targeting the promotion of early literacy skills. This work is extremely important given the close correspondence known to exist between the development of early literacy skills and later achievement.

Unique, however, among early intervention services is the enormous contribution Nemours BrightStart! is making to the research literature through the program’s rigorous evaluation of intervention effectiveness. Their initial evaluation of the program’s effectiveness has yielded very promising results showing a difference in reading readiness skills of over 100 percentage points between participants and non-participants. Consider that the average improvement reported by programs evaluated by the What Works Clearinghouse ranges from 1-36 percentage points.

Through Nemours BrightStart!’s carefully conducted research, including experimental and longitudinal research designs, researchers are contributing at the national level to our understanding of best practices in early intervention. I am thrilled to be able to collaborate with this innovative team of experts. Our collaborative efforts focus on better understanding factors related to treatment response among program participants. We would like to better understand why some children who were identified through screening procedures make greater gains as a result of the Nemours BrightStart! intervention than others. Through this work, we will be able to further enhance program efficacy and better serve all children and families."

— Marika Ginsburg-Block, PhD, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Education, School Psychology Program, University of Delaware