Agency Description: The Saint Paul Foundation is Minnesota's largest community foundation. The Saint Paul Foundation collaborates with the Minnesota Community Foundation to identify community issues and help donors fulfill goals in charitable giving.

Project Description: The Words Work! curriculum was developed by staff at the The Saint Paul Foundation to enhance the existing curriculum within four Ramsey County Head Start centers by improving children’s literacy and increasing family involvement in their child’s literacy development. The Words Work! curriculum was so successful that, after two years, it was implemented at all 14 Ramsey Action Partnership Head Start centers.

ACET services: ACET was selected to provide evaluation services for Words Work! which included staff training, data analysis and reporting, and developing check points to ensure that student assessment data were accurately entered, analyzed, and reported. The Words Work! curriculum was developed by staff at the The Saint Paul Foundation to enhance the existing curriculum within four Ramsey County Head Start centers by improving children’s literacy and increasing family involvement in their child’s literacy development. As part of the evaluation, ACET developed a rigorous, longitudinal, quasi-experimental evaluation of the Words Work! curriculum. The design included multiple comparison groups (n=3) and tracked students for approximately eight years, from their year in Head Start (approximately 4 years of age) through 7th grade (approximately 13 years of age). ACET compared students in Head Start and three comparison groups on standardized reading and mathematics test scores. The results of the longitudinal study were later published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.

The Saint Paul Foundation, with additional funding from the Minnesota Legislature and support from the Minnesota Department of Education, implemented the Words Work! curriculum in 12 Minnesota counties during the 2008-2009 school year. ACET was hired again to support data collection and built a customized database to track student assessments across community action program agencies. ACET also analyzed individual students’ progress, the classroom literacy environment data, and implementation fidelity of the program. After data analysis was complete, ACET provided individual student progress information for each Head Start teacher. The evaluation of the Words Work! expansion is in progress; in the spring of 2013 Words Work! students will have completed the mandatory state assessment of reading and mathematics skills and their performance on this test will be compared to a group of Minnesota students who did not receive the Words Work! curriculum.
 

ACET's contributions are highlighted on the following websites:

Words Work! Brochure (The Saint Paul Foundation)

Preschool Literacy Program Shows Long-Term Results (Minnesota Public Radio)

Journal of Education of Students Placed At Risk, 13, 452-481 (published in a peer-reviewed journal)

Please visit The Saint Paul Foundation's website for more information about Words Work!

Date of Service: 1999-Present