LENA Grow Program Outcomes
Evaluating LENA Grow's Effectiveness
From language and literacy development for children to job satisfaction and retention for teachers, LENA Grow improves outcomes — period.
How can you know? Because of all the evaluation data below. In early education, what gets measured gets improved.
Table of Contents
Language Development
Finding: Children in LENA Grow classrooms experienced accelerated language development.
Assessment: Teaching Strategies GOLD®
Evaluation Partner: Next Door, a Head Start grantee in Wisconsin
Sample: 34 children in LENA Grow classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2022
Literacy Skills
Finding: Children in LENA Grow classrooms saw significant increases in early literacy scores.
Assessment: Teaching Strategies GOLD®
Evaluation Partner: SproutFive, a child development center in Ohio
Treatment Group: 40 children in LENA Grow classrooms
Control Group: 40 children in non-LENA Grow classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2022
Kindergarten Readiness
Finding: Children in LENA Grow classrooms were approximately two times more likely to demonstrate readiness for kindergarten.
Assessments: Kindergarten Readiness Assessment
Evaluation Partner: Cherokee County School District, S.C.
Treatment Group: 121 children in LENA Grow classrooms
Control Group: 204 children in non-LENA Grow classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2024
Cognitive Skills
Finding: Children in LENA Grow classrooms experienced accelerated cognitive development.
Assessment: Teaching Strategies GOLD®
Evaluation Partners:
- Episcopal Children’s Services, a Head Start grantee and CCR&R in Florida
- Next Door, a Head Start grantee in Wisconsin
- SproutFive, a child development center in Ohio
- Easterseals DC MD VA, a network of child development centers
Treatment Group: 422 children in LENA Grow classrooms
Control Group: 391 children in non-LENA Grow classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2023
Dual Language Learners
Finding: LENA Grow significantly reduced the percentage of dual language learners experiencing language isolation, from 21% to 4%.
Sample: 109 children in LENA Grow classrooms with monolingual teachers
Year of Evaluation: 2024
Classroom Quality (Preschool)
Finding: LENA Grow preschool classrooms saw significant increases in all three CLASS® domains, especially Instructional Support.
Assessment: CLASS®
Evaluation Partner: Fort Worth Independent School District, Texas
Treatment Group: 4 LENA Grow classrooms
Control Group: 7 non-LENA Grow classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2019
Classroom Quality (Infant and Toddler)
Finding: LENA Grow classrooms saw significant increases in the Responsive Caregiving and Engaged Support for Learning domains of CLASS®.
Assessment: CLASS®
Evaluation Partner: Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, Florida
Sample: 8 infant classrooms and 5 toddler classrooms
Year of Evaluation: 2017
Teacher Job Retention
Finding: Teachers who participated in LENA Grow were approximately two times more likely to still be in their roles six months later.
Evaluation Partner: Porter-Leath, a Head Start grantee in Tennessee
Sample: 76 LENA Grow teachers and 40 non-LENA Grow teachers
Year of Evaluation: 2024
Teacher Job Satisfaction
Finding: Teachers who participated in LENA Grow reported feeling significantly more valued as early childhood professionals.
Assessment: Teacher Perception Survey
Evaluation Partner: AppleTree Institute, a research institute and child care network in Washington, D.C.
Treatment Group: 17 LENA Grow teachers
Control Group: 10 non-LENA Grow teachers
Year of Evaluation: 2023
Teacher Job Confidence
Finding: Teachers who participated in LENA Grow reported feeling significantly more confident that their expertise and experience “have put [them] on the cutting edge of the workforce.”
Assessment: Teacher Perception Survey
Evaluation Partner: SproutFive, a child development center in Ohio
Treatment Group: 9 LENA Grow teachers
Control Group: 11 non-LENA Grow teachers
Year of Evaluation: 2022
Independent Evaluations of LENA Grow
LENA conducts many evaluations in partnership with other organizations. In addition, independent researchers have conducted evaluations of LENA Grow.
Evaluation of LENA Grow in Milwaukee Head Start Classrooms
Qualitative Evaluation of Hartford Grow Professional Development Model Designed To Improve the ‘Talk Environment’ in Early Childhood Care Settings
The Impact of Language-Based Intervention With Individualized Coaching in Early Childhood Education Classrooms
Ready to transform your early childhood program?
Use the scheduler to book your LENA Grow Demo.
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