World of Words (WOW)¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 against) · 7 studies (6 causal, 1 quant-synthesis),q3· 7 of 7 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study
Description¶
A supplementary prekindergarten curriculum developed by the World of Words project that builds vocabulary, concept knowledge, and science content knowledge through topic-centered conversations and shared book readings.
Components¶
- World of Words supplementary prekindergarten curriculum: World of Words is a supplementary curriculum for prekindergarten children that, per the report, "aims to accelerate the development of children's vocabulary knowledge, concept knowledge, and content knowledge in science through topic-centered conversations and shared book readings." It consists of three recurring session components: "Talk together" (initial conversation building background knowledge with video clips, picture cards, and explicit definitions), "Read together" (shared book reading of predictable, narrative, and informational texts), and "Reflect together" (open-ended questions connecting learning across topics). Teachers implement 12- to 15-minute whole-group circle-time sessio (World of Words (WOW))
Claims¶
- World of Words produced a statistically significant medium effect on a comprehension composite measure (effect size 0.54) after 12 weeks [+M]
- World of Words produced a statistically significant medium effect on expressive vocabulary (Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test, 4th Edition; effect size 0.43) in a scaled-up 12-site study [+M]
- World of Words produced a statistically significant medium-to-large effect on a researcher-developed vocabulary inductive reasoning test (effect size 0.66) [+M]
- World of Words showed no statistically significant effects on the Woodcock-Johnson Picture Vocabulary Subtest or the PPVT-IV [-W]
- World of Words has positive effects on the language outcome domain for prekindergarten children, with an average effect size of 0.43 across four studies [+M]
- World of Words produced a large, statistically significant effect on taught-word sorting performance (effect size 0.94) in a two-site Head Start study [+M]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. (2023, August). World of Words. https://whatworks.ed.gov
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
world-of-words-wow |
title |
World of Words (WOW) |
description |
A supplementary prekindergarten curriculum developed by the World of Words project that builds vocabulary, concept knowledge, and science content knowledge through topic-centered conversations and shared book readings. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/world-of-words-curriculum-element |
product_kind |
curriculum |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — what-works-clearinghouse-institute-of |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.