What is it?
LENA Grow is an innovative, practice-based professional development program designed to help infant, toddler, and preschool educators improve program quality, specifically in building robust, equitable language environments. Educators participate in a five-week reflective feedback cycle, employing LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology, data-rich feedback reports, strengths-based coaching, and early talk strategies to measurably increase conversational turns, a metric strongly predictive of child outcomes and tied directly to high-quality early learning environments. Detailed class- and child-level data help teachers individualize instruction and increase conversational turns.
What is the evidence base?
Children in LENA Grow classrooms show accelerated improvements in their cognitive development, language development, literacy skills, and social-emotional skills. LENA Grow educators show improvements in classroom quality, with an increase in conceptual development, quality of feedback, and language modeling. Upon program completion, educators consistently self-report increases in self-efficacy and job satisfaction.
- Dynia, J. _2022_ The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention with Individualized Coaching in Early Childhood Education Classrooms [White paper]. SproutFive Center for Early Childhood Innovation
- Heilmann, J., &. Moyle, M._2022_Evaluation of LENA Grow in Milwaukee Head Start Classrooms [White paper] Next Door Milwaukee
- Hughes, Marcia, et al. _2023_ Qualitative Evaluation of Hartford Grow Professional Development Model Designed to Improve the ‘Talk Environment’ in Early Childhood Care Settings [White paper]
- LENA Foundation_2024_LENA Grow Program Impact Report
