$3M Grant Awarded to Research Team to Advance Early Literacy Education
Many children struggle with reading due to underdeveloped phonological and phonemic awareness. Addressing this issue is crucial for preventing reading difficulties. To tackle this problem, Dr. Beth Phillips of Florida State University (FSU) and Dr. Shayne Piasta of The Ohio State University (OSU) have been awarded a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This newly NIH-funded study, titled Optimizing Early Phonological Awareness Instruction to Support Reading and Spelling Acquisition, or Project OPAL for short, involves launching two groundbreaking studies focused on optimizing phonological awareness interventions. These studies aim to resolve current scientific debates on what content should be included in these interventions, when they should be administered, and ultimately provide guidance toward more effective solutions.
Dr. Phillips and Dr. Piasta have a long-standing professional relationship. Dr. Piasta earned both her M.S. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from FSU and the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). Their research interests significantly overlap, with both scholars specializing in early literacy and language development, preschool curriculum, and instructional methods. They are renowned for their contributions to establishing early literacy learning standards. “I am thrilled to be collaborating on this grant with Shayne Piasta at OSU; we have worked together on writing projects previously and are looking forward to combining our expertise on this new project,” said Dr. Beth Phillips. “I am also very excited to have received this award with my long-time colleague Dr. Chris Schatschneider, and newer colleague Dr. Lakeisha Johnson. This is truly a whole team effort.”
Dr. Shayne Piasta, OSU, Principal Investigator
Dr. Beth Philips, FSU, co-principal investigator
Dr. Lakeisha Johnson, FSU, co-investigator
Dr. Chris Schatschneider, FSU, co-investigator
Decades of research show that phonemic awareness is critical for learning to read. However, there's still much to learn about the best ways and times to support phonological awareness development in children. Using randomized controlled trials, Philips and Piasta will compare three different interventions: phonological sensitivity combined with phonemic awareness, phonemic awareness only, and delayed phonemic awareness. These interventions will be evaluated based on their impact on children's phonemic awareness, reading, and spelling skills. The studies will also consider the timing and target population for these interventions.
The primary aim of Project OPAL is to determine the best approach for improving phonemic awareness and subsequent reading and spelling skills. The secondary aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions for preschool versus kindergarten children. Participating preschool and kindergarten children will provide comprehensive data through various tests and screenings over time.
This research is a significant step toward creating more effective interventions, helping every child reach their full potential as confident, capable readers. The results will advance our understanding of phonological awareness development and its role in reading and spelling acquisition. Moreover, these findings will guide educational standards, teaching strategies, and intervention designs, ensuring they are based on solid scientific evidence. Ultimately, this research aims to, “put concrete, actionable information into educators’ hands about how to best support initial reading instruction in these critical preschool and kindergarten years to ensure that children get the high-quality instructional start they all deserve,” said Phillips.
The Florida Center for Reading Research is a multidisciplinary research center at Florida State University that explores all aspects of reading — literacy-related skills for typically developing readers and those who struggle, studies of effective prevention and intervention, and psychometric work on formative assessment.
