LENA in Florida

LENA is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform early childhood education.

In 2016, LENA partnered with the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County to pilot a brand new professional development program called LENA Grow. In the years since, LENA's impact in Florida — and around the world — has grown dramatically. The sky is the limit ...

9,800+

Children

2,400+

Teachers

1,200+

Classrooms

+62%

Conversational Turns

27

Partner Organizations

7

Research Universities
LENA's impact is powered by partnerships.

⬤ LENA Grow offers evidence-based professional development for early childhood educators.
⬤ LENA SP offers reliable, detailed language environment data in research and clinical applications.

LENA Grow Improves Kindergarten Readiness

Preschoolers who participated in LENA Grow were ~2x more likely to demonstrate kindergarten readiness. Evaluation sites included school districts in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Assessments included the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, i-Ready®, and BRIGANCE®.

illustration of a kindergartener in a picture frame smiling

    On the Ground in Florida

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    Coaching for Impact in Sarasota County: Increased TS GOLD® and CLASS® scores
    “Actually seeing the numbers on the paper was eye-opening,” said Kathy Cestaro, Early Childhood Specialist at the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County. “The idea that ‘you can’t improve what you don’t measure’ has really rung true for me, and it’s rung true for teachers.” Read more ...
    LENA Grow teachers sit on the floor of a classroom reading with infants.

    With Language and Social Delays on the Rise, Here’s One Part of the Solution
    “We know that children need to feel safe in order to feel connected, in order to learn," said Nilda Price, Head Start/Early Head Start Director of Training at Episcopal Children’s Services in Florida. "So when the teacher is focused on those individual children and is spending a little more time with them because the [LENA Grow] report has identified that they haven’t, it’s helping to build those connections.” Read more ...
    children smiling in toddler classroom wearing LENA vests

    New report from Escambia County on LENA Grow Shows CLASS® Gains
    “Children are distinguishing between the different emotions and verbalizing what they want," said Jennifer Jones, Director at Restoring Hands Learning & Development Center in Pensacola. "The success story is so long that it’ll take hours to talk about the LENA Grow Program." Read more ...

    Research

    Breakthroughs that make a measurable difference.

    The same technology behind the LENA Grow program also powers research studies at universities around the world, including many of Florida's top institutions. To date, LENA technology has made possible more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, expanding the field's knowledge of early language development, cognitive development, autism spectrum disorder, and more.

    Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

    Early Literacy Is in LENA's DNA

    LENA was founded in 2004 by the late Terry Paul and his wife, Judi. Terry and Judi were entrepreneurs, having founded Renaissance Learning before LENA. They pioneered such reading, math, and testing products as the Star Assessments, which are used in 70,000 schools in the United States and more than 50 countries worldwide. LENA is the culmination of Terry and Judi's vision for boosting school readiness.

    LENA programs have been shown to boost Star Early Literacy assessment scores in Huntsville, Ala.

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    LENA Grow Reduces Challenging Behaviors

    Comparing assessments conducted before and after a single five-week LENA Grow sequence, children saw statistically significant increases in scores reflecting healthy social behaviors (+6.2). Those children also saw statistically significant increases (+18.5) between the beginning and end of the school year. Children who participated in more than one five-week LENA Grow sequence over the course of the year saw larger gains (+33.3), suggesting an added benefit of revisiting the LENA Grow program throughout the year.

    Connect with Gina Gates,
    Regional Partnerships Director
    GinaGates@LENA.org