PBS Kids’ series WordWorld series is all about teaching literacy and a recent study seems to have proven its educational effectiveness.

The study, funded by the US Department of Education, found that the series significantly strengthens early literacy skills in preschoolers. The series is part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, which takes a look at technological effectiveness to enhance these literacy skills in young children. Initial findings have revealed that regular exposure to WordWorld helped kids double their oral vocabulary skills and triple their ability to read specific words from the show during the trial period. Additionally kids in disadvantaged households with English as a second language saw increases in phonemic awareness, along with oral and reading vocabulary.

The Michael Cohen Group collaborated with university partners in a randomized controlled trial to conduct the study involving 795 children in 105 preschool programs with different demographics across the US. Preschools were randomly assigned into groups who watched WordWorld and those who did not.