Sesame Street - Research

Sesame Street has operated with a rigorous research standard since its foundation, to ensure that the programming is addressing the needs of its viewers. The Education and Research (E&R) department of Sesame Workshop is currently headed by Rosemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D. and Jeanette Betancourt, Ed.D. Truglio states that the level of interaction between E&R, Content, and Production is "[i]ntimately hand-in-hand. They are not creating anything without our knowledge, our guidance and our review. We are involved in content development across all media platforms." This close-knit organizational structure has been an integral part of Sesame Workshop since it began.

Writers create plots for Sesame Street scenes and segments, and the content is reviewed by the E&R team, which has authority to reject a script and force rewrites if the content is not acceptable. When a script is factually correct, but includes gray areas that may not be comprehensible to children, the writers and E&R work together to tweak everything. "A balance between content and humor" is always pursued, according to Truglio.

In a national study of American mothers with children under age six, 64% responded that they strongly believe Sesame Street is a leader and innovator in educational methods.

Since 1998 Sesame Workshop has provided a great deal of content on its website and others such as Random House. The content is targeted at parents and children ranging in age from birth to school-age, and includes information on dozens of topics, such as appropriate parenting techniques, dealing with children's fears, development of literacy, and maintenance of good health.

Research is funded by government grants, corporate and private donations (including, recently, The Prudential Foundation for the Sesame Beginnings program), and the profits gained from the sale of Sesame Workshop merchandise.

We hope you found this interesting and would like to read more about Sesame Street. Click here for the twelfth section in this Sesame Street series. Or, you can use the link below to return to our Reading Selections II page. You can look there for other reading that interests you. If you are unable to find anything there, we suggest you set out out on the great information highway, the Internet, and search for something that does interest you.

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