A follow‐up study of the ABRACADABRA web‐based literacy intervention in Grade 1

This paper reports the follow‐up of a randomised control trial study of the ABRACADABRA web‐based literacy intervention that contrasted synthetic versus analytic phonics (Comaskey, Savage & Abrami, 2009) in kindergarten children from urban low‐SES backgrounds. Participants who received a ‘synthetic’ phonics+phoneme awareness training (n = 26) or an ‘analytic’ phonics+phoneme awareness training literacy intervention (n = 27) were tested on standard measures of literacy 1 year later. Results revealed a significant main effect (p < .01) for the analytic group performing better on passage reading comprehension. Modest advantages for children who received the analytic phonics programme were evident. We obtained an effect size favourably comparable with other studies, after adjusting for intervention duration (ES = .41). It is concluded that analytic phonics programmes may provide modest but significant sustained advantages in literacy for kindergarten children from low‐SES backgrounds.     

The effects of rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching delivered by Learning Support Assistants

This paper evaluates three word‐level teaching programmes delivered by trained Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) for Year 1 children ‘at risk’ of reading difficulties. Rime‐based, phoneme‐based, and ‘mixed’ (rime and phoneme‐based) interventions were contrasted with controls receiving only the National Literacy Strategy. Phonological onset‐rime and phoneme manipulation, spelling, and word and non‐word reading were measured before and after the nine‐week intervention. High rime neighbourhood (HRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘dat’– with many real word rime neighbours) and low rime neighbourhood (LRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘tav’ with few real word neighbours) were used to evaluate onset‐rime‐ or grapheme‐phoneme‐based decoding strategies. Results showed greater phonological onset‐rime skills, letter‐sound knowledge and non‐word reading skills in all LSA‐taught intervention groups. There was no difference between the HRn and LRn non‐words. The only reliable difference between the intervention groups was an advantage in phoneme blending for the rime‐taught group. It was concluded that LSAs can enhance literacy development for 6‐year‐old poor readers. There appears to be no simple association between rime‐ or phoneme‐based teaching intervention and changes in the size of unit used by children following interventions.     

A small-scale exploratory study of educator’s perceptions and expectations of summer-born children in the reception classes of three English primary academies and the strategies used to support them

This small-scale interpretative study, carried out in the reception classes of three English primary academies, examined educator perceptions of summer-born children, their expectations of children on entry to reception classes and whether those expectations were age differentiated. It also investigated the support and intervention strategies used for children in reception classes. The findings showed that the children were viewed in terms of a whole cohort and expectations of the children were not age differentiated, raising equity issues. Educators were pressurised by the ‘school readiness’ metanarrative so that although they spoke of a focus on children’s personal, emotional and social development in practice, their focus was on children’s acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills in whole-class activities and intervention groups, resulting in a conforming, instrumentalist pedagogy at odds with their assertions of a play-based curriculum.     

Early literacy and home visiting during the reception year: supporting ‘difficult to reach’ families

Intervening early when young children experience difficulties with literacy has been highlighted strongly in recent international research, particularly for children from families who live in areas marked by poverty. This study, based in two schools, was designed to support four children judged to be most at risk of struggling with literacy through the provision of weekly home visits (and some extra support in class) during their first year at school. The evidence that the children benefited from this form of intervention is discussed, and it is suggested that the home visiting intervention framework adopted in this study is useful for helping ‘difficult to reach’ families.     

Raising Literacy Attainments in the Early Years: the impact of instructional psychology

The National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998) aims to raise literacy standards by 2002. The expectation is that 80% of Year 6 children will achieve Level 4 or above within the National Curriculum. This is seen to represent ‘zero tolerance of failure’. However, another interpretation of ‘zero tolerance of failure’ is that all children, including the 20% who are predicted to experience difficulties, will reach ageand skill‐appropriate targets in reading. This is the goal adopted for the Early Reading Research (ERR) reported in this article.

The aims of the ERR are to investigate: (i) whether overall reading standards can be improved and (ii) the extent to which reading difficulties can be prevented. Despite all the recent research into phonological awareness and its relationship to reading, there has been very little research into how phonological skills are taught within a broader literacy framework to enable children both to increase their attainments and to prevent the occurrence of problems in learning to read. The ERR is a 2‐year study following a sample of 433 children as they progress from reception into Year 1.

This article reviews recent psychological research on teaching reading, discusses the significance of instructional psychology and reports on the first year of the research when children were in six experimental reception classes implementing the ERR reading framework or six comparison schools following their usual approaches for teaching reading. The experimental group made considerably greater gains in reading on all but one of the assessment measures taken and demonstrated that the incidence of reading difficulties can be reduced quite dramatically, while at the same time raising the attainments of higher achieving pupils.     

Identification of children at risk of dyslexia: the validity of teacher judgements using ‘Phonic Phases’

We report an investigation of the validity of teachers' ratings of children's progress in ‘phonics’ as a screener for dyslexia. Seventy‐three 6‐year‐olds from a whole school population were identified as ‘at risk’ of dyslexia according to teacher judgements of slow progression through phonic phases. Six months later, children's attainments in literacy and phonological skills were compared with those of their typically developing peers matched on age and gender. Teacher assessments of risk were related to individual differences in performance on a standardised test of reading ability. Teacher assessments overestimated ‘risk of dyslexia’, defined as below‐average reading performance. However, teacher judgements, supplemented by tests of phoneme awareness and rapid naming, allowed a sensitive and specific identification of children who subsequently experienced reading difficulties. These findings show teachers can identify risk of dyslexia; the accuracy of this process can be improved by administering two tests of phonological skills.     

The influence of being ready to learn on children’s early school literacy and numeracy achievement

This study investigated the extent to which learning readiness, prior‐to‐school experiences, and child and family characteristics influence children’s literacy and numeracy achievement across the first year of primary school. A sample of 104 kindergarten children was recruited from 16 classrooms and followed from the beginning to the end of their first year of primary school. At the start of school, parents provided information on children’s prior‐to‐school experiences and their preparedness for school; teachers provided ratings of children’s self‐directedness and cooperative participation; and children’s cognitive ability was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – III. Classroom quality was observed and rated mid‐year. Children’s literacy and numeracy achievement was assessed at the end of the school year, using the Who Am I? (WAI?). Regression analyses indicated that WAI? scores were predicted by child age, gender, cognitive ability and teacher‐rated learning readiness at the start of school. Discussion focuses on the importance of the ‘ready child’ for early academic success.     

Early intervention in the home for children at risk of reading failure

In this study, Ruth Fielding‐Barnsley and Nola Purdie evaluate the effects of an eight‐week dialogic reading intervention with an experimental group of 26 at‐risk children in the year prior to formal schooling. The results on measures of literacy taken during the first year of formal schooling, compared with results of a control group of 23 children, will encourage all those working to involve families in early intervention.     

Reviewing evidence‐based practice for pupils with dyslexia and literacy difficulties

There is now a strong evidence base from theory and research providing a ‘template’ to inform practice at Wave 2, guiding the design and implementation of time‐limited effective early intervention programmes for pupils identified as ‘at risk’ of reading difficulties following initial literacy instruction (Rose, 2009). In contrast, there is currently an absence of evidence to guide the more fine‐grained selection and design of specific interventions (Wave 3) for those nonresponders to otherwise effective reading intervention. In this paper, we first outline our current understanding of the characteristics of effective early intervention programmes, and of the pupils who do not respond. Three theoretically motivated single‐case studies from developmental theory and processing models of skilled performance are then considered as a source of evidence providing useful insights into the type of assessment needed to inform the planning of highly individualised intervention programmes for pupils with severe and persisting literacy difficulties.     

The longer‐term effects of reading interventions delivered by experienced teaching assistants

This study explored the responsiveness of children at risk of reading problems in Year 1 to a phonics intervention delivered by teaching assistants (TAs). Based on their non‐word decoding skills in the immediate post‐tests, 74 children were clustered together at the high end as ‘treatment responders’ (n = 49) and at the low end as ‘treatment non‐responders’ (n = 25) and were followed up at the end of Key Stage 1, 16 months after the intervention finished. The treatment‐responder group was superior in all areas of rated attainment and, unlike the non‐responders, achieved national averages in most teacher ratings of attainment. These results suggest that experienced TAs can help two out of three children at risk of reading difficulties.     

Young children at risk of literacy difficulties: factors predicting recovery from risk following phonologically based intervention

This longitudinal project identified young children at risk of literacy difficulties and asked why some of these children fail to benefit from phonologically based intervention. Reception class children were screened to identify a group at risk of literacy difficulties and a matched group of children not at risk. Profiles were compiled for each child including measures of reading, spelling, memory, rapid naming, vocabulary and phonological awareness. A daily, 15‐week, small group intervention was implemented with 67 at‐risk children. Those who had not made progress in their literacy following this intervention participated in a second, individually administered intervention. The results indicate that letter knowledge and expressive vocabulary are key factors mediating a child's ability to benefit from a phonologically based intervention. Findings are discussed in the context of a lexical restructuring account of the development of spoken word recognition.     

Television Literacy Curriculum in Action: a long‐term study

A major concern in the area of television's effect on children has been how children interpret both the content and form of the medium. As a form of representation, television has its own code. Messages are transmitted by manipulating this code. The last decade has seen a growth of interest in ways of combating the influence television has on children by increasing their awareness and understanding of the conventions of the medium. The research described here is a media literacy project that takes children ‘behind the scenes’ of television's ‘magic’ by providing them with the opportunity of producing a programme for community access cable television. This was accomplished by having two groups of grade five children experience a 10‐week media literacy curriculum. Following the curriculum phase, one group ‘produced’ a programme for telecast at the local cable studio. Pre‐, post‐, and long‐term media literacy tests were administered to the two groups and a control group. Results reveal that not only did the groups who had experienced the media literacy curriculum perform significantly better on the test, but also that their scores improved significantly between post‐and long‐term testing. In conclusion, the media literacy curriculum led to significant increases in understanding of media‐related concepts.     

Empowering Classroom Teachers for the 21st Century: meeting the challenge of advancing children's mathematical development1

In this paper, the specific concerns for literacy and numeracy as we enter a new era are addressed through a discussion of an innovative mathematics early intervention programme, which the author and classroom teachers have developed and applied. ‘Mathematics Intervention ‘ is an innovative programme developed by three classroom teachers to identify, then assist, children in year 1 ‘at risk’ of not coping with the current mathematics curriculum. The programme incorporates assessment tools and learning activities based on recent research about children's early numerical learning. It develops the basic concepts of number upon which children build their understanding of mathematics. All three teachers participated in a professional development course, which developed skills that allow teachers to recognise which children have a problem, to identify the underlying problem and to provide appropriate activities to advance their mathematical development. The course highlights the benefits of clinical interviewing as an assessment tool and promotes various strategies that classroom teachers can use to assist the development of numerical concepts. ‘Mathematics Intervention’ is an example of a programme developed and implemented by classroom teachers using new learning processes designed to empower classroom teachers to meet the challenge of advancing all children's mathematical development.     

THE PLOWDEN REPORT'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IDENTIFYING CHILDREN IN NEED OF EXTRA HELP

The inadequacies of an area or school‐based approach to the problem of identifying children who are in need of extra help at school are illustrated with data collected from the infant reception classes of 12 schools. These sample schools were each nominated for one of three categories according to the characteristics of the areas which they served. The two local education authorities involved each nominated an advantaged school, a settled working‐class school, and four deprived schools. The socio‐economic and developmental characteristics of the infant reception class intakes of these categories of school type were examined. The findings were that categories of school type are not as socio‐economically disparate as may often be assumed; and that there appears to be a sizeable relationship between school type and the school entrants’ developmental characteristics, but there are too many exceptions to this general trend to justify the use of school characteristics for identifying ‘children at risk’.     

Parental involvement in literacy development: using media texts

This paper reports on a small‐scale project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three‐ and four‐year‐old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children’s literacy development. Children’s informal literacy practices at home were identified using literacy diaries, which 18 families completed over a four‐week period. These documented children’s reading of both printed and televisual texts. In addition, interviews were conducted with 15 parents and carers. The paper reports on the findings from this stage of the project, which indicate that much of children’s reading was focused on popular cultural and media texts. Media boxes were developed as a literacy resource for use by parents and children in the home. The use of these media boxes by three families was documented and the initial findings, which suggest that the use of such resources draws on families’ cultural capital, discussed.     

Questioning the evidence for a claim in a socio‐scientific issue: an aspect of scientific literacy

Understanding the science in a ‘socio‐scientific issue’ is at the heart of the varied definitions of ‘scientific literacy’. Many consider that understanding evidence is necessary to participate in decision making and to challenge the science that affects people’s lives. A model is described that links practical work, argumentation and scientific literacy which is used as the basis of this research. If students are explicitly taught about evidence does this transfer to students asking questions in the context of a local socio‐scientific issue? What do they ask questions about? Sixty‐five primary teacher training students were given the pre‐test, before being taught the ‘concepts of evidence’ and applying them in an open‐ended investigation and were tested again 15 weeks later. Data were coded using Toulmin’s argument pattern (TAP) and the ‘concepts of evidence’. After the intervention it was found that, in relation to a socio‐scientific issue, they raised significantly more questions specifically about the evidence that lead to the scientists’ claims although questions explicitly targeting the quality of the data were still rare. This has implications for curricula that aim for scientific literacy.     

Empowering early years workers to identify and target areas of difficulty in pre‐school children

This paper reports on a project aimed at providing skills and resources to support nursery staff in identifying areas of strength and need in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children. The six participating nurseries were all in areas of high socio‐economic disadvantage. Staff were trained to administer, score and interpret a wide‐ranging screening inventory. Following the assessment of children at nursery entry, staff were given support in developing appropriate programmes of activities to address the weaknesses and build on the strengths identified for individual children. All the children were reassessed following a period of six months. Although time was a major issue, staff were generally positive about the screening process and recognised the worth of early identification and intervention. While 46% of 173 children screened at the start of the project had significant difficulties in some area of development, only 6.9% remained at risk on the screening measure following tailored input. Systematic screening was identified as important for alerting staff to difficulties that might otherwise go unnoticed.     

Parents’ reading history as an indicator of risk for reading difficulties

Children from families whose members have reading impairments are found to be poorer performers, take less advantage of instruction, and require more time to reach the reading level of children whose relatives are good readers. As a family’s reading history may not be available, a self-report of reading abilities is used to identify children’s background. In this paper, we explored the contribution of phonological, literacy, and linguistic abilities and reported parental reading abilities to predict reading achievement at the end of the school year in a Spanish sample. Children who were starting to read were assessed in a variety of oral language, phonological, and literacy tasks at the beginning and end of the school year. Parents filled out a self-report questionnaire about their reading abilities. Their answers were used to assign children to good or poor reader parent groups (GRP vs PRP). A logistic and ROC analysis were used to assess the variables’ discriminative capability, considering literacy scores at the end of the year as a measure of reading achievement. GRP children obtained higher scores than PRP children did. Performance on tasks of rapid naming assessment (RAN) letters (78.6%), Word Reading (75.7%), and Deletion (75.6%) were the most accurate predictors of children’s reading achievement. IPRA showed slightly lower accuracy (73.8) than did the behavioral measures and as high specificity as RAN letters (96.2%), similarly to the percentages found in previous studies. Although behavioral measures were shown as the best predictors, parents’ self-reports could also provide a quick estimation of family risk of difficulties in literacy acquisition.