Literacy is a basic fundamental skill for academic, professional, and social success in our culture. Children with low exposure to reading can experience reading difficulties, diminished cognitive development, and poor academic outcomes. Inconsistency in the conceptualization of early literacy has hampered research and development of successful, translational early literacy interventions, particularly for children from low-income households. Preschoolers from low-income, urban backgrounds (n = 426), including 221 females and 205 males aged 35 - 60 months (M = 47.46, SD = 6.44) participated in an investigation of the latent factorial structure of early literacy. The study also explored whether children’s psychological strengths and their family’s literacy-related behaviors support improvement of early literacy skills following completion of a literacy development intervention. Results support a three-factor model of early literacy proposed by Sénéchal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, and Colton (2001). This study also found that, despite the influence of age, sex, and family income, children’s psychological strengths and family literacy behaviors are predictive of early literacy skills comprised of this three-factor structure. However, only children’s psychological strengths predicted improvements in early literacy scores at post-test. Implications for preschool interventions and measurement of early and family literacy constructs are discussed.

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The purpose of this qualitative research study was to describe and explain the characteristics of an effective professional development model in an early intervention training program. The focus of the study was on particular aspects of literacy instruction that were emphasized during training sessions and trainer and teacher perceptions of the Accelerated Literacy Learning (ALL) program. This study examined the elements of training that two teachers chose to transfer to their classrooms, as well as modifications they chose to make, in the year following training in an effort to gain further insight into successful teacher training practices. The following research questions guided this study: 1. How do teachers who have received early intervention training for two semesters apply this knowledge in their classrooms during the following school year? 2. What do teachers choose to use and not use from the training program and why? 3. What modifications of the program do teachers make, if any, and why? 4. What are the perceptions of trainers about an early intervention training program? To obtain answers to these research questions, I conducted individual and focus group interviews with teachers and trainers, made observations of training sessions, analyzed course documents, and observed two teachers in their classrooms in the year following training. These data were analyzed using qualitative analysis procedures. I followed a phenomenological theoretical approach and reported my findings through descriptive case studies. The study findings indicated that teachers chose to use many elements of training in their classrooms in the year following training. It was discovered that the elements that the teachers chose to use in training were the elements that the trainers emphasized in training sessions. The findings also indicated that teachers made modifications to the lesson format that they were taught in training. The segment of the lesson that the teachers chose to modify was one that was not as prescriptive in training as other lesson segments. The trainers did not spend as much time discussing the writing segment of the lesson format as they did the other segments and consequently the teachers made modifications.

A small rural school district in the southwestern part of the United States required teachers to provide highly effective literacy instruction by implementing an evidence-based reading program called Journeys. With consistently low reading achievement, it was unclear whether teachers were implementing Journeys as prescribed. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teacher implementation of the Journeys program for students at an elementary school in the district. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was Clay’s emergent literacy theory. The conceptual framework included 5 strands of the Journeys reading curriculum, which was derived from Clay’s theory. A modified formative program evaluation case study was conducted. Nine teachers who had taught reading and 2 administrators who supervised reading teachers were purposefully selected for semistructured interviews. Coding and analysis of interview data indicated that more than half of the teachers were not implementing Journeys with fidelity. Themes that emerged from the interviews were; inconsistent understanding of evidence-based literacy instruction, lack of collaborative planning, teacher’s use of an alternate phonics-based resource, focus on technology integration, lack of teacher buy-in, and lack of teacher training in implementation of the Journeys program. Based on findings, a 3-day professional development training was developed to provide training in implementing Journeys’ underlying evidence-based strategies. In regard to social change, the study findings and project could assist school leaders in determining guidelines for the implementation of evidence-based reading curricula. The study findings and project could assist school leaders and teachers in effective implementation of Journeys and providing quality literacy instruction to enhance student learning in the district.

Proficiency in literacy is paramount during a child's education. Lacking proficiency can have lasting effects. At both the state and local level, continuing gaps in student achievement in literacy have been documented. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to focus on kindergarten teachers and administrators' early literacy strategies, specifically current practices in early literacy skills and possible resources needed in early literacy to lessen the gap between White students and ethnic minority and students who qualify for free/reduced meals. The constructivist framework was the platform used to investigate teacher and administrator understanding of the 6 early literacy skills, their understanding of current literacy building instructional practices/strategies related to those skills, and possible needs for resources related to the six early literacy skills. The guiding question for this study was: Despite targeted instruction, dedicated time for daily literacy instruction, and tiered interventions, why does the literacy gap exist in kindergarten? A qualitative case study design was used for this project study with a convenience sample of five participants. Semistructured interviews were conducted and transcribed. Open coding was used to identify themes. Major themes emerged including instructional support, use of multimodal curriculums, strong teacher/student relationships, and consideration of issues outside the instruction and curriculum such as mental health of students. Recommendations were made in the form of a position paper to identify possible changes, modifications, and items to keep. A major implication when considering positive social change is the collaborative work from all stakeholders. With this position paper, the district can migrate from reactive strategies in third grade to proactive strategies in kindergarten to lessen the literacy gap between student subgroups.

The purpose of this study was to examine the following: (a) What is the nature of Kindergarten and First grade teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices regarding early literacy learning and teaching?; (b) What is the relationship between Kindergarten and First grade teachers’ beliefs and self-reported early literacy teaching practices?; and (c) How do teachers’ educational backgrounds and professional development experiences explain the relationship between their beliefs and practices in early literacy learning and teaching? Three instruments were administered to the participants in this study. The Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (Deford, 1979), hereafter known as the TORP, was used to measure teachers’ pedagogical beliefs about the teaching and learning of reading. The Preschool Literacy Practices Checklist (Burgess, Lundgren, Lloyd, & Pianta, 2001), hereafter known as the PLPC, was used to measure teachers’ self-reported literacy instructional practices. A survey questionnaire I designed was used to obtain descriptive information about the participants in this study. Data were collected from forty-seven in-service Kindergarten and First grade teachers. The results of the TORP data from this study indicated that 6% of the participants represented the decoding perspective, 92% represented the skills perspective and 2% represented the wholistic perspective. Correlation scores from the PLPC regarding teachers’ beliefs and practices show there was no significant correlation between teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices in the classroom. Additionally, the findings showed there is a relationship between teachers’ educational backgrounds and the reading literacy practices teachers view as important or essential in the early grades such as understanding the meaning of words, recognizing basic sight words, understanding concepts of print, and identifying the elements of a story.

This study examined the efficacy of the Sound Foundations program, implemented by parents, for increasing phonological awareness (PA). Three kindergarten students identified with PA deficits and their mothers served as participants. Parents implemented Sound Foundations twice per week for five and a half weeks. The effects of the intervention were evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design. PA was measured using the Phoneme Segmentation Fluency measure of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Results showed that two students showed increases over time in phonemes per minute after the parent intervention. A third student did not show substantial mprovement. None of the students reached established levels of PA. Treatment integrity and social validity data also were collected. These data indicated that parent participants carried out the intervention appropriately and that both parents and student liked the intervention program.

Social-emotional competence has received increased attention as being critical to a student's success in the classroom. Social-emotional strengths are multidimensional and include assets such as social competence, self-regulation, empathy, and responsibility; however, previous research has not investigated which of these strengths contribute most to a student's academic success. Additionally, limited research has investigated the use of multiple informants (e.g., parents and teachers) to determine whose perceptions are more predictive of academic achievement in kindergarten students. This study examined the relationship between social-emotional strengths, as rated by parents and teachers on the SEARS (Merrell, 2011), and academic outcomes, using the AIMSweb Tests of Early Literacy (Shinn & Shinn, 2008) and Missing Number Fluency (Clarke & Shinn, 2004b), in kindergarten students (n = 154). A moderate, positive relationship between parent and teacher ratings of social-emotional strengths was obtained. When prior achievement was removed from the regression equation, social competence, as measured by parents, was the only significant predictor of current achievement in early literacy. No social-emotional strength, as rated by parents, was a significant predictor of early math achievement regardless of including or removing prior achievement from the regression equation. Additionally, teacher-rated total strengths were predictive of current achievement in reading, when controlling for prior achievement, and for math, when prior achievement was removed from the equation. Teacher ratings of total strengths were thus found to be more predictive than parent ratings of academic achievement in reading, but not math. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study examined the effects of a parent-implemented intervention on preschool children's development of letter-naming and phonological awareness skills. Six parent-child dyads with children enrolled in a Head Start Program in West Central Florida were selected to participate in the study. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of an intervention package that included activities focusing on: (1) using mnemonics to learn letter names and (2) developing phonological awareness of the onsets of words through parent questioning and feedback. Phonological awareness development was measured using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills First Sound Fluency (DIBELS-FSF) and letter-naming ability was measured using the DIBELS Letter Knowledge (DIBELS-LK) probes. Results showed that five of the six students responded favorably to the intervention, increasing their growth rate on at least one of the two measures. The final child showed little change in trends across the phases. Additionally, data was collected regarding intervention integrity of intervention implementation as well as social validity, or the acceptance and usefulness, of the intervention. Intervention integrity data revealed that the majority of parents completed the intervention with high levels of fidelity, although variability across parents was noted. Social validity data indicated that the parents found the program helpful and effective. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-35).