xiii, 189 p. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call numbers: KNIGHT LB1573 .G238 2007 / This study uses cost-effectiveness tools to support school site decision-makers. It looks at four reading protocols for first and second graders using common outcomes of early reading proficiency. Similar outcome measures are a requirement of cost-effectiveness analysis but are a common shortcoming of program evaluations as presented in the literature. The comparison of Success For All, a Reading First protocol, and two locally designed instructional protocols gives the reader an opportunity to review the reading alternatives. The review is undertaken to highlight program costs ranging from difficult to discern indirect costs to readily accessible budget expenditures. The qualities of good reading programs are characterized and the essential elements of cost-effectiveness tools delineated before applying their theoretical principles to four schools in a large Northwest city. / Adviser: Gerald Tindal

Studies of preschool children have shown early speech and language deficits in children with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP). For some children, the deficits during kindergarten diminish as they begin school while some children continue to show delays. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between speech and language skills and early reading skills of phonological awareness, letter identification, and rapid naming in children with and without CLP. The subjects, four kindergarten children with and four without CLP, were administered a battery of speech, language, early reading skills, and nonverbal cognition measures. Two-way analysis of variance for groups and matched pairs and correlational analyses were performed. The results revealed that the cleft group performed poorer than the noncleft group on most of the speech, language, and early reading measures. Significant correlations were found between the speech and grammatical language measures and the early reading measures.

Reading has long been acknowledged to be a critical skill that is best acquired early in life. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports, American public school children continue to struggle to master the basics of reading. Although federal funding in real dollars has increased consistently over time, reading scores have not followed suit, suggesting that fiscal resources have not been applied successfully to the variables that are directly related to reading acquisition and achievement. The current state of affairs therefore suggests the need for identifying a fiscally-targetable, instructionally-relevant variable with a direct, causal relationship to early-reading achievement. One way to determine whether such a relationship exists between two variables is by means of dose-response methodology. Although this methodology has not been broadly implemented in educational research, it is attractive because it allows for the formal characterization and comparison of cause-effect relationships, and may also inform practice in readily implementable ways. Researchers have noted that time spent learning (TSL), and in particular academic learning time (ALT), is a promising candidate for a dose-response relationship with student achievement in early reading. Although ALT holds promise, there have traditionally been significant difficulties in operationalizing and quantifying it. The growing prevalence of academic software in the American public classroom holds promise for overcoming these challenges and provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that there is a dose-response relationship between ALT and student achievement in early reading.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL) intervention method to improve consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) reading in four students receiving Tier 3 services. The SEEL intervention method was also combined with the use of digital books on an iPad to investigate the effects of using technology in reading intervention sessions. Previous research indicates effectiveness for the foundational principles of SEEL, which include instruction in engaging, meaningful contexts that provide frequent and intense opportunities to practice. This research involved 4 kindergarten students who qualified for Tier 3 services based on their performance on an index of difficulty in early literacy skills. The study contrasted trained with untrained literacy targets of comparable difficulty and was conducted as a single-subject multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design. Intervention was delivered three times a week for 15-20 minutes, depending on the engagement of the participants. An analysis of the results showed improvement in three out of four participants in their reading ability of the target CVC words. It gave mixed results as to the effects of using technology in combination with the reading intervention. The analysis also looked at student engagement during both the hands-on manipulation of the materials and the reading and writing tasks performed on the iPad. It found that the engagement between these two parts of each session was similar; if a student had poor engagement for the SEEL intervention, he or she also had poor engagement for the iPad portion, and vice versa. This study provides further insight into the efficacy of SEEL and the use of technology; it also provides suggestions for future research in the area of reading intervention.

No description available.

A prerequisite in today´s society is to be able to read and write in order to be able to develop fully into a participant community citizen. The aim of the Swedish curriculum is for the pupils to learn to read and write so that they can benefit from the education (Skolverket, 2011a). The school should be able to meet all children´s differences and needs to fulfill this. Several research studies have shown that the earlier the pupils in the risk zone for reading difficulties are identified and the earlier cost-effective reading interventions are implemented the lower the risk of school failure. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether a specific teaching package supports the development of pupil´s knowledge of letters, letter sounds and word decoding. In addition, the pupil´s experiences of participation in the reading intervention were studied. The study included seven pre-school class pupils who were at risk for reading difficulties, they were randomized into a experimentgroup of four and a controlgroup of three pupils. When collecting data, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The pupils conducted a pre- and posttest in the form of the Swedish National Agency for Education´s mapping material for the preschool class (Skolverket, 2018). In addition, observation of the reading data sessions and interviews with the pupils were used after this was completed. As far as the measurable results about the pupil´s knowledge development were concerned there was a positive result, but it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the impact of the reading intervention.  Regarding the pupil´s experiences of the reading intervention they were positive to both the participation and reading. One conclusion we draw from this is that the playful element of the reading intervention together with the multisensory supplement probably contributed to the pupil´s finding it both joyful and motivating. From a special educational perspective early reading intervention enables inclusion and participation. / En förutsättning för att kunna utvecklas till en delaktig samhällsmedborgare är att kunna läsa och skriva. Ett övergripande mål i läroplanen är att eleverna tillägnar sig skriftspråket vilket är ett medel för att kunna tillgodogöra sig utbildningen (Skolverket, 2011a). Skolan ska kunna möta alla barns olikheter så att de får den undervisning och det stöd de behöver för att kunna erövra och utveckla läs- och skrivförmågan. Flera studier har visat att ju tidigare eleverna i riskzonen för lässvårigheter identifieras och ju tidigare kostnadseffektiva läsinsatser genomförs, desto mindre risk för framtida skolmisslyckanden. Syftet med denna studie var att analysera huruvida ett specifikt undervisningspaket stöder utvecklingen av elevernas kunskaper om bokstäver, ljud och ordavkodning. Dessutom studerades elevernas erfarenheter av deltagande i läsinsatsen. Studien omfattade sju förskoleelever som bedömdes vara i riskzonen för lässvårigheter vilka bildade en experimentgrupp om fyra elever och en kontrollgrupp om tre elever. Vid insamling av data användes både kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder. Skolverkets kartläggningsmaterial för förskoleklassen (Skolverket, 2018) användes som för- och eftertest. Dessutom gjordes observationer av läsinsatsen samt elevintervjuer efter avslutad läsinsatsperiod. De mätbara resultaten kring elevernas kunskapsutveckling visade ett positivt resultat, men det gick inte att dra några slutsatser kring undervisningspaketets effektivitet. Utifrån resultatet kring elevernas upplevelser av läsinsatsen fann vi att eleverna var positiva till både läsinsatsen och läsning. En slutsats vi drar av detta är att det lekfulla inslaget i läsinsatsen tillsammans med det multisensoriska tillägget förmodligen har bidragit till att eleverna tyckte att det både var lustfyllt och motiverande. Ur ett specialpedagogiskt perspektiv är det angeläget med tidiga insatser som kan göra eleverna läsförberedda och därmed öka chansen till inkludering och delaktighet.

Redan i de tidiga skolåren och i skolans alla ämnen har språket stor betydelse för utvecklingen och lärandet. Alla barn utvecklas olika och skolan har ett uppdrag i att möta och utmana alla elever. Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur skolan kan möta och utmana de elever som redan har ett välutvecklat språk när de kommer till skolan, något som vi väljer att kalla tidiga språkare, samt hur specialläraren inom språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling kan vara delaktig i detta arbete. Studien belyser även hur samverkan mellan personal på skolan och skolbibliotek kan främja dessa elevers språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling. Teoretisk utgångpunkt i studien är sociokulturellt perspektiv. Empiri till studien har samlats in genom intervjuer av kvalitativ och semistrukturerad karaktär med åtta respondenter. Resultatet visar att lärare och förskollärare upplever att de snabbt får en klar bild av samtliga elevers språkliga förmågor och vilka som är i behov av särskilda utmaningar. Det framkommer också att lärare och förskollärare uppger sig ha möjligheter att utmana de som har kommit längre i sin språkliga utveckling. Gruppens betydelse och sammansättning lyfts som viktiga faktorer för lärande och samtliga respondenter trycker på vikten av det sociala arbetet i skolan. Resultatet visar även att lärare och förskollärare främst önskar handledning från speciallärare inom språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling för att möta de språkligt tidiga elevernas behov. Speciallärarens handledande roll är en viktig specialpedagogisk implikation som framkommer i studien. / Already in the early school years and in all school subjects, the language has great importance for development and learning. All children develop differently and the school has a mission to meet and challenge all pupils. The aim of the study is to provide knowledge about how the school can meet and challenge the students who already have a well-developed language when they come to school, something that we choose to call early language speakers, and how the special needs teacher in language, writing and reading development can be involved in this work. The study also highlights how collaboration between staff at the school and school libraries can promote these pupils' language, writing and reading development. The theoretical starting point in the study is socio-cultural perspective. The empirical study has been collected through interviews of a qualitative and semi-structured character with eight respondents. The result shows that teachers and preschool teachers find that they quickly get a clear picture of all pupils' linguistic abilities and who are in need of special challenges. It also appears that teachers and preschool teachers say they have the opportunity to challenge those who have come further in their linguistic development. The group's importance and composition are highlighted as important factors for learning and all respondents emphasize the importance of social work in school. The result also shows that teachers and preschool teachers primarily want supervision from special needs teachers in language, writing and reading development in order to meet the needs of the linguistically early students. The special role of the special needs teacher is an important special educational implication that emerges in the study.

The purpose of this work is to explore how to work with early reading and writing and find out what really comes first of the two. The work also involves the best known literacy learning methods and deals with methods to work around reading and writing.   I have read previous research on the subject and watched a movie from our AV-central on children’s early language development. It includes an interview with two professors of education, Mats Myrberg and Mats Ekholm where they talk about the pros and cons of early learning literacy. My research is based on literary sources and interviews with educators who work with reading and writing in the early years.  The results showed that even if a teacher tries to work with early writing skills we still remain in the traditional school, beginning with learning how to read. The school of today is characterized by individualized learning. The need for levelled education is huge and the teachers often feel the time is insufficient.

Syftet med den här studien är att redogöra för olika läsinlärningsmetoder samt att undersöka hur verksamma pedagoger resonerar kring de metoder de anser sig använda. För att ta reda på detta används kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger verksamma i årskurs 1–3. Studien redogör för en litteraturgenomgång vad gäller läsning och läsinlärningsmetoder. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt har varit ett sociokulturellt perspektiv då intentionen är att dels belysa pedagogernas arbete men också sätta det i ett sammanhang och öka kunskapen kring just metoderna som pedagogerna menar att de använder. Resultatet redovisas utifrån fyra kategorier som framkommit genom meningskoncentrering av intervjuerna. Här sammanfattas pedagogernas svar utifrån, Inledande läsinlärningsarbete, Läsinlärningsmetoder, Bedömning och Stöd och utmaningar. I mina slutsatser framkommer att de metoder jag redogör för i avsnittet Forsknings- och litteraturgenomgång i stort sett överensstämmer med de som pedagogerna uppger sig använda. Pedagogerna berättar om sin beredskap för hur de bemöter sina elever och utifrån det drar jag slutsatsen att pedagoger behöver stor kunskap och erfarenhet för att lyckas i sitt uppdrag att utveckla läsande elever. / The purpose of this study is to describe different reading learning methods as well as study how active educators reason about the methods they consider using. To find out, qualitative interviews are used with educators working in grades 1-3. The study describes a literature review regarding reading and reading methods. My theoretical point of departure has been a socio-cultural perspective, as the intention is to illuminate the work of the educators, but also to put it in context and to increase the knowledge about the methods the educators believe they use. The results are reported on the basis of four categories that have been identified by the focus of the interviews. Here, the teachers' answers are summarized, Initial Reading Learning, Reading Learning Methods, Assessment and Support and Challenges. In my conclusions it appears that the methods I describe in the section Research and Literature review are broadly consistent with those used by the educators. The educators tell us about their readiness for responding to their students, and on this basis, I conclude that educators need great knowledge and experience to succeed in their task of developing reading students.

Learning to read is critical for quality of life and success in our society. Children who cannot read well face unsuccessful educational careers and limited job choices. Recently, policy makers and educators have made progress toward increasing the reading achievement of America's children. Still up to 60% of boys who live in poverty cannot read or read two years below grade level. In this experimental study, I designed and examined the effects of the Gottshall Early Reading Intervention (GERI) to determine if direct instruction with a small group, phonics based approach would increase the literacy achievement of low performing, rural, first grade boys. Participants were selected according to Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores, matched them across race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, and randomly assigned them to experimental/control group. Three times per week for 15 weeks, boys in the experimental group attended 30-minute pullout sessions taught by trained professionals in addition to classroom reading instruction. Control group members received classroom reading instruction only. Findings reveal no significant differences in reading gains across all variables. However, descriptive data indicate higher percentages of gains for the experimental group on four out of five reading components with rate of gain higher on fifth. Statistics also show that Hispanics are more likely to benefit.