Early Identification and Intervention Among Emergent Readers
A three-year early identification and intervention study conducted by the Pacific Grove Unified School District and Chartwell School.
It is clear that the early identification of kindergarteners at risk for future reading failure and subsequent intervention with effective targeted phonemic awareness activities can reduce the number of children experiencing reading failure. Adequate early intervention can significantly reduce later costs of special education and remedial education.
Summary of Study
Hypothesis:
An early intervention program that both identifies students at risk of reading failure and provides these students effective forms of intervention can significantly reduce the number of students who require intensive intervention for reading difficulties later in school.
Title 1 Program Background:
The Pacific Grove Unified School District (PGUSD) Title 1 program has been in existence since 1993. Over the years services have expanded according to the changing needs of the District to best meet the needs of individual students. The continuing success of our program has been gauged by three factors: student growth (demonstrated in standardized tests), teacher satisfaction (feedback through surveys and direct contact) and parent support (newsletters, conferences, special open houses and parent surveys). PGUSD Title 1 staff consists of three part-time specialists and six part-time tutors. Currently we are serving approximately 160 students in six grade levels in our combined programs (Title1 and Phonemic Awareness).
Methodology:
The Project allowed the existing Phonemic Awareness Program (Kindergarten) and the Title 1 Tutorial Program (grades 1 - 3) to expand and coordinate efforts. The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skill (DIBELS) was selected as the measure to be utilized to screen 104 kindergarten students to determine if any students were at risk for potential reading failure. The most important reason for choosing the DIBELS was that it assesses the essential pre-reading and early literacy domains that are discussed in both the National Reading Panel (2000) and the National Research Council (1998) reports. Students were tested in fall, winter, and spring for the years 2001-02, 2002-03, and 2003-04. The most needy students, as identified by the DIBELS, received pullout tutorial help four times a week; other students came three times. SRA Reading Mastery materials were used along with supplemental curriculum. Progress reports were shared regularly with parents and teachers.
Results:
The results of this project broadly demonstrate that early identification and intervention can reduce the number of students who are at risk for reading failure. Even those students who still did not reach benchmark levels for specific reading skills made significant progress in an academic year. Teachers and administrators remarked that they observed increased skills in students' phonemic awareness, understanding of alphabetics and reading fluency. Most notably, the educators stated that the use of the DIBELS allowed them to focus on the specific reading indicators and track individual progress and intervene with dedicated focus for specific reading skills.
The results of this study have also demonstrated that efforts at remediation of reading difficulties beginning in kindergarten can decrease the numbers of students who will require additional support to acquire proficient reading skills in grades 2 and above. In addition, it provided insights about the most effective and efficient methods of developing and implementing an early identification and intervention program.
The Pacific Grove Unified School District received the California School Boards' 2004 Golden Bell Award for outstanding and innovative programs for this early identification and intervention project.
Recommendations:
All students should participate in identification and intervention programs designed to assess reading readiness skills. These programs are effective and need to be started prior to formal reading instruction.
These programs need to be coupled with curricula that specifically target the requisite skills of phonemic awareness, the alphabetics principle, and reading fluency.
All primary grade teachers should be trained in the above reading skills and regularly assess student progress towards mastery.
Teachers need to be aware of the current research on the critical impact of phonemic awareness in emerging readers. They need the feedback of specific research-based benchmarks to know which students have sufficient mastery of these basic skills and which ones need more training.
Implementation Resources:
The Chartwell School Outreach Program is available to provide information regarding the implementation and results of this study. Workshops can be tailored to accommodate the needs of specific schools and situations.
Quotes:
"The DIBELS focus on specific reading and/or pre-reading indicators has helped the staff focus on those same indicators which, in turn, produces better readers for all students, not just those needing intervention." Matt Bell, Principal of Robert Down School
"The biggest gift has been the ability to identify early those younger students who need our help the most, so we are able to focus our attention on them." Hal Nelson, Principal of Foothill School
"This program has made a significant difference in reading readiness skills for my at-risk students." "Their self-confidence has improved because they see themselves as readers." "What an improvement! I have seen fewer students with poor phonemic awareness skills, fewer remedial students, and those students receiving support make more dramatic gains by the end of the year." Teachers at Robert Down and Forest Grove Schools
"Our results mirror those of national studies in helping children read and learn successfully by identifying potential learning challenges and offering extra instruction before the student ever falls behind their peers. The results of this project broadly demonstrate that early identification and intervention can reduce the number of students who are at risk for reading failure." Douglas Atkins, Executive Director at Chartwell School
"Recent research suggests that 99% of all students can learn to read when they receive quality instruction by a highly-trained teacher." Kristen Atkins, Outreach Director at Chartwell School
Contacts and Resources:
Matt Bell, Principal of Robert Down School
831.646.6540 / Mbell@pgusd.org
Jane Lord, PGUSD Reading Specialist
831.646.6540 / jlord@pgusd.org
Kristen Atkins, Outreach Director at Chartwell School
831.394.3468 ext:24 / katkins@chartwell.org
www.chartwell.org for Chartwell School
www.csba.org for the California School Boards Association
www.pgusd.org for Pacific Grove Unified School District
http://dibels.uoregon.edu for the official DIBELS website
www.monterey.k12.ca.us/; for the Monterey County Office of Education
This study was made possible by a special project grant by
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
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