Effects of Personalized Learning on Kindergarten and First Grade Students’ Early Literacy Skills

Haya Shamir, Kathryn Feehan, Erik Yoder

2017

Abstract

The Waterford Early Reading Program is a computer-assisted instruction program that ensures individualized learning for kindergarten through second grade students. The Waterford curriculum was assigned to kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students in a school district in South Carolina for the 2015-2016 school year. The Developmental Reading Assessment was administered to students at the end of the fall, winter, and spring terms to assess reading skills. Analysis revealed statistically significant end of year scores made by kindergarten students and statistically significant gains made by first grade students with high usage of the Waterford Early Reading Program, indicating that Waterford curriculum improves early literacy skills.

References

  1. Aunio, P., & Niemivirta, M. (2010). Predicting children's mathematical performance in grade one by early numeracy. Learning and Individual Differences, 20, 427-435. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2010.06.003.
  2. Biancarosa, G., & Griffiths, G. G. (2012). Technology tools to support reading in the digital age. The Future of Children 22(2), 139-160. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ996196.pdf.
  3. Darling-Hammond, L., Bae, S., Cook-Harvey, C. M., Lam, L., Mercer, C., Podolsky, A., & Stosich, E. L. (2016). Pathways to new accountability through the Every Student Succeeds Act.
  4. Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2014). New directions for early literacy in a digital age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 0(0), 1-22. doi: 10.1177/1468798414533560.
  5. Gray, L., Thomas, N., & Lewis, L. (2010). Teachers' use of educational technology in U.S. public schools: 2009. National Center for Education Statistics.
  6. Hernandez, D. J. (2011). Double Jeopardy: How ThirdGrade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation. Annie E. Casey Foundation.
  7. Hoffman, E. S., Park, E., & Lin, M. G. (2015). Beyond professional development: A case study of implementing iPads in early childhood education. Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, 2015(1), 2008- 2015. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1769.4244.
  8. Jethro, O. O., Grace, A. M., & Thomas, A. K. (2012). Elearning and its effects on teaching and learning in a global age. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(1), 203- 210.
  9. Murnane, R., Sawhill, I., & Snow, C. (2012). Literacy challenges for the twenty-first century: Introducing the issue. The Future of Children, 22(2), 3-15.
  10. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (2015). The Nation's Report Card. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=201 5136.
  11. National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008). The final report of the national mathematics advisory panel. U.S. Department of Education.
  12. Saine, N. L., Lerkkanen, M. K., Ahonen, T., Tolvanen, A., & Lyytinen, H. (2010). Predicting word-level reading fluency outcomes in three contrastive groups: Remedial and computer-assisted remedial reading intervention, and mainstream instruction. Learning and Individual Differences, 20(5), 402-414. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2010. 06.004.
  13. Shamir, A., Korat, O., & Shlafer, I. (2011). The effect of activity with e-book on vocabulary and story comprehension: A comparison between kindergarteners at risk of learning disabilities and typically developing kindergarteners. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 26(3), 311-322.
  14. Stetter, M. E., & Hughes, M. T. (2010). Computer-assisted instruction to enhance the reading comprehension of struggling readers: A review of the literature. Journal of Special Education Technology, 25(4), 5-20.
  15. U.S. Department of Education (2016). Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/essa.
  16. Vernadakis, N., Avgerinos, A., Tsitskari, E., & Zachopoulou, E. (2005). The use of computer assisted instruction in preschool education: Making teaching meaningful. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(2), 99-104.
  17. Wilcox, K. C., Lawson, H. A., & Angelis, J. (2015). Classroom, School, and District Impacts on Diverse Student Literacy Achievement. Teachers College Record, 117(9), n9.
  18. Zomer, N. R. & Kay, R. H. (2016). Technology use in early childhood education: a review of the Literature. Journal of Educational Informatics, 1(1), 1-2.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Shamir H., Feehan K. and Yoder E. (2017). Effects of Personalized Learning on Kindergarten and First Grade Students’ Early Literacy Skills . In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-240-0, pages 273-279. DOI: 10.5220/0006245202730279


in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu17,
author={Haya Shamir and Kathryn Feehan and Erik Yoder},
title={Effects of Personalized Learning on Kindergarten and First Grade Students’ Early Literacy Skills},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,},
year={2017},
pages={273-279},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006245202730279},
isbn={978-989-758-240-0},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,
TI - Effects of Personalized Learning on Kindergarten and First Grade Students’ Early Literacy Skills
SN - 978-989-758-240-0
AU - Shamir H.
AU - Feehan K.
AU - Yoder E.
PY - 2017
SP - 273
EP - 279
DO - 10.5220/0006245202730279