|
Print concepts, an important predictor of early reading achievement, help children understand how language looks in printed form and teaches that print carries a message. Print knowledge plays a critical role in early reading development and influences language development, phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading and writing development. Some children enter school already possessing knowledge of how print works, while others do not. |
|
|
To assess preschool children’s reading readiness, a sample of children are assessed in the fall and spring using the Test of Early Reading Ability-Third Edition (TERA-3). The TERA-3 is a norm-referenced test that is composed of three scales: Alphabet, Conventions of Print (COP), and Meaning. A 4-year review of COP data showed little or no fall-to-spring gains relative to the national normative population. FIE researchers addressed this finding by developing and evaluating an intervention designed to increase preschool children’s knowledge of print concepts.
|
Development of the Print Concepts Intervention |
After reviewing print concepts research and nationally available curricula, the Print Concepts Intervention (PCI) was developed as a focused, explicitly taught intervention to develop children's understanding of print. The pilot PCI was implemented in approximately 230 coalition preschool classrooms serving approximately 2900 at-risk children from January 2007 through May 2007. |
Teachers were trained on strategies for engaging all children twice weekly in small-group instructional activities focused on print concepts. To engage children in hands-on lessons, six-copy sets of each book were made available for teachers every month. Accompanying instructional activity cards containing four activities for each print concept were developed and used with the children. |
|
Researchers examined the effectiveness of the PCI pilot using data obtained from 4-year-old children attending subsidized, school-based, faith-based, and Head Start coalition preschools serving low-income families. The growth rate in COP achievement during the pilot year allows us to state that the PCI caused the higher than normal year-end achievement and higher growth rate measured by the TERA-3 COP. The results of the PCI pilot study provide evidence that the initiative improved print concept knowledge of at-risk preschool children.
Based upon the results of the pilot study, Print Concepts materials have now been expanded into a full-year intervention. Using these materials, teachers engage children in two small-group, print concept lessons each week throughout the year, using intentional, hands-on instruction. |
For information, contact: Dr. Madelaine Cosgrove, Dr. Bronwyn McLemore, or Dr. Janice Wood
To Download Order Form CLICK HERE
To Return to ELLM/Plus Homepage CLICK HERE
|
|
