Rainbow Sight Word Program Intervention: Increasing Grade 1 Students' Fountas & Pinnell Reading Benchmark Levels

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-10 - Vocabulary Learning and Language Environment in Early Childhood Classrooms

Abstract

Students’ reading fluency, including the ability to read high frequency or sight words with automaticity, has a direct impact on reading comprehension. Ninety-nine first grade students in a Title I school in a Mid-Atlantic public school district were assessed to determine their independent reading level using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. Students were re-assessed after receiving 4 months of core reading instruction and again after receiving 4 months of core reading instruction and participating in a sight word intervention program, rooted in competition. All students increased their independent reading level while males significantly increased their reading levels, after participating in the sight word intervention, averaging more than 4 times the gains acquired from core reading instruction alone.

Authors

• April Umile, Anne Arundel County Public Schools

• Mark J. Fenster, Notre Dame of Maryland University