Exploring Oral Storytelling Program Fidelity and Satisfaction for Supporting Preschoolers' School Readiness

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Low-income children from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds score below their mainstream peers on standard measures of school readiness (Espinosa et al., 2006; Lee & Burkham, 2002). One promising avenue of intervention work has focused on supporting preschoolers by building on the cultural funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992) they bring with them into the classroom. Reading Success Using Co-Constructive Elaborative Storytelling Strategies (R-SUCCESS; Authors) is an innovative classroom storytelling program that trains teachers to bridge home-school practices by using rich, elaborative language as they incorporate culturally-relevant oral storytelling during their circle-time routines. Use of R-SUCCESS has been linked to children’s language and literacy outcomes (Authors, 2019). However, research on prevention and intervention has highlighted the importance of examining teachers’ fidelity to program components, as the greatest gains in children’s skills are associated with high fidelity. Thus, the current study explored teachers’ use of (e.g., dosage and adherence) and satisfaction with R-SUCCESS in relation to children’s language and literacy outcomes.
Forty-three lead teachers of low-income, Latino preschoolers and a subsample of 4-year-olds in their classrooms (n=259) recruited from fourteen preschool centers participated in the study. During the fall and early winter months, teachers received training and were certified in R-SUCCESS. Upon certification, all teachers were asked to implement R-SUCCESS in their classrooms twice a week, and to complete checklists detailing the R-SUCCESS strategies they used during their storytelling each time they shared a story. At the end of the school year, teachers completed a short survey regarding their satisfaction with R-SUCCESS. Teachers’ storytelling checklists were coded for the following indices of program fidelity: total number of stories shared, diversity and complexity of story strategies used, and diversity in the types and sources of stories shared.
At the end of the school year, children’s language and literacy skills were assessed in their dominant language (i.e., Spanish or English). Children’s global language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scales-Fifth Edition (PLS-5; Zimmerman et al., 2011) and, using the conversational map (Peterson & McCabe, 1983), children were recorded sharing two personal narratives with the investigator. Narratives were transcribed and verified at the utterance level using a standardized system (CHAT; MacWhinney, 2000). Narrative coding focused on five indices of children’s academic language skills: Context, chronology, and theme, using an adaptation of Reese et al., (2011) coding of narrative coherence, vocabulary diversity, using VOCD programs available through the CHILDES system, and sophisticated/rare language, through a recently validated list of common words for preschoolers (Authors, under review).
Final analyses are currently ongoing. Although all teachers reported high satisfaction with R-SUCCESS, initial findings suggest some variability in fidelity, both in terms of dosage and in the diversity of story strategies used. Further, children whose teachers adhered more closely to R-SUCCESS strategies shared narratives that included more developed themes. Once analyses are complete, findings will be discussed in relation to the practice-based implications of teachers’ use of and satisfaction with an oral storytelling program for supporting children’s school readiness.

Authors

• Cassie Wuest, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Adina Schick, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Scarola, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gigliana Melzi, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author