Effects of Literacy 3D: A Tier 1 Intervention for Preschool Teachers

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Reading is a keystone skill for future success. One in three children are struggling readers (Save the Children, 2018). This shortfall in reading proficiency is especially pronounced among children from low-income families (about 85% are poor readers). Early literacy development depends on language development and pre-literacy experiences (Rowe, Raudenbush, & Goldin-Meadow, 2012). Children enter preschool with a wide range of language and emergent literacy skills (Shanahan & Lonigan, 2008). Many children are not ready for kindergarten because they have not experienced the necessary language and early literacy experiences in the home (Hart & Risley, 1995).
Method
This paper examined the effects of the Literacy 3D tier 1 intervention on 20 teachers from a large metropolitan school district and 120 preschool children from high poverty families. The children were from a wide variety of cultural, and ethnic backgrounds and were considered at-risk for school failure or had diagnosed disabilities. A third of the sample children were dual language learners (DLL). Teachers were randomized to intervention or wait-list control. The intervention consisted of five professional development trainings focusing on the Top 10 strategies for Literacy Instruction and ongoing coaching provided to teachers in person and via email. Bi-weekly coaching sessions were designed to support teachers to implement the Top 10 strategies. Teacher and child data were collected in four waves using the Code for Interactive Recording of Children’s Learning Environments (CIRCLE; Atwater et al. 2014) and Preschool Early Literacy Indicator (PELI; Kaminski, Abbott, Bravo-Aguayo, Good, & Latimer, 2012). The Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL; Lonigan, Wagner, & Torgesen, 2007) was administered pre/post to determine if children made progress on a standardized assessment when teachers implemented more literacy activities in the classroom. Teachers also were coached making data-based decisions to inform instruction.
The research questions included:
1.Does Literacy 3D improve instruction, as measured by the teachers’ instructional quality, fidelity of implementation, and Teacher Literacy Focused interactions?
2.Does Literacy 3D increase child-level outcomes, as measured by Child Literacy Engagement (CIRCLE), early literacy skills (PELI), and summative outcomes (TOPEL)?
Results
Preliminary results indicated that teachers increased their literacy focus and implemented more of the Top 10 Literacy strategies after training and coaching (d= 1.23) than teachers in the control condition. Children in intervention classrooms made greater gains in letter identification (p< .05), phonemic awareness (p<.05), and vocabulary (p= .0147) than children in the control condition as measured by the PELI and TOPEL and had more literacy engagement (p<.05) as measured in the CIRCLE observations. Additional data analysis will be completed by Fall 2020.
There are several implications for research and practice related to increasing literacy instruction to provide children more literacy opportunities in preschool classrooms. As children have more literacy learning opportunities, their time engaged in literacy activities increases and specific literacy related skills (letter identification, phonemic awareness, vocabulary) improve. Also as children’s literacy opportunities increased they had less time unengaged and fewer problem behaviors suggesting that easy to implement strategies such as those used in Literacy 3D help children increase their skills necessary for school success.

Authors

• Alana Schnitz, Juniper Gardens Children's Project
  Presenting Author

• Charles Greenwood, University of Kansas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Judith J Carta, University of Kansas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dwight Irvin, University of Kansas
  Non-Presenting Author