The Impact of Early Elementary Coding Instruction on Standardized Literacy Assessments

• In Event: Computational Thinking, Languages, and Literacies

Abstract

Purpose: This paper describes the impact of a literacy-oriented coding curriculum called Coding as Another Language (CAL) on standardized literacy scores among early elementary students.

Theoretical Framework: The CAL approach, operationalized into K-2 curricular units using both ScratchJr and KIBO robotics, introduces powerful ideas from computer science and literacy in a playful, structured, and developmentally appropriate way through unplugged games, storytelling, movement, singing, and coding.

Methods: Researchers at Tufts University partnered with multiple public school districts across the United States to develop, implement, and refine K-2 coding curricula centered on the CAL approach. Teachers attended a professional development workshop led by the research team and subsequently implemented a coding curriculum using either the KIBO robotics platform or ScratchJr app. In this paper we present findings from the CAL-KIBO and CAL-ScratchJr pilot studies, the first of which took place in Norfolk, VA and the second of which took place in Little Rock, AR and Belgrade, MN. We focus specifically in this paper on students’ standardized literacy assessments administered by their respective school districts and how students’ scores changed during the time of CAL implementation.

Data Sources: In the CAL-KIBO pilot study (N = 820 second graders), we compared standardized literacy scores from children receiving CAL (N = 551) to a control group (N = 269) who participated in typical classroom activities without coding (No-CAL). Standardized literacy scores included the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). Baseline scores from all students were collected from the fall (prior to participation in the CAL curriculum), and endpoint scores were collected from the spring (after participation in the CAL curriculum). In the CAL ScratchJr study (N = 148, 100 first graders, 48 second graders) we collected standardized literacy scores for all students who received the curriculum before the curriculum was implemented (winter) and after participation (spring). These measures included MAP Reading, STAR Reading, and FastBridge Reading.

Results: In the CAL ScratchJr pilot study, we observed a significant improvement from winter to spring in both grades (p < .0001). In the CAL-KIBO pilot study, chi-square analyses indicated no gender differences between the CAL and No-CAL groups (p > .05), but there was a race/ethnicity difference, X(6) = 21.2, p = .002, with the relative number of White students being higher in the CAL group. Paired sample t-tests indicated significant improvements on the PALS and DRA assessments for both CAL and No-CAL groups (p < .0005).

Scholarly Significance: How teachers manage to find time to fit in novel tools and pedagogies and whether they will contribute positively to student test scores are common questions that arise from new educational initiatives. In this paper we show that second graders in our sample significantly improved in their performance on standardized literacy assessments, even when participating in a coding curriculum that took time away from traditional literacy instruction.

Author

• Marina U. Bers, Boston College