delaware early literacy initiative dr. jim j. lesko delaware department of education reading cadre

DELAWARE EARLY LITERACY INITIATIVE

Dr. Jim J. LeskoDelaware Department of Education

Reading Cadre

Emergent Literacy

Emergent literacy involves the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to conventional forms of reading and writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998).

Emergent LiteracyEmergent Literacy

Interventions in the preschool period need to focus on emergent literacy skills because children are not yet engaging in conventional forms of literacy.

Emergent Literacy – National Early Emergent Literacy – National Early Literacy PanelLiteracy Panel

How to define emergent literacy Two conditions need to be

satisfied for something to be considered an emergent literacy skill:

(a) Must come before conventional literacy skills.

(b) Must be related to (i.e., predictive of) conventional literacy skills.

Identifying Emergent Literacy SkillsIdentifying Emergent Literacy Skills

Many candidate emergent literacy skills have been suggested, including oral language concepts about print environmental print alphabet knowledge phonological processing skills visual-perceptual skills emergent (pretend) reading emergent (pretend) writing

A number of variables have strong and consistent relations with later conventional literacy outcomes in a relatively large number of studies with a relatively large number of children (meaning they are sizable, reliable, and stable):

Strong Predictors: Alphabet Knowledge Concepts About Print Phonological Awareness Invented Spelling [Primary Oriented] Oral Language Writing Name RAN (Rapid Automatic Naming/Lexical

Access)

Other variables have a smaller effect or have been examined in fewer studies with fewer children: Visual Motor Skills Visual Perceptual Skills

Oral Language InterventionsOral Language Interventions

All forms of interactive shared reading interventions produce positive effects on children’s oral language skills as measured by standardized tests and more natural language samples.

These interventions require children to respond and incorporate a scaffolding approach.

Oral Language InterventionsOral Language Interventions

Effective agents of intervention can be teachers, parents, community volunteers, or teacher aides.

Vocabulary is a crucial element to impacting later reading

Effects are obtained with children selected for risk status and unselected children.

Phonological Awareness InterventionsPhonological Awareness Interventions

There is a large amount of information on the effects of teaching phonological sensitivity to children and its impact on reading skills.

These data indicate that training on phonological skills is effective and has a significant impact on decoding skills.


The majority of these data, however, come from studies of children in the first grade or older.

A search of the published evidence yielded approximately 55 studies of phonological sensitivity interventions with children who were in kindergarten or preschool.

Of these, only 6 studies included primarily children who were preschool age.


Approximately 6 hours of exposure to this program, conducted by the experimenters, resulted in effects on reading skills that persisted for 6 years.

A trial of the same program, but implemented by preschool teachers, also yielded positive immediate results; however, the overall size of the effect was not as large as that obtained in the experimenter implemented program.

Print Knowledge InterventionsPrint Knowledge Interventions

There are relatively few studies examining the effect of training children in print knowledge.

The majority of studies involving the teaching of letters have been done in the context of training phonological sensitivity with older children (i.e., Kindergarten or above).

Print Knowledge InterventionsPrint Knowledge Interventions

Data from these studies provide evidence that training children in both phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge is more effective than training in phonological sensitivity alone

Common Miscues

Using materials and activities that are not comprehensible

Little connection to student’s lives Materials are not interesting Activities are often passive rather than

active Materials/activities more on lower-order

skills Standardize curriculum instead of

individualize instruction

Implications for Early Childhood Education

Five Key Literacy Areas

Print Awareness Phonemic Awareness Alphabet Vocabulary – Oral Language Reading Aloud/Listening/Text

Comprehension

Links with Effective Literacy Practices

Time for children to engage in reading

Small group instruction Increase instructional time and

engagement High expectations for achievement Use research-based practices On-going professional development


Collaboration across programs and classrooms

Strong home-program connection Using child development data to

target instruction Identify literacy as important

curriculum component


Building children’s language and literacy skills in the preschool period.

Identifying skills early gives children the strongest foundation for learning to read.

Decisions about developing or selecting the most appropriate curricula (e.g., content, intensity, sequence) are critical


Professional development (e.g., read-aloud practices, PA activities) is critical for educators and volunteers.

Assessment of early literacy skills is important to instruction

Delaware Early Literacy Practices

Professional Development State Improvement Grant – Early Literacy

Early Educators in Child Care/Education Certified Educators in Schools Parents

Care to Read Early Educators in Child Care/Education

Early Learning Foundations Early Educators in Child Care/Education


Resources Reading Is Fundamental Growing Together Portfolio Delaware Read ALOUD Read and Rise Initiative Early Reading Grants


Dr. Jim LeskoDelaware Department of EducationP.O. Box 1402Dover, DE [email protected]

http://www.doe.state.de.us/early_childhoodhttp://www.doe.state.de.us/reading/