Effectiveness
Earobics® was found to have positive effects on alphabetics and potentially positive effects on reading fluency.
Program Description
Earobics® is interactive software that provides students in pre-K
through third grade with individual, systematic instruction in early
literacy skills as students interact with animated characters. Earobics® Foundations is the version for prekindergaten, kindergarten,
and first grade. Earobics® Connections is for second and
third graders and older struggling readers. The program builds
children’s skills in phonemic awareness, auditory processing, and
phonics, as well as the cognitive and language skills required for
comprehension. Each level of instruction addresses recognizing
and blending sounds, rhyming, and discriminating phonemes
within words, adjusting to each student’s ability level. The software
is supported by music, audiocassettes, and videotapes and
includes picture/word cards, letter-sound decks, big books, little
books, and leveled readers for reading independently or in groups.
Research
Two studies of
Earobics® meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
evidence standards and two studies meet WWC evidence standards
with reservations. The four studies included 246 students
from grades K through 3 in Los Angeles, California; southwest
Florida; Anchorage, Alaska; and Chicago, Illinois.
Based on these four studies, the WWC considers the extent
of evidence for Earobics® to be small for alphabetics and reading
fluency. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or
without reservations examined the effectiveness of Earobics® in
the comprehension or general reading achievement domains.
