Effects of a prereading intervention on the literacy and social skills of children.
Nelson, J. R., Stage, S. A., Epstein, M. H., & Pierce, C. D. (2005). Exceptional Children, 72(1), 29-45. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ754702
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examining63Students, gradeK
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2023
- Practice Guide (findings for Stepping Stone to Literacy)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency |
Stepping Stone to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
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42.41 |
22.00 |
Yes |
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP): Phonological Awareness |
Stepping Stone to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
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96.84 |
90.40 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Midwest
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Race Other or unknown 100%
Study Details
Setting
Students were drawn from 27 kindergarten classrooms in 10 elementary schools in the Midwest of the United States.
Study sample
None specified.
Intervention Group
Stepping Stones to Literacy is designed as a supplement to core literacy instruction. Lessons are delivered in a one-to-one scripted format by paraprofessional staff during times that were deemed by teachers to be least disruptive to a given student's educational program. Each daily lesson included 10 to 20 minutes of instruction, during which time children were guided through a set of activities designed to promote six prereading skills: (1) identification, manipulation, and memory of environmental sounds [i.e., parallel phonemic awareness tasks], (2) letter names, (3) sentence meanings [i.e., sentence recognition, sentence generation], (4) phonological awareness [i.e., rhyme identification, rhyme generation, word segmentation, syllable blending, and onset-time blending], (5) phonemic awareness [i.e., phoneme deletion, phoneme identification, phoneme segmentation, phoneme change], and (6) serial processing [i.e., rapid automatic naming].
Comparison Group
Children in the control group received the core kindergarten literacy instruction offered in the classroom. Teachers in participating schools did not use a formal basal series to guide literacy instruction. Literacy instruction focused on (1) instructional activities centered on concepts of print (e.g., parts of books and their function, predictions based on illustrations or stories, connection of events in text and life, letter names) and (2) instructional activities focused on preparing students to word read (e.g., phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, sight words, writing letters). Teachers also had access to the phonics supplement of the Open Court reading program.
Support for implementation
Tutor training included presentation of the theory/rationale for Stepping Stones; description and modeling of instructional activities; tutor practice of instructional activities with one another; and tutor presentation of three complete, randomly selected lessons. Teachers were required to implement at least 90% of the intervention's lesson components prior to tutoring children. Following training, tutors were observed and received corrective feedback during the first five lessons.
Stepping Stones to Literacy Intervention Report - Beginning Reading
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2007
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Stepping Stones to Literacy.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
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Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS): Letter Naming Fluency subtest |
Stepping Stones to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Kindergarten;
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37.70 |
22.00 |
Yes |
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Woodcock Reading Mastery Test Revised (WRMT–R): Word Identification subtest |
Stepping Stones to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Kindergarten;
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104.80 |
94.30 |
Yes |
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Woodcock Reading Mastery Test Revised (WRMT-R): Word Attack subtest |
Stepping Stones to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Kindergarten;
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105.30 |
96.20 |
Yes |
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Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP): Phonological Awareness subtest |
Stepping Stones to Literacy vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Kindergarten;
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96.10 |
90.40 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 25%
Male: 75% -
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Midwest
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Race Asian 2% Black 14% White 75% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 10% Not Hispanic or Latino 90%
Study Details
Setting
The participating students attended 10 elementary schools in the Midwest.
Study sample
Participants were 84 kindergarten students (64 in the intervention group and 20 in the comparison group) from 27 classrooms. Students were randomly assigned to conditions. All students had behavior problems, which were identified based on high scores on a measure developed by Walker, Severson, & Gates (1995; as cited in Nelson, Stage, Epstein, & Pierce, 2005) to indicate risk for behavioral disorders. The second criterion for participating in the study was a low score on the DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency subtest. The analysis sample included 47 students in the intervention group and 16 students in the comparison group. For the analysis sample, the study reported that 75% of the participants were male students, and about 26% were ethnic minority students. In addition, about 44% of the sample qualified for the free/reduced lunch program.
Intervention Group
The intervention was implemented during tutoring sessions, which were a supplement to the regular curriculum used at the schools. According to reports by tutors and independent observers, the tutoring sessions were implemented with a high level of fidelity.
Comparison Group
No information was provided for the comparison group other than that this group did not receive SSL services. The study indicated that no attempt was made to change any of the teachers’ regular instructional practices in the classroom.
Outcome descriptions
Primary outcome measures included the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP): Phonological Awareness subtest, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills: Letter Naming Fluency subtest, and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test–Revised: Word Identification and Word Attack subtests (see Appendix A2 for more detailed descriptions of outcome measures).
Support for implementation
Information on training of tutors was not reported in the study.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
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A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
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Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).