Structured Abstract
Setting
The evaluation is being conducted in 30 elementary schools.
Sample
The participants are kindergarten students and their teachers.
Intervention
Read Well Kindergarten® is a 26-week, daily, scripted program for small-group reading instruction focused on oral language and vocabulary development, phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding, and decoding. Teachers receive training on the curriculum. Previous research on Read Well Kindergarten has shown evidence of the promise of this program to benefit young children.
Research design and methods
The study is a randomized controlled trial in which 30 elementary schools are randomly assigned to the Read Well Kindergarten® condition or a wait-list control. Three cohorts of students in each school will be in the study. From the 30 schools, the expected sample size is a total of 1,350 students, approximately 45 children (15 per year) from each of the 30 schools. Observations for fidelity of implementation in treatment schools and classrooms and observations of control schools and classrooms will be conducted three times during the kindergarten year.
Control condition
The wait-list control schools will continue their standard literacy instruction and will be eligible to receive the program free of charge at the end of year 2 or 3 of the study.
Key measures
The students will be pre-tested at the start of kindergarten, post-tested at the end of kindergarten, and will receive follow-up assessments at the beginning and end of first grade. At the beginning and end of the kindergarten year, assessments of oral receptive vocabulary, alphabetic understanding, and three different indicators for aspects of phonemic awareness will be administered. At the end of kindergarten and beginning and end of first grade, assessments of four types of decoding, oral reading fluency and accuracy, and comprehension will be given.
Data analytic strategy
The analysis strategy includes multi-level analyses (students nested within schools) of treatment effects of year 1 outcomes (after controlling for pre-test) and multi-wave longitudinal achievement growth. The analysis will address whether impact of the program is mediated by fidelity of implementation and attendance, and whether the impact of the program was moderated by English language ability and special education status.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Journal articles
Gunn, B., Smolkowski, K., and Vadasy, P. (2011). Evaluating the Effectiveness of "Read Well Kindergarten". Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 4(1): 53-86.
Smolkowski, K., and Gunn, B. (2012). Reliability and Validity of the Classroom Observations of Student-Teacher Interactions (COSTI) for Kindergarten Reading Instruction. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(2): 316-328.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
