Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Curriculum Development/Reading Intervention

The Reading Crisis
For some children, learning to read can be difficult. Research indicates that when a pattern of academic failure starts early, it will persist throughout a child’s education. Long-term studies have shown that there is almost a 90% chance that a child who reads poorly at the end of the first grade will be a poor reader in the fourth grade (Stickland, 2002). “The National Center for Educational Statistics reported in 2002 that 36% of fourth graders couldn’t read and understand even a short paragraph like those in children’s books." (Mathes, 2005)

Over the past 20 years, there has been remarkable growth in understanding how to predict reading problems. The following literacy skills are predictors of children who are at risk for reading failure:
 * Phonemic awareness (the ability to search the individual sounds within words)
 * Knowledge of letter names and sounds
 * Speed of lexical retrieval (meaning of the words) (Mathes, 2005)

Scientists estimate that 95% of children can be taught to read. However, the reality is that a high percentage of students are below their grade level (Scola, 2002). Attempting to solve this crisis, early intervention reading programs have proven to be effective as evidenced by improved test scores.

What is Early Intervention?
Early intervention is designed to positively influence language and literacy development in children age zero through eight. Special emphasis is placed on reading comprehension, word recognition (including phonics), fluency, and writing. Intervention services must be in addition to and cannot replace instruction that the child is receiving. Options for early intervention program delivery may include the use of reading teachers, trained aides, volunteer tutors under the supervision of a trained teacher, or extended instructional time during the school day or year for the targeted students.

The importance of early intervention in Reading Performance is extremely crucial in children becoming successful readers. We wonder why others are more successful than others is because reading was introduced to them at an early age. Children need to be taught these skills early. For example, letter recognition-letter sound correspondences, phonemic segmentation, and aquistion of sight words. These skills correlate with becoming a successful reader. Other basic components of early literacy will be their language-talking about ideas or events in distant time or place. Another fundamental component would be to teach children that words are powerful and important, that books are sources of pleasure and information. So, the motivation to teach children early is crucial. Children must be taught these skills through hard work to master letters and sounds, developing a spoken language, and should be exposed to print early in life and their settings should be positive, and affectionate.

Children should be read to everyday for at least 15 minutes. This will help children to develop their vocabulary, become confident early readers, and encourage them to ask questions about what they heard. Many parents may not know the importance of reading to their child everyday. According to The Developing Person through the Lifespan, "In early childhood, vocabulary increases exponentially, from about 500 words at age 2 to more than 100,000 at age 6. One scholar says that 2- to 6-year-olds learn an average of 10 words a day...but all agree that the most rapid vocabulary expansion usually occurs before age 7" (p.226). In addition to this, children should participate in reading programs such as "Read to Rover", book clubs, and group readings. Another interesting and speedy way that children develop vocabulary is through fast mapping. This is when a child “acquires new words by mentally ‘charting’ new words into interconnected categories; parents should have frequent and elaborate conversations with their children” (p.227). The development of literacy is very vital to the child's success to become a early reader.

Examples of Early Intervention Programs
There are many different early intervention reading programs used today. Here are just a few examples:

Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Programs: Primary Grade Programs (Grades 1-3):
 * Head Start is the most widely known early intervention program for economically disadvantaged children.
 * High Scope is a preschool program that focuses on language development.
 * Whitehurst’s Emergent Literacy Intervention is an early intervention program for preschool and kindergarten, consisting of dialogic and phonemic awareness.
 * Early Reading Intervention (ERI) is a tutoring program for first and second graders who are at risk for failure to read. The program allows a small group of students to work with their teacher 15 to 20 minutes a day, three times a week. This program also has the children read individually for five minutes a day.
 * First Steps is a one-on-one 30-minute tutoring program consisting of a series of leveled books.
 * Reading Recovery is the most researched intervention program. This program is designed for first graders, who receive one-on-one tutoring by well-trained teachers. This reading intervention is commonly used for the lowest achieving 20% of students in the first grade. (Strickland, 2002)

Criteria for Early Intervention Programs
With the large number of programs available, The American Federation of Teachers developed a list of criteria for early intervention programs. The program should show evidence of:
 * High Standards – helps students acquire the skills and/or knowledge to meet high academic standards
 * Effectiveness – proven to be effective in raising academic achievements
 * Replicability – implement the program at other schools
 * Support Structures – including professional development (Scola, 2002)

Program Success
Several characteristics make early intervention programs successful. One-on-one and small group tutoring, instruction that is congruent with the regular classroom instruction, and highly skilled personnel are all characteristics of successful programs.

Much research has also been completed to determine the best instructional practices. Successful interventions should include the following:
 * 1) Letter-sound relationships and word identification strategies, including phonological awareness, letters, words, and word patterns
 * 2) Repeated exposures to words
 * 3) Strategies for understanding text and monitoring comprehension
 * 4) Fluency through repeated reading of connected texts (Quatroche, 1999)

According to the Virginia Department of Education, the anticipated benefits from early intervention programs include: improved primary reading programs, improved reading skills, a higher percentage of students passing the third grade Virginia Standards of Learning Reading Test, a reduction in the number of special education referrals, and a higher percentage of children being promoted in the primary grades. (Virginia Department of Education, 1998)

Success Stories
Murray Elementary School, in Kentucky, uses early intervention programs to identify students with reading and language difficulties and supplement their learning through computerized exercises. Reading Recovery is used to accelerate learning so that children can catch up with others at their grade level. “I can read a little bit faster, and I like telling my friends about what I can read”, said Beau Maness, eight years old (Saunders, 2007).

In Tallahassee, Florida, a two-year study was conducted, involving five schools in Leon County. The study included students who were most at risk for reading failure, based on their performance on screening tests. On a measure of reading accuracy, the groups improved from the 9th percentile in the fall to the 64th percentile in May, as a result of early intervention (Mathes, 2005).

A Case Study was conducted to find the effects of a supplemental reading intervention program on a student at risk. Ryan, a kindergarten student who was non-responsive to a school-wide literacy program, was tutored in small groups during the course of a traditional school day. Results indicated that improvements in phonemic awareness were also associated with better behavior in the classroom. Ryan said that he liked “practicing the sounds” and he wished the program could have lasted “a little longer” (Lane, Menzies, Munton, 2005).

Multiple Choice Questions
Click to reveal the answer.

Essay Question
Click to reveal a sample response.