Research has demonstrated the positive effects of systematically teaching phonemic awareness and phonics in kindergarten and first grade, but many commonly used reading curricula do not adequately incorporate these foundational skills. In this study, we examined the efficacy of an instructional program ("UFLI Foundations") in…

We report the effectiveness of using the tablet-game Kalulu Phonics immediately after intervention in kindergarten and on national evaluations the year after. In a previous intervention testing the software with 1st graders, fluency and comprehension were boosted, but only when used in concert with reading instruction at the start of the year.…

Ohio elementary schools are moving to the Science of Reading, an approach that emphasizes phonics along with vocabulary- and knowledge-rich content. Keen on learning what this transition looks like inside classrooms, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute asked Ellen Belcher, a former journalist with the Dayton Daily News, to visit Margaretta Local…

The problem addressed in this study pertained to two elementary schools whose kindergarten teachers encountered challenges in meeting phonological awareness and phonics standards. This basic qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of kindergarten teachers regarding effective strategies for enhancing children's phonological awareness and…

Children and young people with learning disabilities may not acquire the independent reading and writing skills which are conflated with 'literacy' in international educational policy, calling into question what 'literacy' means in the context of 'special education'. Existing literature explores teacher perspectives, but less is known about parent…

Longitudinal data from the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS I) in South Africa (N = 4538) were used to examine the role of instructional contexts in the relations of literacy skills between children's home language (L1 Setswana) and a second language (L2 English). All children received literacy instruction in Setswana in Grades 1 to 3. However,…

When young children of Color from minoritized communities read decodable readers mandated by their school districts, children approach reading the texts with the expectation that the texts will make sense. While decodable readers allow children to apply their knowledge of phonics skills in context to support their word recognition, they tend to…

The current study compared the reading growth of (a) students who received targeted interventions, (b) students who received typical school interventions, and (c) students who were proficient readers at the study's onset. The participants were 1,513 students in first through fifth grades who attended one of three treatment schools or one of three…

Headsprout Early Reading is a computer-based program designed on behavioral principles to enhance the basic skills that underpin the initial development of reading. In a within and between groups design, and using primary schools within Northern Ireland that had a currently high proportion of disadvantaged pupils, children who were behind their…

Background: Failure to learn early reading skills leads to lower reading comprehension later in elementary school (Double et al., 2019; Paige et al., 2019), which can then lead to poverty, underemployment, and increased likelihood of being incarcerated (World Literacy Foundation, 2018). Early reading skills are best developed in kindergarten…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how K-2 teachers perceive the effectiveness of multi-sensory phonics methods used in conjunction with a standards-based reading curriculum on students' reading acquisition skills, students' decoding abilities, and student engagement in an inclusive classroom at a public charter school in…

This quantitative exploratory causal-comparative study investigated the relationship between public and private K-3 schoolteachers' perceptions of their pedagogical content knowledge and instructional practices of phonemic awareness and phonics, the two best predictors of reading comprehension proficiency. Gough and Tunmer's (1986) Simple View of…

This action research study aimed to improve reading with understanding in a lower primary classroom in Fiji. Five emergent readers were selected through an examination of class running records. Peer observation, student worksheets, and class running records were utilized to collect data. The data analysis revealed that when teachers implement…

Background: Research acknowledges the importance of phonological processing and orthographic processing for reading and spelling in both consistently and inconsistently written languages. While the focus has tended to be on the role of phonological processing in languages with consistent orthographies, the role of orthographic processing,…

The present study aims to examine the effects of a combination of academic and behavioral supports on students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) who are also struggling readers. A multiple baseline across participants single case design was used to measure the impact of an evidence-based systematic phonics program, in combination with…