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Literacy Screening Among Latino/a and Dual Language Learner Kindergarteners: Predicting First Grade Reading Achievement
Abstract
This study examined the relative contributions of Latino/a children’s (N = 102) school readiness and early literacy skills during kindergarten in predicting first grade reading achievement. By using discriminant function analyses, the current study identified a set of areas to assess that could be used to effectively screen children during kindergarten to distinguish those that might benefit most from early and targeted literacy supports. Results suggest that receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and word reading were the areas in kindergarten that provided strong predictive power for understanding children’s end of first grade reading achievement. These results provide important insights into an efficient assessment framework literacy educators can utilize to effectively monitor and support the early literacy development of Latino/a students.
... Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Especially for preschoolers transitioning to kindergarten, supporting their literacy skills during summer could be a crucial step in facilitating their participation in classroom activities and communication with peers and teachers as well as long-term literacy outcomes in first grade (Edyburn et al., 2017;McCormick et al., 2021). For high-need communities where students come from immigrant or culturally diverse backgrounds, the use of virtual platforms could be further beneficial to increase the accessibility and cultural responsiveness of instruction (Bhatnagar & Many, 2022;Lawrence, 2020). ...
... Moreover, providing parents with opportunities to observe educators' instruction could allow parents' adaptation of learning and practice opportunities at home for the children and other family members. Relatedly, aligning with previous research on the benefits of dual language instruction (Edyburn et al., 2017;McCormick et al., 2021;Raikes et al., 2019), meaningful conversations around bilingual development and the importance of bilingual instruction between educators and caregivers will be important, as one father in the current study believed that the use of the family's primary language as a part of the dual language instruction may interfere with their child's learning of English. The use of remote or hybrid instruction can be beneficial to support under-resourced or underrepresented communities in a time-and resource-efficient manner during the summer prior to entering school to promote student engagement, skills, and confidence and sustain students' English literacy skills and motivation for learning. ...
Considering the growing the number of Asian immigrants, research on dual language intervention for Asian students is needed. Leko (2014) suggested a qualitative approach to explore the viewpoints of the stakeholders related to social validity using interviews and focus groups. However, there has been no research that qualitatively examines the social validity of dual language literacy intervention for young Korean immigrant students. Thus, the current study examined the social validity of the dual language English literacy intervention using Read-it Again Pre-K for Korean preschoolers in the U.S. through a 1:1 semi-structured interview with 14 caregivers. The following two themes were identified from the interview: (a) social validity (goals, procedures, outcomes, curriculum) of intervention and (b) cultural and linguistic relevance of intervention. We report implications for practice and future research related to socially valid dual language intervention and family engagement.
... Readers with GRD are thought to acquire less vocabulary than their peers stemming from early difficulty with decoding and less reading experience (Stanovich, 1986), indicating language comprehension difficulties may emerge and worsen over time for this group. Furthermore, a substantial body of research demonstrates the general importance of oral language development for early literacy skills and reading comprehension in Spanish-English bilingual children (August & Shanahan, 2006;Edyburn et al., 2017;Gonzalez et al., 2016;Hammer et al., 2014;Proctor et al., 2005). A recent meta-analysis of 16 studies on reading difficulties in second-language learners found large and significant differences in oral language performance between second-language learner average readers and children with S-RCD (Spencer & Wagner, 2017). ...
... Our findings add to the wealth of research highlighting the importance of language comprehension for literacy in bilingual children (Edyburn et al., 2017;Gonzalez et al., 2016;Hammer et al., 2014). We generally found significant and practically meaningful differences in vocabulary and listening comprehension between readers with either S-RCD or GRD and average readers, with large Cohen's d effect sizes for the GRD group compared to average readers, and medium-tolarge effects for the S-RCD group compared to average readers (Cohen, 1992). ...
This study examines differences in English language comprehension, reading fluency, and executive functions among Spanish-English bilinguals with reading difficulties. Reading difficulties examined included general reading difficulties, defined by low word reading and reading comprehension, and specific-reading comprehension difficulties, defined by low reading comprehension yet adequate word reading. Participants (N = 86) were categorized using multiple measures of reading comprehension and word reading in each of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Participants were also categorized based on persistent difficulties (i.e. remaining in the same group across multiple grades). On two measures of language comprehension, readers with either difficulty tended to demonstrate significant weaknesses relative to average readers. On passage reading fluency, readers with specific-reading comprehension difficulties performed worse than average readers but better than readers with general reading difficulties. On executive functions, readers with general reading difficulties demonstrated weaknesses relative to average readers, but there was little evidence that readers with specific-reading comprehension difficulties showed these weaknesses. These findings typically held when looking at readers with persistently defined difficulties. Longitudinal analyses indicated that 47% of students with S-RCD and 56% of students with GRD remained in their group across the three years, consistent with prior research. Findings highlight potential weaknesses in executive functions for children with general reading difficulties that should be considered when designing instruction for these students. These findings also support prior research on the importance of developing English language and reading fluency for Spanish-English bilingual children with reading difficulties.
... En la actualidad, los estudios relacionados con la conciencia fonológica y el reconocimiento de palabras, además de identificar la relación entre la conciencia fonológica y la lectura (Edyburn et al., 2017;Hill, 2017), destacan la capacidad de la conciencia fonológica para predecir el rendimiento lector (Batson-Magnuson, 2017;Saracho, 2017, Biscoe Kenner, Patton Terry, Friehling y Namy, 2017). A modo de ejemplo, Bellocchi, Tobia y Bonifacci (2017) han estudiado la posibilidad de predecir la exactitud en la lectura en el alumnado monolingüe. ...
... En este sentido, las pruebas de VD tienen una menor capacidad de discriminación entre los discentes, lo que explicaría el escaso poder predictivo de este tipo de pruebas; por el contrario, la dificultad que muestran las pruebas de PF, LL y LPP permite recoger diferencias entre el alumnado, lo que las convierten en buenas predictoras de la lectura de palabras. Nuestros resultados confirman los estudios que señalan que existen altas correlaciones entre el procesamiento fonológico y la lectura de letras, palabras y pseudopalabras (Edyburn et al., 2017;Hill, 2017;Jiménez et al., 2000;Jiménez et al., 2007;Jiménez et al., 1995). Además, nuestros resultados también coinciden con los obtenidos en estudios predictivos sobre la lectura como los de Ehri (1987) Con relación al segundo objetivo planteado en nuestro estudio, los resultados obtenidos en las pruebas PF, LL, LP y LPP por el alumnado de ambos centros permiten afirmar que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas a favor de los participantes del Centro 2. Estas diferencias no se pueden atribuir a variables individuales en función de la edad o el sexo, dado que el análisis de estas variables muestra que no existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre el alumnado de 72 y 83 meses de edad ni en función de su sexo. ...
Phonological awareness and teaching methods implemented in the classroom can influence the development of early reading skills. Specifically, this paper aims at identifying which specific linguistic factors influence reading skills and how the context of classroom instruction can affect this learning process. Data has been collected from a sample composed of children belonging to the last year of Childhood Education of two different schools in Seville (State and Private schools) following a quantitative and qualitative methodology. On the one hand, tests related to the students' level of phonological awareness, speed naming and reading comprehension have been carried out. On the other hand, interviews and observations to the teachers have been conducted in order to get a deeper understanding of their teaching methods, activities and resources used inside the classroom. Results confirm that phonological awareness, letter and pseudo-word reading are strong predictors of word reading. Furthermore, students with a higher level of phonological awareness and reading have received formal instruction through a mixed teaching method combining the phonic and global method. It is evident that these students present a more advanced level of automation. In conclusion, this specific mixed teaching method undoubtedly favours children's reading development.
... Choi, Rouse, and Ryu (2018) also showed that Spanish-English bilinguals who acquire English proficiency early demonstrated similar developmental trajectories in vocabulary compared to EMs. Other studies showed that DLLs who attained fluent English proficiency or had relatively rich exposure to English at home by kindergarten entry showed equivalent or greater achievement gains compared to EMs during their early school years (Edyburn et al., 2017;Halle et al., 2012;Hammer et al., 2014;López & Foster, 2021;Reardon & Galindo, 2009). ...
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
The primary interest of this study was examining the extent to which dual language learners (DLL) and their English monolingual (EM) peers develop their English language skills in the early grades (preschool to Grade 3) under classroom language contexts varying in the degree of cultural and linguistic diversity. We assessed 2,679 children’s language skills two times during an academic year. Based on teachers’ and parents’ reports of the primary home language and English language proficiency, about 12% of the children were classified as fluent bilinguals (DLLs who attained fluent English language proficiency), 13% as emergent bilinguals (EBs; DLLs who have not yet attained fluent English language proficiency), and the rest as EMs. Our findings documented differential language development for subgroups of DLLs and indicated the benefits of interacting with fluent and EB peers in the classroom for the language growth of both DLLs and non-DLLs. This study underscores the importance for educators and policymakers to create linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms as schools continue to grow increasingly diverse.
... As others in this special issue address (e.g., Ehri, 2020, this issue), the science of reading references research about the foundational role that phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary play in learning to read. The relation between these constructs (often referred to as the five pillars; National Reading Panel, 2000) and early reading are well established in the literature, and researchers have continuously added to this body of knowledge (e.g., Cervetti et al., 2020, this issue;Edyburn et al., 2017). In a review of the impact of policy on research in the area of reading, Pearson (2004) noted that phonemic awareness ("the ability to segment the speech stream of a spoken word"; p. 225) and phonics ("the emphasis on the code in the early stages of learning to read"; p. 226) have received the most attention, although vocabulary and comprehension have received more attention in recent years (Cassidy, Valadez, & Garrett, 2010). ...
Reading teachers and teacher educators are the latest to blame in public discourse for reading failure in the United States. In March 2019, Pearson Education released the draft of the Science of Teaching Reading Examination Framework for Texas, and the state’s teachers and teacher educators were called on to revise courses and programs in alignment. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the narratives drawn on to position teachers and teacher educators as struggling and the partiality of these narratives from our perspective as both professionally responsible and anti‐racist educators. The authors present three counterstories that exhibit how teachers and teacher educators are exceeding the expectations of the framework by foregrounding more complex, social justice–focused perspectives on readers and reading. The authors argue for the inclusion of professionals using anti‐oppressive and contextualized professional knowledge and practices to move the field forward.
... Research has also documented connections between SR and more distal outcomes, such as academic achievement at age 15 (Goble, Pianta, & Sabol, 2018). SR is also associated with core academic achievement, including reading and math skills, in elementary school (Duncan et al., 2007;Edyburn et al., 2017;Grissmer et al., 2010;Romano et al., 2010), middle school (Duncan et al., 2007;Goble et al., 2018), and early high school (Duncan et al., 2007;Goble et al., 2018). In addition, researchers have established relationships between SR and a reduced likelihood of grade retention (Davoudzadeh, McTernan, & Grimm, 2015) and decreased rates of high school dropout (Duncan et al., 2007). ...
This study summarizes state-level policies surrounding school readiness assessment. A search was conducted to collect and code school readiness policies to document key components of assessment practices in each state, such as if the assessments were mandated or recommended, timing of assessment, measures used, domains of functioning assessed, and the role of school psychologists in assessment. Results indicated that 44 states (86%) use school readiness assessments state-wide, with 34 states fully implementing and 10 states piloting a school readiness measure. Despite this widespread use, only about half of states included guidance related to how to respond to assessment data or students identified as at-risk in their policy documents. In addition, findings indicate that only four states mentioned involvement of school psychologists or other student support personnel in implementation of these assessments. Implications of this study on early childhood assessment policy and directions for future research are discussed.
The purpose of the current study was to determine students’ early reading profiles at the beginning and end of kindergarten using existing school-based measures with a sample of Spanish speaking, Latinx students. Using latent profile analysis, a multivariate analytic technique that empirically identifies profiles based on student responses to multiple measures, students’ performance was compiled using typical universal screening measures of reading, a formal measure of English language development, and information regarding referral for special education evaluation and grade retention. At the beginning of the year, students demonstrating greater English proficiency also had increased ability on initial sound fluency and letter naming fluency tasks in English. By the end of the year, students demonstrating continued deficits in early literacy skills (phoneme segmentation fluency, letter naming, and nonsense word fluency) included students referred for special education or grade level retention than students who demonstrated greater proficiency in these skill areas. Recommendations for research and school-based practices are provided.
Special educators make countless decisions regarding services for students with disabilities. The evidence-based practice movement in education encourages those decisions be informed by the best available evidence, professional judgment, and client values and context. In this chapter we argue that while evidence is the best basis for making decisions it is imperfect and uncertainty about the evidence-base for decisions will always exist. We outline three classes of evidence and the sources of uncertainty for each. Finally, we describe a framework for integrating these different sources of evidence as a means for increasing confidence in evidence-based decisions.
This study investigated associations between school-readiness patterns of Latino students and their subsequent academic achievement. After identifying a subgroup of students with academic risk at kindergarten entry who showed signs of later average or better academic skill development, academic data were gathered to explore how this group of “resilient” students (risk-catching up group) compared to their risk-lagging peers (those who entered kindergarten at high risk and continue to perform far below grade-level) and ready-proficient peers (those who entered kindergarten with low risk and continue to perform at a proficient level). Students were evaluated on individually administered measures that assessed cognitive and academic learning resources. A series of one-way MANOVAs identified that on academic measures of oral reading fluency (GORT-4) and verbal and nonverbal cognitive development (KBIT-2) students in the risk-catching up group performed consistent with their ready-proficient peers, and both groups scored significantly higher than the risk-lagging students. In contrast, scores on the California Standards Test ELA and math indicated that students in the risk-lagging group scored significantly lower than risk-catching up students who scored significantly lower than ready-proficient students. These findings provide evidence that the risk-catching up students made substantial progress to develop the academic skill base needed to support ongoing improvements in academic achievement; however, this growth was not fully discerned in the CST test results. Importantly, these results suggest that closing achievement gaps is an ongoing process, not an end point. The study highlights the importance of school readiness experiences for all students and that early and targeted interventions are needed to support a positive academic trajectory for all students.
This study utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to identify 5 discernible profiles of Latino children's (N = 1,253) social-emotional, physical, and cognitive school readiness at the time of kindergarten entry. In addition, a growth mixture modeling (GMM) approach was used to identify 3 unique literacy achievement trajectories, across Grades 2-5, for these students. A latent transition analysis (LTA) approach was used to examine how Latino children's readiness profiles at kindergarten entry were related to longitudinal literacy achievement trajectories in Grades 2-5. Results provided evidence that Latino students enter kindergarten with discernible readiness profiles and that these profiles predicted longitudinal literacy achievement trajectories through Grade 5. Specifically, children with higher levels of readiness at kindergarten entry had greater probabilities of following favorable literacy achievement patterns than those students who were rated with lower levels of readiness. Results also provided evidence suggesting that Latino children's cognitive readiness levels were particularly predictive of longitudinal literacy achievement patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record
Three bodies of research that have developed in relative isolation center on each of three kinds of phonological processing: phonological awareness, awareness of the sound structure of language; phonological recoding in lexical access, recoding written symbols into a sound-based representational system to get from the written word to its lexical referent; and phonetic recoding in working memory, recoding written symbols into a sound-based representational system to maintain them efficiently in working memory. In this review we integrate these bodies of research and address the interdependent issues of the nature of phonological abilities and their causal roles in the acquisition of reading skills. Phonological ability seems to be general across tasks that purport to measure the three kinds of phonological processing, and this generality apparently is independent of general cognitive ability. However, the generality of phonological ability is not complete, and there is an empirical basis for distinguishing phonological awareness and phonetic recoding in working memory. Our review supports a causal role for phonological awareness in learning to read, and suggests the possibility of similar causal roles for phonological recoding in lexical access and phonetic recoding in working memory. Most researchers have neglected the probable causal role of learning to read in the development of phonological skills. It is no longer enough to ask whether phonological skills play a causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. The question now is which aspects of phonological processing (e.g., awareness, recoding in lexical access, recoding in working memory) are causally related to which aspects of reading (e.g., word recognition, word analysis, sentence comprehension), at which point in their codevelopment, and what are the directions of these causal relations?
This study examined the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP), a brief screening tool designed for use as a universal school readiness assessment. Teachers rated the readiness of 10,031 children during the first month of kindergarten in four ethnically diverse, medium-sized school districts in central California. From the total sample, two random, independent subsamples were identified. First, S1 (n = 5,050) was utilized to conduct a CFA. Results yielded evidence supporting a two-factor structure encompassing children’s social-emotional and cognitive readiness; similar to previous studies examining the KSEP with less diverse student samples. Next, a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted using S2 (n = 4,981) to replicate the structure identified in the first CFA with an independent subsample and to test the measurement invariance of the KSEP across two sets of categorical variables: (a) gender and (b) parent education levels. Results from both sets of CFAs showed adequate fit to the two-factor structure, with the KSEP exhibiting measurement invariance across both gender and parent education levels. The results of this study provide additional psychometric evidence supporting the validity of the KSEP as a universal level school readiness screener. Practical implications are also discussed.
The purpose of the current study was to explore the influence of language experience on the presence of the receptive-expressive gap. Each of 778 Spanish-English bilingual children screened pre-kindergarten in Utah and Texas were assigned to one of five language experience groups, ranging from functionally monolingual to balanced bilingual. Children's scores from the language screener semantics subtest administered in both Spanish and English were standardized, and receptive and expressive semantic scores were compared. Children presented with a meaningful gap between receptive and expressive semantic knowledge in English but not Spanish. This gap increased as target-language exposure decreased. Results indicate that current language experience plays a dominant role in influencing the appearance and magnitude of the receptive-expressive gap.
The extent to which risk for French as a second language (L2) reading and language learning impairment are distinct and can be predicted using first language (L1) predictors was examined in English-speaking students in total French immersion programs. A total of 86 children were tested in fall of kindergarten, spring kindergarten, and spring Grade 1 using an extensive battery of L1 predictor tests (in kindergarten) and L2 outcome tests (in Grade 1). Analyses of the kindergarten predictor scores revealed distinct underlying components, one related to reading and one to oral language. Further analyses revealed that phonological awareness, phonological access, and letter-sound knowledge in L1 were significant predictors of risk for reading difficulties in L2 while performance on L1 sentence repetition, phonological awareness, and tense marking tests in kindergarten were the best predictors of risk for L1 and L2 oral language difficulties. Both fall- and spring-kindergarten predictors predicted Grade 1 outcomes to a significant extent, with the spring-kindergarten predictors being more accurate. These results provide support for distinctive risk profiles for L2 oral language and reading difficulty and, furthermore, argue that assessment of L1 abilities can be used to make reasonably accurate predictions of later reading and/or oral language learning difficulties in L2 students.
Children from immigrant families make up a growing proportion of young children in the United States. This study highlights the heterogeneity in early academic skills related to parental region of origin. It also considers the contributions of early home and nonparental care settings to the diversity in early academic performance. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B; N ≅ 6,850), this study examines associations between parental region of origin and children’s math and reading skills at age 5. It also considers whether home and nonparental care environments are pathways through which parental region of origin relates to academic achievement. There was significant heterogeneity in children’s early reading and math skills related to parental region of origin. Children of Indian Asian and East Asian/Pacific Islander parents outscored children of native-born White parents and every other immigrant subgroup. Children of Mexican and Central American/Spanish Caribbean parents performed below other immigrant subgroups and native-born White children. Differences in child, socioeconomic, and family characteristics largely explained relations between parental region of origin and early academic skills. Indirect effects of early home environments and nonparental care played a modest but important role in explaining variability in academic skills related to region of origin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
This study contributed to the school readiness literature by examining the factor structure and reliability of a revised version of the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP). Teachers rated 579 Latino/a children during the first month of kindergarten using the KSEP. Factor analysis procedures (exploratory factor analysis [EFA] and confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]) supported a two-factor solution, social-emotional (SE; α = .88), cognitive (COG; α = .81), factor loadings > .51. These results provide evidence supporting the interpretation of KSEP ratings as distinct measures of Latino/a children’s SE and COG readiness at the time of kindergarten entry. Additional implications of the findings are also discussed.
Within the current accountability framework of public education, kindergarten teachers face the challenge of balancing traditional developmental programing and current academically oriented curriculum. Central to this challenge is teachers’ uses of assessment to measure and communicate student learning in relation to their curricular stance. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth examination of three teachers’ approaches to assessment within the current context of kindergarten education in order to elucidate potential approaches to bridging developmental and academic demands. Based on data collected from teacher interviews and classroom observations, three profiles are constructed that link focal teachers’ curricular stances with their approach to assessment. The paper concludes with a discussion on assessment within kindergarten education and areas for future research in the field.
The purpose of this article is to respond to a review of the report Developing Literacy in Second-language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth, written by our respected colleague Kathy Escamilla, which appeared in a recent edition of the Journal of Literacy Research. This will also give us the opportunity to offer a brief update of the research on effective reading and writing instruction for English-language learners that has appeared since 2002, the cut-off year for the inclusion of studies in the original panel report.
This longitudinal study investigated 196 Hispanic English learners' responses to an English instructional intervention from indergarten to second grade. The effect of student gender was also examined as a secondary focus. The intervention consisted of ongoing professional development and structured and systematic English intervention during an English as a second language (ESL) block. A multilevel modeling approach revealed that (a) the intervention effect was positive and significant, reflecting a range of phonological awareness, oral language skills, and decoding and reading proficiency, indicating the effectiveness of this intervention, and (b) that boys possessed more expressive vocabulary knowledge upon school entry and acquired receptive vocabulary faster than girls, while both girls and boys attained comparable levels of decodingskills and reading proficiency. We conclude that the effect of instructional intervention is stronger than the effect of gender. More wellplanned, scientifically based research is needed to promote the linguistic development of English learners.
The purpose of this study is to examine how 659 Hispanic students in dual language programs in segregated or predominantly Hispanic/low socio-economic status (SES) schools are performing on standardized tests compared to school and statewide comparison groups. Test results are presented from two separate studies of English language learner and native English-speaking Hispanic students in four schools. Data are consistent in showing that Hispanic students participating in dual language programs in predominantly Hispanic/low SES schools achieve at similar or higher levels compared to their mainstream peers in tests of English. In addition, students achieve above grade level in assessments in Spanish. This study affirms the versatility of the dual language program for this increasingly common educational context.
This study investigated the associations of oral language and reading skills with a sample of 282 Spanish-speaking English language learners across 3 years of elementary school. In the 3rd grade, the English and Spanish decoding measures formed two distinct but highly related factors, and the English and Spanish oral language measures formed two factors that showed a small positive correlation between them. The decoding and oral language factors were used to predict the sample's English and Spanish reading comprehension in the 6th grade. The decoding and oral language factors were both significant predictors of reading comprehension in both languages. The within-language effects were larger than the cross-language effects and the cross-language effects were not significant after accounting for the within-language effects.
This study investigated the predictive validity of a dynamic assessment designed to evaluate later risk for reading difficulty in bilingual Latino children at risk for language impairment. During kindergarten, 63 bilingual Latino children completed a dynamic assessment nonsense-word recoding task that yielded pretest to posttest gain scores, residuum gain scores, and modifiability scores. At the end of first grade, the same participants completed criterion reading measures of word identification, decoding, and reading fluency. The dynamic assessment yielded high classification accuracy, with sensitivity and specificity at or above 80% for all three criterion reading measures, including 100% sensitivity for two out of the three first-grade measures. The dynamic assessment used in this study has promise as a means for predicting first-grade word-level reading ability in Latino, bilingual children.
The low achievement of students from non–English-speaking households living in low socioeconomic contexts is associated with academic skill gaps evident at kindergarten entry. Yet, few cost-effective, valid instruments are available to assess these students’ school readiness. To examine this topic, this longitudinal study followed 1,069 primarily Latino students (536 males, 553 females) in a midsized school district. Teachers used the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP) to rate students’ school readiness at entry into kindergarten and measures of reading skills and of performance on state standardized assessments were collected through the end of Grade 2. Latent-variable path analysis examined whether students’ school readiness ratings predicted midkindergraten phonological awareness and reading fluency at the end of Grades 1 and 2. KSEP scores significantly predicted midkindergarten phonological awareness (standardized path coefficient of .40) and end of Grade 1 reading fluency (standardized path coefficient of .17), beyond what was explained by midkindergarten phonological awareness skills. Additional analyses examined the practical implications of these findings. Students were placed into 5 categories on the basis of their total scores on the California Standards Test (CST) score (far below basic, below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced). Students who performed better on the CST assessment (English/language arts and mathematics) at the end of Grade 2 had significantly higher KSEP ratings at kindergarten entry than did students with lower CST scores. This collaborative research project provides an example of how a district–community–university partnership can lead to research that contributes to ongoing systems change.
Longitudinal prediction of English and Spanish reading skills was examined in a sample of 249 Spanish-speaking English-language learners at 3 time points in kindergarten through Grade 1. Phonological awareness transferred from Spanish to English and was predictive of word-identification skills, as in previous studies. Other variables showing cross-linguistic transfer were letter and word knowledge, print concepts, and sentence memory. Expressive vocabulary tended to show language-specific relationships to later reading. Oral-language variables predicted reading comprehension more highly than word identification. Classification of good and poor readers in 1st grade was found to be comparable with studies that used monolingual readers. Results broadened the range of variables showing cross-linguistic transfer, at the level of both predictor and outcome variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children (N = 174), the authors examined deflections from predicted achievement scores on the basis of the discrepancy of observed scores from an established regression line (from first to sixth grade and first grade to age 16 years). Years in special education and socioeconomic status (SES) were related to changes in math achievement between first and sixth grade, whereas SES, child behavior problems, and quality of home environment were related to deflections in achievement from first grade to age 16 years. The environmental factors, quality of home environment, parent involvement in the child's education, and SES were related to improved achievement across time. These results suggest that early school, family, home environment, and child factors are important predictors of academic achievement deflections in late elementary and high school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study contrasts growth trajectories in English reading for 2 groups of language minority (LM) learners--those who enter kindergarten with limited oral English proficiency and those who enter kindergarten proficient in oral English--with that of native English speakers. Fitting a multilevel model for change to longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample, this study examines students' growth trajectories from kindergarten through 5th grade. Three noteworthy findings emerge. First, LM learners entering kindergarten proficient in English have trajectories similar to those of native English speakers, but LM learners entering kindergarten with limited English have trajectories that diverge from those of native English speakers, yielding large differences in achievement by the 5th grade. Second, controlling for demographic risk factors, including socioeconomic status (SES), reduces the effect of initial English proficiency from large to moderate and yields differences that narrow over time. Finally, these differences depend on school poverty, with smaller differences evident among students in high-poverty schools than among students in low-poverty schools. Results emphasize the need for academic interventions for LM learners who enter school with limited English proficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article describes the developmental patterns of Hispanic-White math and reading achievement gaps in elementary school, paying attention to variation in these patterns among Hispanic subgroups. Compared to non-Hispanic White students, Hispanic students enter kindergarten with much lower average math and reading skills. The gaps narrow by roughly a third in the first 2 years of schooling but remain relatively stable for the next 4 years. The development of achievement gaps varies considerably among Hispanic subgroups. Students with Mexican and Central American origins—particularly first- and second-generation immigrants—and those from homes where English is not spoken have the lowest math and reading skill levels at kindergarten entry but show the greatest achievement gains in the early years of schooling.
Within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), screening assessments play an important role in identifying students who are in need of supplemental support strategies. In this chapter, the authors review the tools and methods commonly used in MTSS for academic skills screening, identify limitations with these practices, and highlight potential areas of improvement regarding assessment methods and content of screening tools, decision-making processes used to identify students in need of support, and methods used for evaluating screening tools. A set of recommendations and directions for future work are offered for advancing screening assessment and improving decision-making processes in schools with MTSS.
This study examined the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP) when used to rate the school readiness of children from different ethnic backgrounds (Latino or White, non-Latino), as well as from households where a different language was predominant (Spanish or English). Teachers rated the readiness of 9,335 children during the first month of kindergarten in four ethnically diverse, medium-sized school districts in central California. From the total sample, two overlapping subsamples (S1 and S2) were identified. First, a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with S1 (n = 7,787) to examine the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the KSEP with children who identified as either Latino or White at the time of kindergarten enrollment. Next, the same set of analyses were replicated with S2 (n = 9, 234) to examine whether results held for students from households where the primary language spoken was Spanish or English. Results yielded evidence supporting a two-factor structure encompassing social-emotional and cognitive dimensions of children's readiness. In addition, results showed the KSEP exhibited measurement invariance across student ethnicities (Latino/White) and home languages (Spanish/English). The results of this study provide psychometric evidence that is particularly important for a universal school readiness screener.
This study examines the longer term effectiveness of a standard protocol, Tier 2 supplemental vocabulary intervention for kindergarten English learners, designed to develop root word vocabulary knowledge and reinforce beginning word reading skills. Participating students in the original study (n = 93 treatment, 92 control) received 20 weeks of small group instruction from paraeducator tutors during kindergarten. After attrition, students (n = 74 treatment, 66 control) were followed up midyear Grade 1 on English measures of proximal and distal vocabulary as well as word reading. At 6 months postintervention, the treatment benefits were maintained on all three outcomes, and furthermore, there was no evidence to suggest that early receptive vocabulary knowledge moderated longer term treatment effects. Results also showed kindergarten intervention year gains in proximal (i.e., root word) vocabulary uniquely predicted midyear Grade 1 distal vocabulary above and beyond kindergarten gains in distal vocabulary. Implications for English learner early intervention are discussed.
Background and GoalsSkills and Factors in ReadingTheories and Evidence in Early Bilingual Language and LiteracyThe Balance of Evidence on Advantages of Bilingualism
Research on early education and care (EEC) dosage, defined as the amount or timing of either current or cumulative participation in EEC programming, generally suggests that more time in high-quality EEC programs is beneficial for children's developmental outcomes. Many of the studies on time in high quality EEC programs are with black and white children and less is known about the effects of dosage with dual language learner (DLL) children. This study used data from an implementation evaluation of Educare - a high-quality early education program serving children from birth to 5 - to examine the extent to which age of entry and time in care relate to language and social-emotional skills for DLL and English-only (EO) children from low-income families. Participants were 5037 children who were enrolled in one of 12 Educare schools as infants, toddlers, or preschoolers between 2003 and 2013 and were followed for their duration in Educare. Longitudinal assessments of children's receptive language and social-emotional skills were analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling, controlling for demographic characteristics and classroom quality. Both age of entry and duration were positively associated with receptive language outcomes, with stronger effect sizes for DLL than EO children. DLL children who entered early consistently scored well across the assessment ages, and late enterers made significant gains during their 1 or 2 years of EEC but lagged considerably behind early entering DLL children when they left for kindergarten. Spanish-speaking DLLs did not lose their proficiency in Spanish as they learned English. Teacher ratings of children's social-emotional skills were lower if children entered at a younger age, but still within normal ranges, and the ratings improved with longer attendance. Results suggest that renewed focus is needed on ensuring that children at-risk for poor school outcomes have access to high-quality EEC early in life and for sustained periods of time to reduce later achievement gaps.
This article investigates the differences in academic achievement trajectories from elementary through middle school among English Learner (EL) students in four different instructional programs: English Immersion (EI), Transitional Bilingual (TB), Developmental Bilingual (DB), and Dual Immersion (DI). Comparing students with the same parental preferences but who attend different programs, we find that the English Language Arts (ELA) test scores of ELs in all bilingual programs grow at least as fast as, if not faster than, those in EI. The same is generally true of math, with the exception of DB programs, where average student scores grow more slowly than those of students in EI. Furthermore, Latino ELs perform better longitudinally in both subjects when in bilingual programs than their Chinese EL counterparts. We find no differences in program effectiveness by ELs’ initial English proficiency.
In a longitudinal study of a random sample of Baltimore youngsters starting first grade, the mathematics achievement level of African-Americans and whites was almost identical. Two years later, African-American students had fallen behind by about half a standard deviation. We use mathematics test score changes over the summer when school is closed to estimate "home" influences, and we investigate three major hypotheses that might account for lower mathematics achievement among African-Americans. The most important source of variation in mathematics achievement is differences in family economic status, followed by school segregation. Two-parent (father-present) vs. one-parent (father-absent) family configurations are probably negligible as a cause when economic status is controlled. Poor children of both races consistently lose ground in the summer but do as well or better than better-off children in winter when school is in session. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of these findings.
This study investigates the relation between Spanish and English early literacy skills in kindergarten and first grade, and English oral reading fluency at the end of first and second grade in a sample of 150 Spanish-speaking English language learners. Students were assessed in kindergarten, first, and second grades on a broad bilingual academic battery that included phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, word reading, and oral reading fluency. These measures were analyzed using hierarchal multiple regression to determine which early reading skills predicted English oral reading fluency scores at the end of first and second grade. Predictive relationships were different between English and Spanish measures of early literacy and end of year first grade and second grade English oral reading fluency. This study has important implications for early identification of risk for Spanish-speaking English language learners as it addresses the input of both Spanish and English early reading skills and the relation between those skills and English oral reading fluency.
The development of English and Spanish reading and oral language skills from kindergarten to third grade was examined with a sample of 502 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in three instructional programs. The students in the transitional bilingual and dual-language programs had significantly higher scores than the students in the English immersion program on the Spanish reading and oral language measures and significantly lower scores on the English reading comprehension and oral language measures. Multiple-group path models showed that the predictors of third grade English and Spanish reading comprehension did not differ across the three programs. Spanish phonological/decoding skill and oral language in first grade mediated the association between Spanish phonological/decoding skill and oral language in kindergarten and third grade Spanish reading comprehension. English phonological/decoding, Spanish phonological/decoding skill, and English oral language in first grade mediated the link between Spanish phonological/decoding skill in kindergarten and third grade English reading comprehension.
This study contributed to the school readiness literature by taking an intrachild perspective that examined the relations between Latino/a children's school readiness profiles and later academic achievement. Teachers rated the school readiness of 781 Latino/a kindergartners during the first month of school using the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP). Latent class analysis (LCA) examined KSEP profiles across social-emotional, physical, and cognitive domains and identified five distinct school readiness classes that described students’ strengths and weaknesses at kindergarten entry. Among the predictors examined, gender was the only significant difference among the top two readiness classes, with girls less likely to be in the lower of these two classes (OR = 0.38). In addition, children in the bottom three readiness classes were significantly less likely than students in the top readiness class to have preschool experience (ORs = 0.02–0.19) and had significantly lower levels of English proficiency (ORs = 0.51–0.72). Class membership was significantly associated with scores on the Grade 2 California Standards Tests and only the top two readiness classes had reading fluency rates near or above a national benchmark at the end of Grade 2. The variation of early achievement found across readiness classes also showed that considering the pattern of a child's social-emotional and cognitive readiness might enhance school readiness assessment. Implications for integrating universal school readiness screeners within a comprehensive multigating assessment model are also discussed.
One of the most urgent educational challenges in the United States is eliminating the large achievement differences among racial and ethnic groups (Jencks & Phillips 1998; Lee 2002; Rothstein 2004; Thernstrom & Thernstrom 2003). Although this challenge has existed throughout the history of the country, it has taken on increased urgency in the current era of educational accountability. This urgency is perhaps best reflected in the landmark federal legislation, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires annual testing of students and holds schools and districts accountable for demonstrating annual progress in improving the achievement of all students. In fact, one goal of NCLB includes, “closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and non-minority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers” (U.S. Dept. of Education 2003: Title 1, Sec. 1001).
School readiness screenings are prevalent throughout the United States. Although readiness encompasses a multitude of components, readiness assessments generally focus on measuring and predicting children's pre-academic skills and behaviors and are often the basis for placement and programming decisions. However, no quantitative estimates of effect sizes exist for the relations between preschool or kindergarten academic/cognitive and social/behavioral assessments and early school outcomes. This review presents the results of a meta-analysis of cross-time relations of academic/cognitive and social/behavioral assessments from preschool to second grade. Results from 70 longitudinal studies that reported correlations between academic/cognitive and social/behavioral measures administered in preschool or kindergarten and similar measures administered in first and second grade were included in the analysis. Academic/cognitive assessments predicting similar outcomes showed moderate effect sizes across both time spans; effect sizes were small for social/behavioral predictors of early school social outcomes. Effect sizes varied considerably across individual studies and samples. Findings are discussed in terms of assessment and conceptualization of school readiness, the role of school and classroom experiences in contributing to individual differences in school outcomes, and the importance of a quantitative estimate of effect size for early education policy and practice.
Studies of the persistence of social stratification rely heavily on students' experience in secondary schools. In this study, outcomes for a randomly selected panel of Baltimore children, followed from age 6 to age 22, demonstrate that first graders' social contexts and personal resources explain educational attainment levels in early adulthood about as well as do similar resources measured in adolescence. Years of schooling and the highest level of school attempted respond most strongly to family SES, but parental psychological support and the child's own temperament/disposition had substantial effects on first-grade academic outcomes. The predictive power of race, gender, SES, and neighborhood quality measured in first grade on educational status at age 22 supports Lucas's "effectively maintained inequality."
Recent interest and investment in early childhood education as a means of promoting children's school readiness has prompted the need for clear definitions of school readiness. Traditionally school readiness has been viewed within a maturationist frame, based on a chronological set-point, which led to the emergence of readiness testing. Following a brief review of this literature, this article provides an overview of the conceptual and practical considerations that must be given to such a definition. Among conceptual concerns are the lack of agreement about the key components of school readiness and theoretical models to connect them. Also of concern is the need to consider multiple purposes of assessment, and the appropriate use of assessments. Practical considerations include the need to incorporate multiple stakeholders' views in a definition, the availability of adequate measurement tools and how resultant data can be used. The article closes with a discussion of possible future directions by laying out a series of assumptions about the nature of school readiness.
This study documented children's acquisition of the following critical aspects of alphabet knowledge: letter recitation, naming, printing, and association of letters with sounds and words. These skills were tested for the entire set of upper- and lowercase letters in 188 children whose ages ranged from 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years. Performance improved with age, at different rates for the different tasks, and the tasks were all highly correlated with one another. The children performed better on upper- than lowercase letters, and there were no sex differences in alphabet acquisition. Rank order correlations showed the degree to which letter difficulty was consistent across the age groups and across the various alphabet tasks.
Addressing the academic needs of a growing student population with culturally and linguistically diverse characteristics is one of the challenges facing educators. This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to test for differences in patterns of mathematics growth (e.g., high, middle, and low performance groups) in Latino children. Analysis through the latent growth mixture method yielded 4 distinct mathematics development profiles. Examinations into positive or negative factors related to successful mathematics achievement were also conducted. Results indicate that students in the highest performing group were associated with education programs in which language of instruction and home language were English.
Introduction The motivation for this Handbook arose from a conversation with Don Palmer, who raised the question of whether organization theories in general have life cycles. Given the proliferation of theoretical paradigms, do organization theories build into coherent conceptual frameworks supported by diligently conducted empirical work, or do they fragment into proliferated confusion? That conversation never proceeded to a comparative assessment of organization theories. But it did lead to the present volume. It seemed, in late 2004, when the idea of a Handbook was mooted, an appropriate moment to take stock of the institutional perspective on organizations because we were approaching the thirtieth anniversary of seminal papers that not only triggered revitalization of interest in the role of institutions but became known as the new institutionalism. It is important at the outset to set down certain scope conditions for this volume: 1. Our interest is in understanding organizations. How 2. ...
Discriminant analysis (DA; also known as discriminant function analysis) is a powerful descriptive and classificatory technique developed by R. A. Fisher in 1936 to (1) describe characteristics that are specific to distinct groups (called descriptive DA); and (2) classify cases (i.e., individuals, subjects, participants) into pre-existing groups based on similarities between that case and the other cases belonging to the groups (sometimes called predictive DA). The mathematical objective of DA is to weight and linearly combine information from a set of
p-dependent variables in a manner that forces the
k groups to be as distinct as possible. In this chapter we give a thorough and complete discussion of what investigators need to know and do to use DA properly. A brief layout of the specific steps and procedures necessary to conduct a descriptive DA is followed by a more detailed discussion of each step. Information about how to properly interpret the results of a descriptive DA is provided, followed by a discussion of predictive DA. Finally, we describe reporting requirements for publishing results of either a descriptive or predictive DA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Mathematical models of individual growth are the basis for analyzing academic achievement over time. This study demonstrates that much can be learned about academic growth from the analysis of individual growth curves. In addition, we illustrate the aggregation of individual responses to provide descriptions of institutional growth. Although more efficient statistical methods are available, the simple approach taken here serves to demonstrate the logic and approach to analyzing longitudinal data.