Evaluating the impact of different early literacy interventions on low-income Costa Rican kindergarteners

Andrea Rolla San Francisco,Melissa Arias,Renata Villers,Catherine Snow

doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2006.11.002

Andrea Rolla San Francisco, Melissa Arias + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2006.11.002

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Abstract

Grade retention has been the de facto policy for children with academic difficulties in many Latin American countries [Schiefelbein, E., & Wolff, L. (1992). Repetition and inadequate achievement in Latin America’ s primary schools: a review of magnitudes, causes, relationships, and strategies. Washington, DC: World Bank.]. In Costa Rica, 14.9% of public school children were retained in first grade in 2002. In a study of first grade classrooms in Costa Rica, children identified as in need of repeating first grade were found to have lower levels of reading ability [Rolla San Francisco, A., Arias, M., Villers, R., & Snow, C. (in press). The importance of reading skills, prereading skills, and family in teachers’ decisions to retain children: a case study in costa rica. Aula Abierta]. There has been a greater focus in recent years on the importance of prevention of educational difficulties, versus repetition, as the most cost-effective and efficient way of providing educational opportunities to low-income children. There is little rigorous research evaluating the impact of different interventions on the early literacy skills of low-income children in developing countries as a way to prevent posterior academic difficulties. This experimental study evaluated the differential impact of three early literacy interventions—tutoring, classroom activities, and work with families—on the emergent literacy skills of low-income Costa Rican kindergarteners. Tutoring or a combination of all three interventions were the most effective, while providing high-quality materials to teachers without training had no impact, but more intensive interventions of longer duration will probably be needed to ensure long-term impact on first grade repetition and eventual school dropout. Continuing research will assess the impact of these interventions on student outcomes and repetition rates in first grade, as well as exploring the impact of the more intensive intervention of professional development.

Highlights

Research carried out in several countries suggests that children who begin first grade as poor readers are more likely to continue to struggle with reading – and the rest of their academic subjects – throughout their academic careers (Clay, 1991; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Juel, 1988; Sanford, 2000)
Some of the early literacy skills that have proven to be the most predictive of children’s later reading ability in Spanish and other languages are letter identification, phonological awareness, vocabulary, concepts about print, and early reading (Bravo, 1995; Bravo et al, 2001; Chan & Siegel, 2001; Defior, 1996a, 1996b; González, 1996; Jiménez, 1996; McCardle et al, 2001; Siok & Fletcher, 2001)
One example of family literacy program that was shown to be successful in a quasi-experimental study was Project EASE (Early Access to Success in Education) (Jordan, Snow, & Porche, 2000)

Summary

Introduction

Research carried out in several countries suggests that children who begin first grade as poor readers are more likely to continue to struggle with reading – and the rest of their academic subjects – throughout their academic careers (Clay, 1991; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Juel, 1988; Sanford, 2000). High-quality literacy interventions have demonstrated that the incidence of reading difficulties in most beginning readers, including low-income children, can be reduced if the appropriate early experiences around language and literacy are provided (e.g., Vellutino & Scanlon, 2002). There has been a greater focus on the importance of prevention of educational difficulties in recent years as the most efficient way of providing educational opportunities to low-income children. This is true in the United States (Schweinhart, 1994), in developing countries (Myers, 1995), and in Latin America (Reimers, 1992). Three kinds of early literacy interventions have proven successful: tutoring, phonological awareness, and family. One example of family literacy program that was shown to be successful in a quasi-experimental study was Project EASE (Early Access to Success in Education) (Jordan, Snow, & Porche, 2000)

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