Headsprout Early Reading for Specific Literacy Difficulty: A Comparison Study

Catherine Storey,Julian C Leslie,Claire Mcdowell

doi:10.1007/s10864-019-09336-7

Catherine Storey, Julian C Leslie + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-019-09336-7

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Abstract

This study compared the efficacy of the Headsprout© Early Reading (HER) program with SENCO-delivered supplementary literacy instruction. Participants were primary school children (aged 6–9) in receipt of free school meals and supplementary literacy instruction. Data were collected within their school setting. The treatment group received HER intervention, while the treatment as usual (TAU) group received SENCO-delivered intervention, inclusive of guided reading, paper-based phonics training and word recognition tasks. It was hypothesized that children in the HER intervention group would significantly outperform those in the TAU group on measures of word/non-word recognition and sentence reading over a 7-month period. Thirty-two pupils with specific literacy difficulty were randomized to either HER (n = 17) or TAU (n = 15). Literacy skills were assessed using the Phonics and Early Reading Assessment pre- and post-intervention. ANOVA and t test analysis found that HER made significantly greater gains on measures of word/non-word recognition [t(30) = 7.55, p < 0.001], sentence reading [t(30) = 3.33, p < 0.05] and sight words [t(30) = 4.23, p < 0.001] than the TAU group. This study is the first to demonstrate stronger outcomes for children receiving computer-aided instruction over SENCO-delivered literacy instruction in a Northern Irish School.

Highlights

Recent findings in the UK from The Department for Education’s “Effective Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education Project” (EPPSE-2014) show that children’s life chances are shaped by family, home and school experiences
In measures of sentence reading, the Headsprout© Early Reading (HER) group experienced a significant increase in their pre-intervention score from 81.82 to 97.53 while the Treatment as usual (TAU) group experienced a nonsignificant increase from 81.33 at pre-intervention to 88.67 at post-intervention
As both groups of children were receiving supplementary support outside of the classroom, for the same duration each day, the larger improvements for the HER group cannot be attributed to increased contact with adults. This finding demonstrates that an eclectic approach to literacy intervention may be somewhat effective, it does not result in the same degree of improvement as a computer-assisted instruction (CAI)-delivered, systematic phonics approach to literacy instruction

Summary

Introduction

Effects of disadvantage in one or more of these environments emerge early and continue to shape later educational outcomes, posing risks to health and employment, and increasing the probability of criminal activity [McIntosh and Vignoles 2001; Northern Ireland Executive 2000]. It is not the only indicator, disadvantage is often identified by free school meals (FSM) entitlement. More recent NI statistics show that while the percentage of school leavers receiving FSM achieving level 2 in English and Mathematics has increased from 27.7% in 2007–2008 to 41.3% in 2014–2015; the percentage for those not entitled to FSM has increased by the same proportion (PGCD 2016). Educational outcomes are slowly improving for this population of children, the attainment gap is not closing

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