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Cleveland Plain Dealer
When it comes to
reading, kindergarten is the new first grade, says Ohio State
University study
By Karen Farkas
April 13, 2017
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Kids are learning to read in kindergarten, entering
first grade in 2013 with significantly better reading skills than
similar students 12 years earlier, according to an Ohio State
University study.
Even low-achieving students saw gains in basic reading skills over this
time period and actually narrowed the achievement gap with other young
readers, the study showed. But the research showed that the gap between
low-achieving readers and others actually widened when it came to
advanced reading skills.
"Overall, it is good news," Jerome D'Agostino, co-author of the study
and professor of educational studies at Ohio State, said in a news
release. "We have evidence that the increased emphasis on learning
important skills earlier in life is having a real impact on helping
develop reading abilities by first grade."
The Ohio State study is published in the current issue of the journal
Educational Researcher.
The study involved 2,358 schools from 44 states. A total of
364,738 children were assessed during the 12 years of the study. This
included 313,488 low-achieving students who were selected to
participate in Reading Recovery, a literacy intervention for
first-grade students, Ohio State said.
Another 51,250 randomly selected students from the same schools also
participated.
All children were tested at the beginning of first grade, before the
Reading Recovery students began their intervention program. They were
measured on four basic skills (letter identification, word recognition,
ability to identify and use sounds and print awareness), as well as two
advanced skills (writing vocabulary and text reading).
The results showed that average scores on all six parts of the test
increased over the 12 years, suggesting that many children end
kindergarten with the skills they used to learn in first grade.
The results also show that strategies to help preschoolers who are
having trouble with language skills need to be adjusted, said co-author
Emily Rodgers, an associate professor of teaching and learning.
"We're probably spending too much time emphasizing basic skills for the
low-achieving students, when we should be giving them more
opportunities to actually read text," she said.
According to the study, in the four basic skills, low-achieving
students narrowed the achievement gap with other readers. But in the
two advanced skills - including actually reading text - the gap widened.
Why have reading scores for entering first-graders improved since 2002?
D'Agostino and Rodgers said two influential national reports released
in the 2000s (the National Reading Panel in 2000 and the National Early
Literacy Panel in 2008) urged changes in reading instruction.
Both reports, as well as the No Child Left Behind law, led to an
increased emphasis on learning important skills related to reading
achievement in preschool and kindergarten, the researchers said.
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