Date of Award
Spring 4-13-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.
College
College of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
John Mendes, Ed.D.
Second Advisor
Maggie Roderick, Ed.D.
Third Advisor
Lori Robertson, Ph.D.
Abstract
Current findings in early childhood education research document the beneficial impact of prekindergarten on the development of young learners. However, while much research notes the important role prekindergarten can play on early childhood development, there is little research on how prekindergarten intervention impacts the early literacy development of struggling learners. Therefore, this causal comparative quantitative study examines the benefits of prekindergarten intervention instruction on the early literacy development of struggling learners. A pre- and posttest design used in a one paired t-test were performed to assess the early literacy benefits of prekindergarten intervention instruction on the early literacy development of struggling learners, specifically in the areas of Initial Sound Fluency, Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation, and Nonsense Word Fluency as assessed through kindergarten DIBELS. Within each DIBELS component, and for each assessment period in the fall, winter and spring, former prekindergarten students met and exceeded the National Norm developmental DIBELS benchmarks. Students kindergarten early literacy skills were positively impacted by the prekindergarten intervention instruction they received. The kindergarten DIBELS early literacy indicators are therefore predictive of the probability of prekindergarten students achieving future reading achievement with a level of 80%–90% confidence.