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.

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