Promoting early literacy of preschool children: A study of the effectiveness of Funnix Beginning Reading

Stockard, J.

Abstract:

Thirty-seven four-year-old students in a Head Start program in a suburban community in the southern United States were randomly assigned to receive 30 minutes of additional instruction each day in their usual language arts curriculum or 30 minutes of instruction with the Direct Instruction program, Funnix Beginning Reading. Instruction for the Funnix group was provided by high school-aged tutors, who were trained and supervised by an experienced teacher. Pretesting before instruction began indicated no significant differences between the two groups in the DIBELS letter naming fluency or initial sound fluency measures. However, by winter and spring the students in the Funnix group had significantly higher scores on numerous measures of beginning literacy. Significant differences remained with multivariate analyses that controlled for initial levels of skill and minority status. Equivalent results also appeared when a reduced sample that individually matched children on pretest scores and minority status was used. (Copyright © 2011, National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI). All rights reserved).

Research areas:

• Project Follow Through

Year:

2010

Main publication type:

Program Effectiveness

Subtype:

Article

Keywords:

Funnix Beginning Reading; DIBELS; Controlled Text Passages; 100 Word Test; spclzd rdg; gen ed stnt; preschlrs; crclm bsd msrs; nrm rf tsts; rnd cntrl trls; Fnnx

Source:

Journal of Direct Instruction

Design type:

Pretest Posttest Control Group with Random Assignment Design

Fidelity monitored:

Yes

Students included:

Preschoolers, African American students, general education students

Other tags:

Funnix Beginning Reading, Headstart, Basic Language Concepts Test, Initial Sound Fluency, Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, Controlled Text Passages, 100-Word Test

Location/Setting:

South Atlantic/Preschool