Date

5-2015

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Karen Parker

Keywords

comprehension, explicit phonics, fluency, Star Early Literacy

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the impact of an explicit phonics program, entitled Ten Minute Phonics, on kindergarten reading readiness scores when compared to students receiving phonics through an integrated curriculum approach. The problem studied ways to determine if the Ten Minute Phonics program participants' mean overall standard scores, alphabetic principle scores, and phonics scores on the STAR Early Literacy test would be significantly higher than kindergarten students who did not complete the program. The population of students was chosen from a school in a suburb of Atlanta. Using a small group format, the treatment group worked ten minutes a day, four days a week, for fifteen weeks completing sixty lessons from the program. One hundred and twenty students completed the program. Data analysis was run in the form of t tests to determine if the mean between the two groups were significantly different. Normality, assumption test, and descriptive statistics were run as well. The results were reviewed and the data showed students' who participated in the Ten Minute Phonics mean scores were significantly higher in the overall scaled score area and the phonics area. Mean scores for the alphabetic principle subtest were not significantly different between the groups. Further study is encouraged in this area and a three year study would be beneficial to ascertain if the trend toward higher reading scores would continue.

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