Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons^™

Book Review: A Literacy Coach’S Playbook: Building A Winning Team To Improve Student Achievement, Kirsten Burke Smith

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This scholarly book review of A Literacy Coach’s Playbook: Building a Winning Team to Improve Student Achievement (Brieske-Ulenski & Kelley, 2025) provides a detailed overview of a new clinical model of literacy coaching. The proposed approach, a Clinical Literacy Coaching Framework (CLCF), draws upon a medical model to build Literacy Leadership Teams (LLT) to improve data-informed and culturally-sustaining instruction.

Layers Of Representation: A Multidimensional Book Analysis, Mariah Pfundheller, Nikki Logan, Amy E. Lein, Sydney Bueno

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

This study evaluates how educators interpret the Multidimensional Framework for Inclusive Literature (MDFIL), a tool for evaluating and selecting multicultural literature for their classrooms. Participants self-identified as current, former/retired, or student teachers, or as undergraduates pursuing a teaching license at the time of the survey. Incorporating multicultural literature into educational settings has a positive impact on children's development. Multicultural literature fosters feelings of acceptance, cultural awareness, and empathy among students. By exposing children to diverse cultural perspectives, multicultural literature not only enhances their understanding of their own identities but also cultivates a greater appreciation of others' experiences. The benefits of …

Learning Through Play: The Effects Of Play-Based Instruction On Literacy Development, Jherica Goodgame

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the role of play-based learning in early literacy development, emphasizing its impact on student engagement, executive functioning, and overall academic success. Drawing from research and personal experience, it argues that play is not separate from learning but a critical component of it. This thesis also highlights the benefits of play for diverse learners and examines the challenges teachers face in implementing play-based instruction. It provides numerous examples of play-based instruction practiced in a real classroom setting with 17 students who are varying from early kindergarten to late kindergarten levels. This thesis seeks to demonstrate the importance of …

Mentoring And Supporting All Writers: Strengthening Writing Instruction In Pk To 5th Grade With Halpern’S “Interactive Writing” And Anderson’S “Mentor Texts”, Chad H. Waldron, Meghan K. Block, Alicia D. Fluker, Mariah C. Schepak, Michelle R. Snyder

Michigan Reading Journal

Shared, co-authored book review by educators and researchers of Matt Halpern’s (2023) A Teacher’s Guide to Interactive Writing, Grades PreK-2 and Carl Anderson’s (2022) A Teacher’s Guide to Mentor Texts, Grades K-5 (Heinemann)

The Shifting The Balance Duology: A Book Critique From A Teacher Education Perspective, David Wolff

Essays in Education

Reading instruction has become a critical focus in many states in the country. Both in-service and pre-service teachers are adopting innovative approaches in reading instruction embedded in the Science of Reading. However, the transition to these new methods require a shift in practice that should be differentiated for both groups. In-service teachers have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon, while pre-service teachers because of the lack of prior knowledge of past practices in literacy that include the Balanced Literacy approach. This book critique examines the Shifted the Balance duology, offering insights to its implications to Teacher Education.

Benefits Of Teaching Pre-Literacy In Waldorf Education In Early Childhood, April Guerrero

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone research project examines the benefits of teaching pre-literacy in Waldorf education in early childhood. In Waldorf Education, literacy development incorporates differentiated instructions that fosters cognitive and social emotional learning of their students. Through the use of literature review and several teachers in various grades of Waldorf schools, the result findings revealed that pedagogical practices around literacy instructions promote critical thinking skills, nurtures children’s creative expression, and imagination. Literacy curriculum in Waldorf schools allows students to create tangible evidence of self-expressions and communication skills. Given its emphasis on holistic curriculum, it allows teachers to engage with their diverse …

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Practices In Early Literacy Classrooms: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Elizabeth Carlton Phd

Dissertations

Students who attend school possess their own “funds of knowledge” from their home life and prior experiences (Moll et al., 1992). Yet, learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not viewed from a strengths-based perspective but rather a deficit perspective. The deficit perspective perpetuates the oppression and marginalization of students of color and multilingual students. Using a qualitative comparative case study research design, the study is rooted in the tenets of Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 2000), Critical Literacy, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy as it sought to uncover insights into asset-based instructional strategies that allow multilingual learners opportunities to participate equitably …

Understanding The Virginia Literacy Act, Candace Bechtold, Kimberly Bridges, David Naff, Joan A. Rhodes, Valerie Robnolt, Tara Davison, Suzanne Alexandre, Michael Crusco, Karli Johansen, Amber Butler, Allison Yandle, Jennifer Askue-Collins, Jean Samuel, Sharrie Merritte, Regina Frazier

MERC Publications

This research and policy brief from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) offers an overview of the Virginia Literacy Act. It is structured to explore the following questions: 1) What are the recent trends in reading achievement in Virginia? 2) What are the policy implications of the VLA for Virginia school divisions? 3) What does the research say about Science of Reading (SoR)? 4) What core instructional programs are approved to meet the VLA? It concludes with a series of key takeaways and recommendations.

Click here to listen to our podcast episode on the Virginia Literacy Act and click here …

Imagination To Innovation: Design Thinking For Young Learners, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

Design thinking is the intersection of engineering design and social-emotional learning. Today’s learners must be empathetic problem solvers capable of defining problems and designing appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the user. In this session, participants will experience design thinking through literature-based scenarios appropriate for early learners. They will analyze and compare their own models to those of others and compose a lesson that will engage students in the design thinking process.

To Be Young, Black, And In The Academy: A Collection Of Lessons, Yetunde Alabede, Jessica Reed, Blake Thompson

Michigan Reading Journal

Literacy, a foundational tool that unlocks opportunities, can be viewed in both narrow and confining lenses. We, doctoral students at Michigan State University, center our own experiences in order to redefine such narratives of what literacy means, can mean, and should mean for students of color throughout the African Diaspora. We explore methods to disrupt, experiences to resist, and questions to challenge the ways that students and educators engage with various concepts of literacy. Though we come from various backgrounds, this manuscript seeks to push forward a dialogue that allows for the multiple literacies that Black children have, language and …

7 Hands-On Strategies For Struggling Readers, Elise Murray, Stacey Murray

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Struggling readers are found in almost every classroom across the world. With differing learning styles and abilities, teachers are encouraged now, more than ever, to be innovative when teaching foundational reading strategies. Within this article, readers are provided with a literature review of research and educational literature that discusses how multisensory, hands-on activities promote engagement and active learning for all students. The recommended seven hands-on learning strategies that can promote learning and support for struggling readers during literacy instruction include Build the Words, Feel the Words, Whole Body Letters, Five Finger Retell, Sight Word BINGO, …

Exploring The Changing Nature Of Teachers’ Pedagogic Identities During The Delivery Of Online Literacy Teaching, Deb L. Brosseuk, Lynn Downes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the interconnectedness between Australian teachers’ literacy practices and their pedagogic identity during the global pandemic. In doing so, the paper presents pedagogic identity as a dynamic, ever-evolving construct involving teachers and their teaching environment. Findings are reported from a case study of early years and primary teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. From teachers’ self-reported teaching experiences, we identify three orientations to pedagogic identity: The Driver; The Collaborator; and The Apprentice. Drawing on analytic work, the paper finds that the online delivery of literacy teaching brought opportunities for teachers to shift between pedagogic identities, …

Primary Grade Teachers’ Perspectives On Early Literacy Intervention Programs In Urban Title I Schools, Whitney L. Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Developing a strong foundation in literacy is an essential component of students’ overall academic success. However, first through third grade students in urban Title I schools located in the southeastern region of the United States continued to show limited progress on state literacy assessments. The purpose of this basic qualitative study with interviews was to explore teachers’ perspectives on their experiences with literacy intervention programs. The conceptual framework was based on Senge’s learning organizations and systems thinking theory. Research questions explored literacy intervention program effectiveness and supports teachers needed for ongoing implementation with fidelity. Data from semistructured interviews with 13 …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Literacy Instruction With Autistic Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Heather Ann Marzenski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractFamilies and educators have voiced concerns about the literacy skills of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the situation. Pandemic era studies have demonstrated the ramifications that students with ASD have faced, including regression of literacy skills, lower grades, lack of support services, and subpar instruction. Teachers' perceptions remained unexamined in the pandemic era studies. The purpose of this basic qualitative dissertation was to examine teachers’ perceptions about the materials and strategies used to deliver literacy instruction during the pandemic for students with ASD. The conceptual frameworks that underpinned this study were self-determination theory …

Review Of The Vulnerable Heart Of Literacy: Centering Trauma As Powerful Pedagogy., Zipporah Galimore

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

In The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy: Centering Trauma as Powerful Pedagogy (2019), Elizabeth Dutro provides educators with heart-felt, inquiry-based strategies for using trauma as pedagogy in literacy classrooms. This book describes how to situate both educators and children to provide testimony and be critical witnesses in an effort to allow life knowledge, empathy, and wisdom be brought to classroom learning experiences. Dutro uses classroom vignettes and student work samples to illustrate how the concept of trauma as pedagogy can be applied across genres. Experiences and examples of literacy instruction in children's work from several elementary classrooms, from second grade through …

First-Grade Teachers’ Perspectives On Children’S Oral Reading Fluency And Automaticity, Keshia Wood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Reading fluency and automaticity are essential components of the first-grade reading curriculum, yet little is known about teachers’ perspectives on their role in assisting children in mastering these skills. The purpose of this basic qualitative research study was to explore teachers’ perspectives of the problem of low reading fluency and low automaticity among their first-grade students. The theory of automatic information processing in reading formed the conceptual framework, augmented by Rasinski’s techniques of repeated reading and readers theater to support development of reading fluency and automaticity. Research questions about teachers’ perspectives of oral reading fluency and automaticity, their understanding of …

Teacher Perspectives Of The Implementation Of The Journeys Early Literacy Program, Milton Bernard Reese

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A small rural school district in the southwestern part of the United States required teachers to provide highly effective literacy instruction by implementing an evidence-based reading program called Journeys. With consistently low reading achievement, it was unclear whether teachers were implementing Journeys as prescribed. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teacher implementation of the Journeys program for students at an elementary school in the district. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was Clay’s emergent literacy theory. The conceptual framework included 5 strands of the Journeys reading curriculum, which was derived from Clay’s theory. A …

Early Childhood Leadership: A Photovoice Exploration, Kristi Cheyney-Collante, Melissa Cheyney

The Qualitative Report

The first five years of a child’s life represent critical windows in physiological, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Administrators of early childhood (EC) programs play a pivotal role in determining the quality of experiences that unfold for young children in center-based care. Using photovoice, semi-structured administrator interviews, and participant-observation, we aimed to identify the factors contributing to one center’s atypically excellent outcomes with diverse children and families. Our textual and photographic analyses revealed three findings. First, administrators saw themselves as embedded within a larger system of barriers characterized by low positionality within an educational caste system that is marked by pervasive …

European Alternative Preschool Philosophies, Styles, And Emergent Literacy Skill Development, Lynne M. Lawson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many American preschool children enter kindergarten without the emergent literacy skills needed to learn to read. To address this problem, this multicase qualitative study investigated the emergent literacy practices at Steiner Waldorf-inspired and Reggio Emilia-inspired schools. The research questions focused on how alternative preschool philosophies help staff cultivate emergent literacy skills in young children. The conceptual framework came from Piaget's cognitive development theory, and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. The study included eight participants from two Reggio Emilia-inspired and two Steiner Waldorf-inspired preschools. Data were collected through open-ended interviews, observations, and analyses of de-identified student work, then subjected to thematic cross-case analysis. …

Literacy Tutoring Strategies Of America Reads University-Level Tutors, Mauricio Cadavid

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore, study, outline and describe tutoring strategies applied by American Reads (AR) tutors and non-America Reads (nAR) tutors helping young tutees develop early literacy skills. There is limited research on the implementation of effective tutoring strategies during one-on-one tutoring with elementary school children in terms of early literacy development. Most of the literature is split between peer tutoring and program tutoring. This lack of research presents a particular challenge when it comes to identifying an effective tutor and effective tutoring methodologies. Using a qualitative approach, this study utilizes survey data, session recordings, and …

Kindergarten Literacy Readiness Before And After Highscope Implementation, Chandra Kathleen Youngblood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students who attended preschool in an urban Michigan district are not entering kindergarten with the necessary skills. The preschool implemented the HighScope curriculum and the effect of this curriculum on kindergarten readiness was unknown. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to investigate the difference in kindergarten readiness scores of students who attended a preschool before and after the High Scope curriculum was implemented. The pedagogical practices of preschool and the HighScope curriculum align with Dewey and Vygotsky's theories on experiential learning which were the foundation that guided this causal comparative study. The research questions examined preschool letter identification and …

Effect Of Public And Private Preschool Attendance On Kindergarten Literacy, Matthew Garofolo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students who enter kindergarten lacking readiness skills often struggle to meet literacy benchmarks and to successfully complete school. The problem to be investigated by this study is the low literacy scores on the standardized Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment test at 2 public New Jersey elementary schools. While some students attended public or private preschools, others did not attend any preschool prior to starting kindergarten. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the difference in kindergarten literacy gain scores among students who attended public, private, and no preschool. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and emergent literacy theory served as the …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Jolly Phonics Program On Students' Literacy, Lorane Evadney Moodie-Reid

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At 2 primary schools in Western Jamaica, students at the Grade 1 level lacked basic literacy skills of comprehension, letter recognition, letter sounds, and oral communication. The purpose of this qualitative evaluation study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of the Jolly Phonics program implemented to improve students' literacy in Grades 1-3. Guided by Engestrom's activity theory, the effectiveness of the Jolly Phonics approach was examined based on the sociocultural learning theories of Vygotsky, Dewey, and Piaget. The research questions focused on teachers' perceptions of the program's impact on students' literacy improvement and of the strategies used in the Jolly Phonics …

A Study Of Prekindergarten Impact On Early Literacy Readiness, Lakeisha Shantae Stokes

Dissertations

The awareness of the positive impact of prekindergarten programs on the success of early literacy of students has heightened due to the research performed on the topic (Barnett et al., 2003; Cohen, 1996; Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2005). The purpose of this study was to evaluate prekindergarten student gains in the development of early literacy skills, depending on their prekindergarten program experience. The study further examined Head Start and public school prekindergarten teachers’ knowledge of early literacy skills.

Results from the prekindergarten teacher survey indicated that public school prekindergarten teachers had higher levels of education than Head Start prekindergarten teachers. The …

An Exploratory Critical Study Of Questioning Strategies Posed By Early Childhood Teachers During Literacy Blocks, Angela H. Baker Ms.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive types and functions of questions orally posed by early childhood teachers in kindergarten through 3rd grade during a 90-minute literacy block. The cognitive types of questions were determined by the criteria established using Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Hess, Jones, Carlock, & Walkup, 2009). The functions of the posed questions were determined by criteria based on the work of Costa (2001), Hughes (as cited in Fusco, 2012), and Lowery (as cited in Fusco, 2012). This study examined questioning strategies used by 12 early childhood teachers from a Northeast Tennessee School District. …

Fidelity Of Implementation, Teacher Perspectives And Child Outcomes Of A Literacy Intervention In A Head Start Program: A Mixed Methods Study, Dawn Davis

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The success of early childhood interventions have been influenced by the degree to which they were implemented with fidelity (e.g., Davidson, Fields & Yang, 2009; Dusenbury, Brannigan, Falco, & Hansen, 2003; Elliot & Mihalic, 2004), meaning “the degree to which teachers and other program providers implement programs as intended by the program developers” (Mellard & Johnson, 2008, p. 240). This study examines relations among implementation fidelity, teacher characteristics, their perceptions, and child literacy outcomes within a preschool literacy intervention using a mixed methods design.

This study examines child literacy outcome data from 247 preschool children and fidelity, perceptions and demographic …

Digital Biliteracy: Digital Technologies As Homes For Arab Immigrant Children's Biliteracy Development, Laila Al-Salmi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The revolution of digital technologies and children's increasing access to them is

impacting the literacy development of children around the world. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between digital technologies and immigrant children's biliteracy development. The purpose of this study was to understand the digital literacy practices of Arab pre-kindergarten children and how these shape biliteracy development in Arabic and English. Tomake sense of the emergent biliteracy of these young participants, the study proposed Digital Biliteracy, a theoretical framework that draws on elements of New Literacy Studies, MultimodalLiteracies, Digital Literacies and Situated Learning Theory.

The study employed a qualitative …

Literacy Coaching And Preschool Teacher's Implementation Of Literacy Instructional Practices, Teresa Byington

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Literacy coaching has gained prominence during the past decade as a professional development strategy for changing teacher practices. The purpose of this study was to identify whether a coaching intervention increased teacher's level of implementation of five targeted literacy instructional practices. Additionally, the researcher sought to determine if there was a relationship between teacher's stages of concern and their level of implementation of literacy instructional practices. Teachers participated in a six-week literacy coaching intervention. The study was a pre-post intervention group mixed methods design with both quantitative and qualitative measures. The participants of the study included eight preschool teachers and …

The Relationship Between The Boehm And Aimsweb On Kindergarten Student Achievement In One Northern Michigan Intermediate School District, Emily O'Hearn

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Kindergarten students are asked to perform at a level formerly expected of first grade students and are expected to be well on their way to reading (Bassard & Boehm, 2007). With tight school budgets, site leaders must choose wisely about allocation of resources and determine the most effective means of helping students, especially those struggling in the area of reading. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine what relationship, if any, exists between the Boehm test and AIMSweb Test of Early Literacy (TEL) administered to kindergarten students during the 2010-2011 school year.

Data in this research were collected …

A Clinical Practicum Experience To Prepare Teacher Candidates For Early Literacy Instruction, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to explore teacher candidates’ tutoring experiences within a university clinical practicum to acquire an understanding about how their unique interactions with struggling readers and research-based methodology contribute to their pedagogical understandings of literacy instruction.

This article spotlights teacher education and addresses the question of how teacher educators can guide teacher candidates in putting theory into practice with early readers. The author describes a scaffolded clinical practicum in which preservice teachers have the opportunity assess, teach and reflect on their work with children.