Research Question: In preschool settings does Animated Literacy

1
Research QuestionIn preschool settings does
Animated Literacy promote early literacy skills
attainment significantly than an unstructured
curriculum?
Animated Alphabet Evidence for Effectiveness?
Diane M Plunkett, MS.ed., Eva Horn, Ph.D., Dr.
Susan Palmer, Ph.D., Kandace Fleming, Ph.D. 2007
CEC Conference, Louisville, KY

• In 2001, President Bush prescribed
• a new direction for early learning
• with No Child Left Behind
• legislature. The emphasis on ready
• to learn skills and increased
• accountability for early primary
• grades is unparalleled.
• Unfortunately, evidence of
• success for specific curriculum
• use is limited.
• Through the Animated Alphabet
• students
• Learn to access prior knowledge
• to predict and comprehend events
• in a story.
• 2) Develop an intuitive knowledge of
• story structure and sequence.

Results
Measure  Significant
WJ 13 ª F(1,168) 11.17, p0.0010 F(1,168) 12.65, p0.0005 Yes Yes
Alliteration F(1,21.4) 8.41,p0.0085 F(1,85.2) 8.66,p0.0042 Yes Yes
Rhyming F(1,106) 5.25,p0.0239 Yes

• Participants in this study were 4 yr. old
  children at-risk for early school problems. These
  children were enrolled in Head Start, state PreK
  and private preschool classrooms in two states
  (Kansas and Maryland). A total of 200 children
  participated in the study. These intact
  classrooms were self-identified as implementing
  or not implementing the Animated Literacy
  curriculum. The data set were obtained from a
  larger randomized experimental research project.

White (Non-Hispanic Black Asian Other
142 35 1 21
Male Female Unreported
109 86 5
9 Classrooms used the Animated Literacy
curriculum -Implementation 9 Classrooms did not
use Animated Literacy curriculum - Control
a multiplied by 10 plt0.05

• Results

Methods A random coefficients regression analysis
of covariance was conducted us SAS Proc mixed to
account for nesting of children within
classrooms. Post-test child performances were the
criterion variable and pre-test child performance
to control for child differences.. Criterion
Variable Research staff collected child
performance data on children at the beginning of
the year and again at the end of the year.
Dependent Variable Picture
Peabody Vocabulary Test Woodcock Johnson
Subtests 1 13 Individual Growth and
Development Indicator
(Rhyming
and Alliteration) Predictor Variable
Pre-test child performance The assessment of
child






performance in the fall was used as a pre-test
co-variate.
There is evidence to suggest the classroom use of Animated Alphabet increases a childs acquisition of literacy skills.
The most significant gain in acquisition is for children who enter the classroom scoring lower than the central mean.
The specific skills that show a marked increase are those that are measured by the Woodcock-Johnson (subset 13), the Indicators for Growth and Development (Alliteration and Rhyming)
Children that scored at the central mean and those that scored at one standard deviation above the mean at pretest showed no difference in literacy acquisition skills than the control group.
Data subset of larger research project.
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