At-Risk Children Who Learn With McGraw-Hill Program Are Closing the Achievement Gap Before Kindergarten

Almost every 4- and 5-year-old at-risk preschooler participating in the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville's Read to Succeed program has gained the language and literacy skills needed for success in Kindergarten after using Wright Group/McGraw-Hill's DLM Early Childhood Express curriculum.

In the fall of 2002, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville (UWMN) established the Read to Succeed program, an innovative early learning program aimed at ensuring that at-risk children (from infancy to age 5) have a solid foundation of the necessary skills when they enter Kindergarten.

Read to Succeed follows the latest scientifically based reading research indicating young children must practice and master the following emerging literacy skills to be successful in school:

  --  Oral language (vocabulary)
  --  Phonological awareness (beginning sounds, rhyming, sound-letter
      correlations)
  --  Print awareness (parts of a book, reading left to right, top to
      bottom, etc.)
  --  Alphabet knowledge (at least 10 letters of the alphabet prior to
      Kindergarten)

These are skills that the majority of middle- and upper-income families instill in their children through shared reading, regular conversations, and daily activities. However, test results find that children from low-income and impoverished families do not gain these skills prior to school, often because their parents lack a strong educational background. In 2004, only 44% of children entering Nashville's public Kindergarten had mastered all these skills.

Thanks to a federal Early Reading First grant in 2006, UWMN selected DLM Early Childhood Express as the curriculum for 4- and 5-year-olds. The grant also provided training for teachers using the curriculum from the program author.

Clare W. Terry, UWMN's manager of the program, said, "The outcomes for the children participating in the Read to Succeed program have been positive and dramatic."

By the end of the 2007-2008 school year, 93% of children at-risk for academic failure participating in Read to Succeed had the language and literacy skills needed for success in Kindergarten, up from fewer than 50% at the start of the program in the 2002-2003 school year. Among children participating in Read to Succeed, 83% possessed "strong skills" meaning that they should be reading at or above grade level in Grade 2, up from 28% at the start.

"We expect these numbers to continue increasing. This is important because after Grade 2, children are no longer learning to read; they are reading to learn. By Grade 4, less than 10% of poor readers are ever able to get back on track, explaining, in part, why only 67% of students graduated from Nashville's public high schools on time in 2006," said Terry.

  Performance Indicator (Change from Spring 2005 to Spring 2008)

  % w/ Read. readiness = > 10:        +11%
  % 3s w/ Vocabulary = > 85.0:        +36%
  % 4s w/ Vocabulary = > 85.0:        +27%
  Average # letters = > 18:           +5.0 points
  % Upper case letters = > 18:        +25%
  % Beginning sounds = > 5:           +19%
  % Rhyme = > 5:                      +11%
  % Nursery rhymes = > 6:             +45%
  % Print/word aware. = > 7:          +28%

In addition, UWMN has a number of individual student success stories. For example, Betsy entered the St. Luke's preschool program, as many do, with almost no detectible English faculty. Her initial assessments were inconclusive because she was not able to fully participate in the activities asked of her. During seven months, Betsy's ability to communicate blossomed. She greets all adults in English and offers a hug as she arrives and leaves each day. Her spring assessment results show tremendous growth. She has met all Kindergarten readiness benchmarks.

Teachers also have provided many testimonials for DLM Early Childhood Express. One said, "I love the way DLM flows from one learning experience to the next. For example, when teaching the children about their noses, we discussed what they do with their noses, and then found other types of noses such as an elephant trunk. From there, we sang a song about the elephants that incorporated numbers and counting. From that experience we sat down and did a smelling test in which the children had the opportunity to guess the 'aroma' that was in the cup. This activity was not only enjoyable for the children. but introduced a new word that not many of them knew."

For more information on UWMN, visit UnitedWayNashville.org/content/index.php?pid=132.

About Wright Group/McGraw-Hill

Wright Group/McGraw-Hill publishes innovative core and supplemental literacy and mathematics programs for differentiated instruction and teacher training in Grades Pre-K-8. The research-based approach, anchored in real-world applications, is based on the assessed needs of students, combining developmentally appropriate materials with explicit outcomes.

Wright Group is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of print and digital instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at MHEducation.com. For more information on Wright Group's products, call 1-800-648-2970 or visit WrightGroup.com.

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SOURCE: Wright Group/McGraw-Hill

CONTACT: Amy Tillinghast of Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, +1-614-750-7285,
amy_tillinghast@mcgraw-hill.com, or Melina Metzger of Paul Werth Associates,
+1-614-224-8114, Ext. 236, mmetzger@paulwerth.com

Web Site: http://www.mheducation.com/
http://www.wrightgroup.com/