The Waterford Institute recognizes that nearly half of the country's 4-years-olds face socioeconomic barriers that keep them from early education. Utah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow (UPSTART) is a home-based computer preschool program developed and provided by Waterford to prepare young children for school entry and future…

The Waterford Institute recognizes that nearly half of the country's 4-years-olds face socioeconomic barriers that keep them from early education. Utah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow (UPSTART) is a home-based computer preschool program developed and provided by Waterford to prepare young children for school entry and future…

This research examines the effects of a computer reading program as a supplement to classroom instruction for Kindergarten students across Study 1 and Study 2 (N = 55 and 88, respectively). Students attended schools in suburban settings and all students received their typical balanced literacy programming. Students in the treatment condition used…

Game-based learning (GBL) is becoming a more widespread style of education; however, there is a lack of research on the benefits of GBL on students' early literacy skills. This study explores the effectiveness of a computer adaptive GBL curriculum, Waterford Early Learning (WEL) during the 2016-2017 school year. Kindergarten, first grade, and…

This study provided workshops for parents on either early literacy or socio-emotional learning to examine the impact on their children's reading and social skills development (n = 576 parents; n = 584 children). Parents of kindergartners were offered interactive workshops designed to help them identify everyday opportunities to support reading…

The COVID-19 pandemic has suspended physical classes and influenced students from underprivileged groups more seriously due to their poor living conditions and digital disadvantages. To understand the impact of the constrained learning, we conducted a study on game-based learning to examine the effectiveness of computer-aided and autonomous…

Project ENGAGE was an Education Innovation and Research federal grant awarded to the Osage County Interlocal Cooperative in October of 2017. This study addressed the effect of a combination of literacy and behavioral supports on the academic outcomes of elementary students in rural public schools. The five-year multi-element study included a…

While developmental dyslexia has been extensively studied in children, research on adults is still rather limited. This paper aims to bridge the gap in existing research by presenting the findings of a study that examined the reading and spelling skills of adults with dyslexia and assessed the effectiveness of a linguistic intervention designed to…

Utah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow (UPSTART) is a home-based computer preschool program developed and provided by the Waterford Institute to prepare young children for school entry and future academic success. The Evaluation and Training Institute (ETI), has prepared this report for the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) to…

Technology can be a powerful tool to help transform learning. It has the potential to empower students to expand their learning beyond the confines of the traditional classroom, support self-directed learning, help educators tailor learning experiences to individual student needs, and support students with disabilities. Technology also has the…

This phenomenological study investigates teacher experiences using i-Ready's literacy-based software with Black male fifth-grade students in an urban school district in the Northeast region of the United States. The participant's knowledge about i-Ready is fundamental to understanding the program's impact on Black male fifth-grade students. This…

Utah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow (UPSTART) is a home-based computer preschool program developed and provided by the Waterford Institute to prepare young children for school entry and future academic success. The Evaluation and Training Institute (ETI), has prepared this report for the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) to…

Schools in England are expected to 'close the gap' for a range of vulnerable pupils who are achieving below the levels seen amongst their same-aged peers. They are also highly accountable for additional funding that is provided to support this goal. The project reported here involved collating and analysing a range of data in order to evaluate the…

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) require intensive supports to make progress on literacy goals. These supports must often include methods to decrease challenging behaviors and increase engagement during instruction. In this study, I investigated whether computer-assisted instruction (CAI) may be one effective method…

High-quality field-based experiences are at the core of teacher preparation programs; however, the COVID-19 pandemic severely limited access to such placements for pre-service teachers. This descriptive study examined how virtual tutoring in a summer-semester intermediate literacy course impacted both pre-service teachers and students served.…