Approximately 250 million children across the world are not acquiring basic reading and math skills, even though about 50% of them have spent at least 4 years in school. Educational policies on Early grade literacy (EGL) in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region have long suffered from a disjuncture between school practice and research.…

The Early Interactive Software Program (EISP) was designed to increase the literacy skills of all students in K-3 through adaptive computer-based literacy software. Eleven software vendors were selected by schools and qualified by the state to provide reading software programs through the EISP in 2023-2024. The vendors used during the school year…

Randomized controlled trials in education are necessary to keep pace with the evidence-based practices demanded by schools and the nation. In this study, kindergarten students in a school district in Indiana were randomized on the class level: The experimental condition consisted of students utilizing a computer-adaptive reading program for 15…

Foundational literacy is a key lever for achieving higher levels of learning and societal wellbeing. However, with an enrolment of over 250 million children in schools, India is currently challenged by learning deprivation. Growing uptake of English-medium education along with less-than-optimal English literacy instruction practices present an…

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…

Adaptive learning technologies hold great promise for improving the reading skills of adults with low literacy, but adults with low literacy skills typically have low computer literacy skills. In order to determine whether adults with low literacy skills would be able to use an intelligent tutoring system for reading comprehension, we adapted a 44…

Much of what is known about autism and literacy instruction is derived from studies including monolingual English-speaking children. Yet, less than one-fifth of the world's population are English speakers. This review examines the research on literacy instruction for children with autism learning to read and write in languages other than English.…

Prior research into computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has demonstrated that the use of technology in the classroom has the potential to help underperforming young learners. The literature has also stressed that thorough evidence-based testing is needed to ensure that effective instruction is provided to students and that accurate information is…

Students displaying reading difficulties/disabilities at the end of third grade are unlikely to succeed in content areas and graduate from high school. One alternative to meeting the learning needs of students is to provide explicit instructional support in basic literacy skills through computer-based reading programs via after-school programs.…

Technology is increasingly playing a role in the education of early learners. As such, it is vital that research demonstrates that the new suite of tools that are enabled by emerging technologies are both engaging and effective for all students. The Waterford Early Reading Program, a computer-assisted adaptive curriculum, was administered to…

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.…

Overall, game-based technology for early reading instruction has not robustly met the learning potentials of young readers. To better understand the effects and limitations of computer-assisted instruction in classrooms, researchers have called for more critical attention to learning theory, methodological selection, and context for learning.…

This study compared the efficacy of the Headsprout© Early Reading (HER) program with SENCO-delivered supplementary literacy instruction. Participants were primary school children (aged 6-9) in receipt of free school meals and supplementary literacy instruction. Data were collected within their school setting. The treatment group received HER…

This study investigated the impact of a computer-adaptive reading program, Waterford Early Learning (WEL), in an elementary school in Indiana. The study investigated how educational technology, specifically computer-assisted instruction (CAI), would impact the literacy scores of kindergarten students when paired with traditional instruction:…

Purpose: Children with autism have an increased likelihood of reading difficulties. The reasons for this are numerous and varied, but many children with autism can learn to read when they are provided with evidence-based early reading instruction. Method: Here, we provide an overview of some of the factors that impact early reading development for…