Strengthening early literacy
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson September 19, 2024
With support from the W.T. Grant Foundation, University of Delaware partners with the Delaware Department of Education to improve K-3 literacy outcomes
Delaware’s commitment to enhancing literacy achievement for all students in pre-K through third grade, especially multilingual language learners and those with disabilities, is evident in its Every Student Succeeds Act plan and recent legislation on the Science of Reading. Despite these efforts, only 25% of Delaware's fourth grade students scored at or above proficiency in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2022.
To address this, the University of Delaware’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), the Partnership for Public Education (PPE), and the Collaborative for Data-Driven Action have secured a new institutional change grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and other organizations with the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE). UD will partner with the DDOE to improve K-3 literacy outcomes and promote equitable learning statewide. By combining their research, policy and practice expertise, UD and DDOE aim to better understand literacy challenges in the state and support schools in meeting the needs of students and families through evidence-based solutions.
“Researchers across the nation use reading test scores to better understand literacy development, but these tests are often administered to students in grades three through eight,” said Gary T. Henry, principal investigator at UD and professor in CEHD’s School of Education and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. “Literacy development for students in kindergarten through grade two is often a blind spot in the literacy data available, and these are absolutely crucial years in which students acquire fundamental literacy skills. This research-practice partnership will provide findings that help us gain a common understanding of literacy development and identify where policy and practice improvements are needed.”
The Power of Partnership
The diverse range of literacy curricula, instructional practices, and assessments across Delaware makes it challenging to fully understand early literacy development before fourth grade. Through the innovative Delaware Early Literacy Research Practice Partnership, UD and DDOE will bring together leaders, experts, literacy specialists, and researchers in early childhood, literacy, measurement and policy to create a comprehensive view of K-3 literacy development.
“We viewed the recent Science of Reading legislation as an opportunity to align UD’s research expertise with the state’s interest in early literacy,” said Annastasia Purinton, UD co-principal investigator and associate director of the PPE. “This partnership stands out because we collaboratively developed a research agenda to ensure that the evidence we produce is useful to the state.”
Purinton added, “For instance, DDOE was interested in understanding K-3 literacy assessment scores on a common scale. It’s crucial to gain a clearer picture of what occurs from kindergarten to third grade to better identify and allocate additional resources, such as professional development for early-grade teachers. Our goal was to address the DDOE’s questions and support equitable early literacy outcomes.”
The team will analyze K-3 literacy outcomes alongside administrative data on child, teacher, and school factors. With a focus on equitable learning, they will also examine school and district policies to enhance the state’s ability to support districts, schools, and teachers in improving literacy outcomes for Black and Hispanic students, multilingual learners, students with disabilities and students from low-income families.
By the end of the project, the team aims to develop a statewide integrated data set that captures early literacy assessment data, assesses how educators use this data to inform instruction, aligns policy, assessment, and instruction with state literacy standards and explores factors influencing early literacy outcomes.
“This partnership will build our capacity as a state agency to better understand the available early literacy data, use the data to make informed decisions and use those decisions to make policy recommendations internally at the department, to those leading our school systems and externally to policy makers,” said Kathy Kelly, director of curriculum, instruction and professional development at DDOE. “At the state level, we lack data to support the K-3 school systems in deeply analyzing their learning trajectory for all students, dissecting data by student group and then acting on that data prior to a third grade assessment. Having this kind of research will set the state up for success when we guide schools in changing educator practice and ultimately in improving student outcomes.”
“Working in collaboration with the University of Delaware better positions us as a support agency to use the research resources of our partnering institution to make data-driven policy decisions and provide technical assistance and support to our districts and charter schools across the state,” said Monica Gant, DDOE co-principal investigator and associate secretary of the DDOE academic support team.
For more information about the partnership team and their research, visit the PPE’s website.
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