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The Waterford Early Reading Program™
has been formally assessed in many schools and districts of various sizes
and types. The studies consistently show the program to be effective in
preparing young children to learn how to read. Most notably, the Waterford
Early Reading Program raises the lowest performers in a class to reading
competency.
In 1998, Waterford Early Reading Program Level One was implemented
in nearly every kindergarten classroom in the state of Idaho. Of those
using Waterford, eight districts were selected as a representative sample
for a three-year study. Each year student performance was tracked relative
to a historical control group. The results were measured using a Kindergarten
Inventory created by Marilyn Jager Adams and Philip B. Gough. Overall,
students using Waterford performed markedly better than the control group,
with all improvements being statistically significant. Average effect
sizes measured between 0.21 and 1.09 for various subgroups of students.
The following are some of the study findings:
- The lower third of students using the Waterford Early Reading Program
outperformed the control group with an effect size of .65
- The students who completed Level One of the program had an
effect size of .45 over the control group
- Those in the lower third who completed Level One of the program
had an effect size of 1.09 over the control group
Read the Walberg Study (Adobe
Acrobat required)
In the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Steven Hecht reports
his findings after investigating the effects of Waterford Early Reading
Program Level One on 42 kindergarten students of low socioeconomic
status. "The amount of time that children used Waterford Early Reading Program
Level One was correlated with all post-test measures of emergent literacy
skills. Importantly, intervention time was uniquely associated with growth
in phonemic awareness skills, even while controlling for initial levels
of phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, invented spelling, vocabulary
knowledge, and print concepts. Similarly, the amount of time using Waterford
Early Reading Program Level One was also uniquely related to growth in
invented spelling, letter knowledge, and print concepts."
Read the Hecht Study (Adobe
Acrobat required)
Each year, Waterford Institute and other organizations study the efficacy
of Waterford programs. Findings are published in a yearly research compendium.
You can view the compendia by clicking the links below.
1998 • 1999
• 2000 • 2001-2002
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