In 2004, the federal government passed the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This act requires school districts to provide a free education that meets the needs of all children, including those with physical, intellectual, and/or emotional disabilities. When those disabilities threaten the child’s ability to learn, school districts are required to offer free special education (SPED) services.

SPED is not a one-size-fits-all classification. Some children need SPED services because their brains don’t function as quickly or efficiently as their peers’. Others have normal intelligence but struggle with physical, emotional, or specific cognitive deficits. While some disabilities require specific interventions, it’s also true that a handful of evidence-based interventions help nearly all children with disabilities.

In this paper we examine how specific evidence-based interventions can help children with disabilities be more successful in the classroom. Discussed interventions include:

• A simple, predictable classroom environment
• Routines and behavioral accommodations
• Clear and focused instruction
• Differentiated instruction
• Mastering foundational skills
• Assessment, practice, feedback

State and federal investments in preschool are growing. Total state funding for preschool programs increased for the fourth year in a row last year to nearly $7 billion, according to The Education Commission of the States. And the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) increases funding for early childhood education in three ways—Title I funding, Title II funding and Preschool Development Grants.

While we have made some progress as a country in public funding, we still need many improvements in access and equity. An estimated 46 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds still lack access to preschool in any form, public or private, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Even fewer have access to high-quality programs: a staggering 52 percent of under-resourced children and 25 percent of moderate- to high-income children arrive on the first day of kindergarten unprepared.

Here we cover two recent studies that show longitudinal benefits for two different types of kindergarten readiness efforts:

• a traditional preschool program;
• and a home-based kindergarten readiness program.

In this research paper you’ll find: a brief overview of early literacy skills and reading instruction in the U.S.; the role of technology reading instruction; and, research highlights and effectiveness studies for Waterford Early Learning curriculum. An excerpt from the paper:

While some progress has been made in recent years, it is clear that a large percentage of students continue to struggle with basic reading skills during their first years in school, and that these difficulties can result in deficits that remain, or grow, in the later grades (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1997; Whitehurst, 2003; Pressley, 1998). Early reading difficulties can sometimes appear even before a child enters kindergarten; language and word learning skills seem to be significantly affected by early family experience (Hart & Risley, 1995). Whether a problem begins during or before the time a child starts school, research has noted that large differences in reading technique and achievement are made apparent as early as first grade (Stanovich, 2000). Students behind during the first years of school tend to learn at a slower rate than students who begin ahead; often, this results in a so-called “Matthew effect for reading skills, in which the academically “rich become richer and the “poor become poorer (Walberg, 2003).

While acquiring basic literacy skills has long been considered among the most important elements of early childhood education, many recent efforts to improve reading instruction in U.S. primary schools have not met with encouraging results, especially among lower-performing students (Viteritti, 2004, p. 69; Guthrie & Springer, 2004; Cohen, Raudenbush, & Ball, 2003).

To read the full research paper, use the download form below.

 

The best programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students engage them at their own pace. Effective programs encourage language proficiency with interactive, context-rich, multi-cultural content delivered in a safe, personalized learning environment (Kelso 2010).

Waterford Early Learning leverages its deep library of over 8,000 engaging activities to maximize student exposure and comprehension to oral language. Waterford Early Learning effectively addresses the unique instructional needs of LEP students with five key strategies:

• Build language skills through regular exposure to oral English and opportunities to practice speaking aloud.
• Personalize instruction, which allows students to learn at their own level and pace.
• Emphasize high learning standards while respecting individual strengths and needs.
• Celebrate student diversity.
• Encourage language minority parents to be more active participants in their child’s education.

Download the full white paper, with more strategies for successfully engaging ELL students, below!.