The methodology will include; a program description, research design,
human participants (sample), study validity and reliability,
assumptions and limitations, proposed time line, non-personnel and
personnel resources, and a management plan. The methodology plan is
necessary to discuss how the grant money will be used, but also how the
progress of the early literacy program will be documented. This
information will be shared to address the positive progress and the
continuation of the program.
Methodology
Program description. The Child Early Literacy Program is a
program that will focus on the early literacy of young children ages
3-8. Children in the program will have access to a qualified teacher two
to three times a week for an average of 10 to 30 minutes, depending on
their level of literacy. The program will begin at the beginning of the
year where parents will be notified, students will be evaluated on their
current literacy, and then the program will run the rest of the year.
Parents will be expected to be partners in the program in completing
weekly literacy activities at home. At the end of the year all children
participants will be evaluated to show improvement in literacy.
Research design. Before any evaluations take place it’s important
to note that each family will be notified of the program, before its
inception, and each family will be asked for permission for their child
to participate. The informed consent will also include information on
the partnership with the family to assist the child each week with
literacy activities.
The program will utilize the correlational research design with three
evaluations to report. All evaluations are quantifiable. The first
evaluation will be a weekly reported generated by the teachers to show
the frequency of how often a child participates each week and for how
many minutes. The second evaluation is a self-report from parents to
show the frequency that they worked with the child at home. The third
evaluation will be pre and post-test scores on the areas of print
knowledge, definitional vocabulary, and phonological awareness taken at
the beginning of the year (as a baseline) and again at the end of the
year (Lonigan, Wagner, & Torgesen, 2018). The third evaluation will
use the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL) which is deemed for
ages 3 – 11 years. The independent variables will be the frequency of
minutes total each week with the teacher (a continuous variable) and the
number of activities completed each week at home with the parents (a
continuous variable). The dependent variable will be the comparison of
pre and post test scores on all 3 areas of literacy (continuous
variable). Correlations will be addressed utilizing a multiple
regression, as the dependent variable is continuous and can be run
separately for the three areas of literacy or on a combined score, and
there are two independent variables (weekly frequency of teaching and
frequency of at-home activities ( that are both measured continuously.
The design will address if the CELP program and continued activities at
home make a significant difference on the early literacy skills of the
child. Furthermore, data will address the significance, the strength and
direction of the correlation, and how controlling effects for the
independent variables can change the data.
Human subjects. All children from ages 3 to 8 (or grades 3-years
through second grade) will be eligible to participate in the program.
The first 100 eligible children will be accepted into the program.
Teachers will make recommendations based on student achievement and for
those students that have English as a second language to benefit from
the program. Parents will be notified of the program through a letter
sent home. Parents/caregivers will be called or spoken to for any
letters not returned or signed to ensure that all eligible students are
given the opportunity to participate. New students will be accepted due
to teacher recommendation throughout the year.
Study Validity and Reliability. The validity and reliability of
the program is focused on the three objectives; weekly frequency of
teaching, weekly frequency of at-home activities, and pre and post
measurements of the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL) (Lonigan et
al., 2018). The frequency of teaching and home activities can be
considered reliable as teachers and the parents are expected to offer
the same amount of time and activities to the children. Meaning that
the time and activities should be consistent each week per child. The
frequency of teaching and home activities can be considered valid as the
objective and evaluation for both of these have the same expectations
and for each student. The TOPEL was developed and normed using a sample
of 842 students in the United States (Goodrich, Lonigan, & Alfonso,
2019). Convergent validity is a form of construct validity, which
measures the construct of literacy in comparison to other tests that
also measure literacy (Creswell, 2014). The criterion measures of the
convergent validity are high as each subtest ranged from .59 to .77
(Goodrich et al, 2019). These are considered to be strong positive
correlations (Creswell, 2014). Internal consistency reliability was used
on all three sub-areas of the assessment (Goodrich et al., 2019).
Internal consistency reliability is how well the items that reflect the
same construct of literacy yield similar results (Creswell, 2014).
Reliability was measured through internal consistency on the three
sub-tests; print knowledge, definitional vocabulary, and phonological
awareness (Goodrich et al, 2019). Phonological awareness, a 27 item
scale that measures a children’s ability to detect and manipulate
sounds, was found to be strong (α = .90). Print knowledge, a 36 item
scale that measures a child’s knowledge of print concepts,
discrimination, and correspondence, was found to be strong (α = .96).
Definitional vocabulary, a 35 item scale that measures a child’s naming
and definitional component, was also found to be high (α – .96).
Assumptions and limitations. The assumptions for the program, and
its evaluation include the assumption that the teacher and the parent
will keep an accurate record of frequency of time and activities with
the child each week. It is assumed that when the child takes the pre and
post test that they will answer truthfully and to the best of their
knowledge. It is assumed that the test scores will be measured
continuously and that both the frequency of teacher and home activities
will be measured continuously to fit a multiple regression (Creswell,
2014). It is also assumed that before running the test that there is an
independence of observation, a linear relationship, the data will show
multicollinearity, there will not be any significant outliers or high
leverage points, and that the residuals are approximately normally
distributed.
There are several limitations of the program and the assessment.
Teachers may not always be aware of a child’s lack of achievement in
literacy to make a referral for the program. Only 100 of the children
can be accepted due to financial and personnel resources. Also, some
children that have English as a second language are literacy proficient,
and this will be deemed as so by the assessment. Next, some children
may not get referred until later on in the year as literacy issues
arise, some may be new to the school, and the program will only accept
100 participants per year. Some parents may not be literate in English
and will need extra guidance with the at-home assessments. However,
these are a way of helping the parents work with their children at home
and can also be viewed as a benefit with the extra support given. Also,
a limitation of measuring all of the information quantifiably is that
the qualitative aspect of the assessment is missing. Qualitative
information can be used to ask about the experience of the program from
the child, the teacher, and the parents. This can, in turn, help make
adjustments to the program.
Time line. The expected time line for the program is that it will
run from the first day of school until the end of t
he year, roughly to
the last 2 weeks of the school. This is to make time for testing and
comparison of the pre and post test scores.. Parents will be sent home
letters starting the first week of school so that testing can start
within the first month. Qualified professionals and parents will work
each week with the child during this time line.
Non-personnel resources. Non-personnel resources are those that
are resources used in the program. A separate building or room is not
needed as a budgeted resource as assistance will be given at the school
before after school. 10 Test-kits, each containing a manuals, and a
picture book, will be needed to perform simultaneous testing (Lonigan et
al., 2018). However, a 100 record booklets are needed for each child
and more can be ordered. Literacy packet that contains activities for
print knowledge, definitional vocabulary, and phonological awareness and
pens and pencils will be needed. A file cabinet will need to be
purchased as well as files to keep track of the child’s progress. Copies
of sheets that contain information about the frequency of teacher and
parental activities can be copied at the school and the program will pay
for this each month. Literary packets/activities are also needed to be
sent home to the parents each week.
Personnel resources. Teachers and parents are the main resources
here. 10 teachers will be paid to work before or after school with the
children. It is preferable that it is either the child’s teacher or a
teacher in the same grade. Parents are an expected/assumed non-paid
personnel resource. There will be a director for the program, Dr. Nicole
Hamilton, that will work to ensure that each child is being tested and
will assist in the testing as well as that the teachers are meeting
guidelines for each child and making proper documentation.
Management plan. The timeline for management will be addressed
in quarters. The first quarter will be a testing period and a start to
the program. In the following years the post-test at the end of the year
will be considered the baseline for the next year to help the program
have a strong start each year. The second and third quarters will
include the teachers working with the children and the home activities
with the parents. The fourth quarter will be a completion of the program
and post-assessment of the TOPEL (Lonigan et al., 2018).. The director
will manage the program by taking all referrals from the teachers and
sending home permission letters to parents (in English and Spanish). The
director will call or meet any parents that did not either return or
sign the letters. The director will match up children to receive testing
for each child and will participate in giving the assessments as well.
Each child that qualifies for the program will then be matched up with
the teachers enrolled in the program. The teachers are responsible for
meeting with the assigned students each week and for using literacy
materials, as per the curriculum the school, to work with the child and
to send home for parental support. The director will also check each
week that each child’s folder has been marked with the days, times, and
minutes of work with the child and the parental activity completions.
The Evaluation Plan
Before the program can begin an institutional review board (IRB)
approval will be needed. WKKF (n.d.) does not have any specific
requirements for an IRB approval. However, the school district will want
internal IRB approval and, as per the ethical codes of the American
Psychological Association [APA], the director will obtain approval to
ensure that testing procedures are ethically sound. Then parents must be
notified of the program by a letter sent home to sign and return,
before testing can begin. The letter will include an informed consent,
as per approval of the IRB.
The first evaluation is a completion of the Test of Preschool Early
Literacy (TOPEL) (Lonigan et al., 2018). This evaluation was chosen
because it has a high reliability and validity in accurately measuring
literacy for individuals in the early childhood age range. A teacher in
the program, that the child will work if the child qualifies for the
program, will administer the assessment. The children will be evaluated
as per each subtest; phonological awareness (27 items), print knowledge
(36 items), and definitional vocabulary (35 items) (Goodrich et al.,
2019). If the child does not respond in English then the child is
prompted to respond in English, if the child does not respond then the
item is scored as incorrect. This is due to the need to be English
proficient in literacy as well as proficient in their home language.
Each of the sub-tests will give a quantitative score, however the three
subtest scores are combined to determine a composite score as well as
standard scores and percentile ranks to determine emergent literacy
skills (Lonigan et al., 2018). The TOPEL test takes a total of 25-30
minutes.
The second evaluation will be the weekly log of days and minutes that
a teacher works with each child. The amount of time is determined by
the results of the TOPEL scores of the individual child. The third
evaluation is also a weekly log of activities and the amount of time
activities are worked on at home. These activities and the time needed
will also depend on the TOPEL scores of the individual child.
The TOPEL will be administered again at the end of the program by the
teacher that has worked with the child during the program. Each child
will again be evaluated on each subtest; phonological awareness (27
items), print knowledge (36 items), and definitional vocabulary (35
items) to determine a composite score (Goodrich et al., 2019; Lonigan et
al., 2018). The score will be compared to the pre-test score at the
beginning of the program to show progress. Also, an evaluation of time
spent per week and the composite score at the beginning and at the end
of the program will allow for the director to show that the work with
the teachers and partnering at home results in positive progress in
literacy.
The results of the TOPEL and the log activities of both the teacher
and the parents will be summarized in an overall report for WKKF (n.d.).
The results will show the summative individual scores of the pre and
compared post-tests and an average of weekly time with the teacher and
parent for each child. A report will be written to show the statistical
significance of the literacy program and how continued effort in this
area is promising to the child, but also to the families and the
community.
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