Parent-administered computer-assisted tutoring targeting letter-sound knowledge: Evaluation via multiple-baseline across three preschool students

Leveraging technology: A multi-component personalized system of instruction to teach sight words

Technology-enabled personalized systems of instruction (PSI) could streamline resource-intensive instructional strategies, potentially easing their delivery and accelerating student learning. This study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of a PSI that incorporated adaptive assessment, incremental rehearsal, and peer-assisted learning to teach sight words. Participants in grades 1-3 were randomly assigned to either a control condition or treatment condition. In the treatment condition, participants engaged in the PSI in dyads, working at their instructional level with minimal adult supervision. Compared to the control condition, target learners engaging in the PSI acquired previously unknown sight words, then maintained and generalized the words 30 days post-intervention with a moderate main effect (β = 0.28). On average, participants rated the PSI as positive or very positive. The potential for PSIs to make instructional activities more efficient, effective, and individualized is discussed.

Reliability and Relationship to Retention of Assessing an Acquisition Rate for Sight Words With Kindergarten Students

Teaching children too many words during a lesson reduces retention. The amount of new information a student can successfully rehearse and recall later is called acquisition rate (AR), which has been reliably measured with students in first, third, and fifth grades. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of assessing AR for sight words with kindergarten students. A total of 32 kindergarten students from five classrooms across two elementary schools participated in the study. AR was measured twice over a 2-week period, and 1-day retention was measured for the first AR. The AR data resulted in a 2-week delayed alternate form reliability of r = .83, and there was also a strong correlation between AR and number of words retained 1 day later. The limitations, implications, and considerations for the name of the construct being assessed are discussed.