1. Preventing Summer Learning Loss: A Randomized Control Trial
- Author
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Haya Shamir, David Pocklington, Erik Yoder, Mikayla Tom, and Alexander Houchins
- Abstract
Identifying effective methods that can counteract seasonal trends in learning loss is essential to ensure continuous literacy growth of young learners. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is a solution for providing an effective summer literacy program that could help offset summer learning loss. In this study, four-year-old students from South Dakota and Wyoming were randomly assigned to use either an early literacy or early math and science summer learning CAI program. Students were expected to use the CAI for 20 min a day, five days a week, during the summer before entering kindergarten. Literacy performance was assessed at the beginning and end of the program, and scores of students who were assigned to the literacy program were compared to the scores of students who were assigned to use the math and science program. Students who used the literacy program scored significantly higher in overall literacy and for the subskills of blending and letter recognition than their control group counterparts. Demographic effects were assessed for students experiencing poverty and students of color. For these demographics, students in the experimental group outperformed their control group counterparts in overall literacy scores and blending and letter recognition subskills. [This paper was published in: "Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Smart Education and e-Learning (KES SEEL-2024)," edited by V. L. Uskov et al., Springer Nature Singapore, 2024, pp. 119-26.]
- Published
- 2024