Technology: The Answer to Early Literacy Success in the New Millennium

Abstract

The first question administrators, teachers and parents ask is, "Will computers make a difference in the learning that occurs in the classroom? Past studies failed to answer this question or answered it negatively because they used standardized reading test scores as their only measure. The Simi Star Project, a collaborative grant between six school districts and IBM tested the effectiveness of computers in the classroom and effects of integrating technology into the curriculum. As a University researcher and reading professor, I was asked to be the evaluator of the Simi Star Project. It resulted from a grant between IBM and Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Orcutt and Point Hueneme school districts all located in Southern California. Six networked computers were placed in 24 kindergarten and first grade classrooms to test integration of technology in the curriculum and measure the effect on writing and reading development of the students. I worked with a team of educators and developed a qualitative study to examine these classrooms. The software used in the study was Writing to Read, Stories and More, Children's Writing and Publishing. The teachers were carefully trained, parents were informed as partners, students were given daily access to the computers for writing their own language experience stories. The students also were given phonemic awareness and systematic phonics support. The researchers used observations, interviews, questionnaires, portfolio assessment as well as reading attitude tests to measure the students writing and reading development. The experimental classrooms were compared to control classrooms without computers but a similar approach to teaching.