Preschool-Grade 2 English Learning Research Findings Overview

2011-2014 OVERVIEW

Preschool-Grade 2 English

Learning Research Findings

About GrapeSEED 2

About the research studies 2

At-risk preschool students grew significantly

and moved out of at-risk status 3

ESL students reached reading proficiency

in half the time of the national average 4

The “dose effect” was very evident and

the gains carried over into higher grades 5

Boys outperformed girls in reading skill area 6

Early start with four-year-olds resulted in greatest growth 7

Gains in all subgroups, not just in at-risk populations 8

Summary 8

References 8

TABLE OF CONTENTSRESEARCH BY

Oakland University

RESEARCHERS

Dr. Julia Smith, Ph. D., Professor & Ph. D. Coordinator,

Educational Leadership Department at

Oakland University

Dr. Judith Smith, Ph. D., Program evaluation, literacy,

behavior management at the University of Michigan

P1 WWW.GRAPESEED.COM

GrapeSEED is an English-language acquisition

program for children (ages 4-12). It is currently

in use in 15 countries, in over 600 schools,

serving more than 40,000 students. In the

United States, the program has been used

for language development with children who

are English Language Learners (ELL / ESL),

preschool children, economically disadvantaged

children, and children who have learning

disabilities. It has been designated as an

appropriate Tier I and Tier II program for

Response to Intervention initiatives.

The program is “research based” in that it is

based on the theoretical and scientific research

of scholars such as Finocchario and Brumfit

(functional-notional approach) and Krashen

and Crawford (communicative-based approach).

Other scholars, such as Maslow, Glasser,

Csikszentmuhalyi, Deming and Willis, are

cited in the program manual as influential

in the design of the program. In addition,

GrapeSEED includes the five essential or

critical components for reading instruction

identified by the National Reading Panel, and

all the components identified by a broader

group of scholars as critical in an early literacy

program. The program is unique in its emphasis

on the development of oral language.

The Department of Organizational Leadership

within Oakland University’s School of Education

and Human Services (SEHS) is home to

programs in human resources development,

teacher leadership, school leadership at the

principal and central office levels, and higher

education leadership. The mission of this

department is to develop educational leaders

in a variety of organizational settings through

academic and field-based experiences that

facilitate transformative, research-based,

ethical and socially-just leadership practices.

Dr. Julia Smith from this department conducted

independent research studies on the effective-

ness of the GrapeSEED program on students.

The studies were conducted at multiple schools

and in diverse populations of children. They

used various testing measurements. These

studies were longitudinal in nature – the

researchers tracked the performance of the

children from year-to-year. Most of these

studies are ongoing.

In the following sections, we will review a few

key findings from the research.

ABOUT GRAPESEED ABOUT THE RESEARCH STUDIES


1 Smith, Julia B, Ed.D. Oakland University & Smith, Judith M, Ph.D., University of Michigan. Effectiveness of the GrapeSEED program with Great Start Readiness students in Berrien R.E.S.A. (SY 2013-2014).

In summary, the GrapeSEED students grew faster

than expected for their age. The growth was

deemed highly significant, meaning it could not

happen by chance.

AT-RISK PRESCHOOL STUDENTS GREW SIGNIFICANTLY AND MOVED OUT OF AT-RISK STATUS1


Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) — PRESCHOOLSTUDENTS GREW MUCH FASTER THAN EXPECTED FOR THEIR AGE

PE

RC

EN

T A

T/A

BO

VE

AG

E N

OR

MS

ASSESSMENT TIME

65 —

60 —

55 —

50 —

45 —

40 —

35 —

30 —

25 —

20 Fall Spring

EXPRESSIVE VOCABULARY

RECALL SENTENCES IN CONTEXT

RECALLING SENTENCES

WORD STRUCTURE

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

This was the major study1 of GrapeSEED

conducted across 22 preschool classrooms

in Michigan. The 432 students that took the

assessment were part of Michigan’s Great

Start Readiness Program (GSRP) for

at-risk preschoolers.

The testing measure used was the Clinical

Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF).

Students were evaluated in six key areas that

determine language ability: phonological

awareness, sentence structure, word structure,

expressive vocabulary, recalling sentences,

and recalling sentences in context.

This graph shows how the Great Start Readi-

ness Program (GSRP) students compared to

other students their age across the U.S.

Students naturally grow over time and the

CELF test accounts for this by using nationally

normed data (normal growth would show as a

flat line). The upward slope on this graph shows

the GrapeSEED students growing much faster

than their national peers (in every category).

The percent of students performing at or above

their age norm increased significantly from the

Fall to Spring assessment. The difference is due

entirely to the improvement of at-risk students

since all students who performed at or above their

age norms in the Fall assessment maintained that

status in the Spring assessment.


In a study2 of GrapeSEED with ESL students,

the teachers used a pull-out program to teach

children in kindergarten through second grade.

This study was conducted over three years.

Children from 22 different languages received

GrapeSEED. The assessment measure used in

this study was the World-Class Instructional

Design and Assessment (WIDA).

The WIDA Consortium (World-Class Instructional

Design and Assessment - WIDA) is an educational

consortium of state departments of education.

Currently, 33 U.S. states participate in the WIDA

Consortium. WIDA designs and implements

proficiency standards and assessment for

grade K-12 English learners.

The students’ proficiency as evidenced in their

WIDA scores reflected the natural progression

of children learning language.

Listening comes first because the children have

to be able to hear the words of the language

before they can speak. The kindergarten students

were certainly successful in listening.

Next comes speaking. The research showed

that the first and second graders scored high

in speaking and oral language.

And finally, by the third grade, children should

develop reading skills. The GrapeSEED students

achieved reading proficiency by the end of

second grade.

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) — ESL K–275% OF ESL STUDENTS REACHED READING PROFICIENCY BY 2ND GRADE, IN HALF THE TIME OF THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 4-Expanding2-Emerging 5-Bridging

& Reaching3-Developing1-Entering

PROFICIENCY LEVEL PROGRESSION

THE ESL STUDENTS REACHED READING PROFICIENCY IN HALF THE TIME OF THE NATIONAL AVERAGE2

National research shows that children typically

take 6–8 years to reach grade level proficiency.

GrapeSEED students, however, reached proficiency

in speaking and reading in just 2–3 years.


3 Smith, Julia B, Ed.D. Oakland University & Smith, Judith M, Ph.D., University of Michigan. Effectiveness of the GrapeSEED program with at-risk kindergarten and first grade students in Clintondale Public Schools (SY 2013-2014).

A major study3 of children from low-income

and homeless English speaking families over a

period of three years used the Developmental

Reading Assessment (DRA) measurement.

The challenge was that these children often

times were speaking their own dialect of

English, or a cultural language. So in many

ways, Standard English was like a second

language for these children. A related factor

was that the students were taught by multiple

teachers with varying abilities and styles.

After using GrapeSEED in the first year, 100

percent of the children tested at grade level or

above. This had never before happened in the

history of the school. In the second year, the

same thing happened with an entirely new group

of kindergarteners. In the third year, with yet

another new group of kindergarteners, 98 percent

of students achieved grade level or above.

The researchers took note of the so-called

“dose effect”. The more GrapeSEED the

children received, the better their performance.

The chart below shows the dose effect at work.

Starting from the left, it compares children who

had no GrapeSEED to children who had Grape-

SEED only in kindergarten, only in first grade, and

those who had GrapeSEED in both kindergarten

and in first grade. Clearly, the children who had

the most GrapeSEED performed the best on

their DRA (reading test) scores.

DR

A E

ND

OF

2ND

GR

AD

E

GRAPESEED RECEIVED

None Kindergarten Only 1st Grade Only Kindergarten & 1st grade

26 —

25 —

24 —

23 —

22 —

21 —

20 —

19 —

18 —

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Grade K–2THE DOSE EFFECT: THE MORE GRAPESEED, THE BETTER THE RESULTS

THE “DOSE EFFECT” WAS VERY EVIDENT AND THE GAINS CARRIED OVER INTO HIGHER GRADES3

Finally, the researchers pointed out a finding

of great importance to educators: the gains

from GrapeSEED were sticking with the children,

even after they had left the program.


4 Smith, Julia B, Ed.D. Oakland University & Smith, Judith M, Ph.D., University of Michigan. Effectiveness of the GrapeSEED program with at-risk kindergarten and first grade students in Clintondale Public Schools (SY 2013-2014).

In the same study4 of children from low-in-

come and homeless English speaking families

over a period of three years, the researchers

highlighted an unexpected result. The graph

to the right shows the boys outperforming the

girls on the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile

(MLPP) sight word test.

This was a surprise, since girls typically out-

perform boys on literacy assessments at the

elementary level. The gap tends to increase

with age. The IES National Center for Education

Sciences reports on the recent study by the

U.S. Department of Education, First–Time

Kindergarteners in 2010-2011: First Findings

of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,

Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011).

The findings indicate that boys scored 1.4 points

lower than girls on the literacy measures in

the Fall assessment and 2.0 points lower in

the Spring assessment. Both differences are

highly significant, meaning they could not

happen by chance.

Fall Mid-Year Spring

TIME

EST

IMA

TED

MA

RG

INA

L M

EA

NS

40 —

30 —

20 —

10 —

MALE

FEMALE

MLPP SIGHT WORD TEST

MICHIGAN LITERACY PROGRESS PROFILE BOYS OUTPERFORMED GIRLS IN SIGHT WORD ASSESSMENT BECAUSE OF HIGH ENGAGEMENT

BOYS OUTPERFORMED GIRLS IN READING SKILLS AREA4

The significance of this is that GrapeSEED is

clearly working for both boys and girls. Boys

matched or outperformed girls in skill areas,

and there was no difference between the

abilities of boys and girls to read books.



One of the studies5 conducted over two years

involved the Great Start Readiness Program

(GSRP), a Michigan state-funded preschool

program for at-risk students. In the second

year of the study, the researchers followed

the students as they moved into kindergarten.

The students were divided into four groups

based on whether they had GrapeSEED in

preschool or in kindergarten (or none). The

testing measurement used in this case was the

DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment).

The solid line at the bottom represents the

control group, meaning they had no Grape-

SEED. These students had the lowest gains.

All three other groups were given GrapeSEED.

There were two key findings. Four-year-olds

showed the most significant growth in

learning. Secondly, those who had the most

GrapeSEED clearly outperformed their peers.

The “dose effect” is evident in the graph.

5 EARLY START WITH FOUR-YEAR-OLDS RESULTED IN GREATEST GROWTH

GRAPESEED IN BOTH PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN

NO GRAPESEED IN PRESCHOOL, GRAPESEED IN KINDERGARTEN

GRAPESEED IN PRESCHOOL, NOT IN KINDERGARTEN

NO GRAPESEED PRESCHOOL OR KINDERGARTEN

DR

A T

EX

T LE

VE

L

6 —

5 —

4 —

3 —

2 —

1 — | | | Fall Mid-Year Spring

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Grade PreK-K FOUR-YEAR-OLDS SHOWED THE MOST SIGNIFICANT GROWTH IN LEARNING

And here is something worth noting: the

very highest performers shown here (the solid

red line) were in fact the students who were

judged to be at risk. These at-risk students,

the ones who had GrapeSEED for two full years,

actually outperformed their peers who were

not considered to be at risk!


In all studies, the researchers noticed that

not only was GrapeSEED bringing up the

scores of the lower performers, it was actually

benefitting the entire student population,

even the higher performing students.

The different categories of students exhibited

gains in different areas depending on their

needs. For example:

1. Smith, Julia B, Ed.D. Oakland University & Smith, Judith M, Ph.D., University of Michigan. Effectiveness

of the GrapeSEED program with at-risk Kindergarten and First Grade students in Clintondale Public

Schools (SY 2013-2014).


of the GrapeSEED program with at-risk Kindergarten students in Berrien Springs Public Schools

(SY 2013-2014).

3. Smith, Julia B, Ed.D. Oakland University & Smith, Judith M, Ph.D., University of Michigan. Effectiveness of

the GrapeSEED program with K-1-2 ESL/ELL students in Berrien Springs Public Schools (SY 2013-2014).


of the GrapeSEED program with Great Start Readiness students in Berrien R.E.S.A. (SY 2013-2014).

REFERENCES

© 2015 GrapeSEED Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION www.grapeseed.com

800-449-8841

[email protected]

6 GAINS IN ALL SUBGROUPS

The lowest students improved their ability to hold a pattern.

The average students improved in reading.

The highest students improved in expressive reading.

To conclude, here are the six highlights from the research findings:

At-risk preschool students grew significantly

and moved out of at-risk status.

ESL students reached reading proficiency in

half the time of the national average.

The “dose” effect was evident, and the gains

carried over into higher grades.

Boys outperformed girls in reading

skill area.

Starting GrapeSEED early with four-year-olds

resulted in greatest growth.

GrapeSEED resulted in gains in all

subgroups, not just in at-risk populations.

SUMMARY


Preschool-Grade 2 English Learning Research Findings Overview

Education

grapeseed program

program evaluation

program manual

independent research

research studies p2

preschool children

early literacy program

school leadership