Early Interventions: Can Early and Immediate Intervention in First Grade Reduce the Achievement Gap

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if re-teaching key phonemic first grade principles using Phonics for Reading I to Intensive first grade students can effectively be used to improve the learning for all first grade intensive students at Lemonwood School. This study plans to prove that through increasing each struggling first grade student's phonemic skills the need for future interventions decreases significantly. The paper will measure the success of the program Phonics for Reading with struggling first graders through data collected during benchmark assessments, and through on-going assessments that are incorporated into the Phonics for Reading program. I am also interested in seeing if the classroom teacher, parent, and student perceive the achieved success that is occurring.