Study Finds Preschool Use of Educational Video and Games Prepares Low-Income Children for Kindergarten

Study Finds Preschool Use of Educational Video and Games Prepares Low-Income
Children for Kindergarten

NEW YORK and MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Low-income children
were better prepared for success in kindergarten when their preschool teachers
incorporated educational video and games from public media, according to a new
study. The study, conducted by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and
SRI International, was commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB) to evaluate video and interactive games from the Ready to Learn
initiative, which creates educational programming and outreach activities for
local public television stations and their communities.

The study examined whether young children's literacy skills -- the ability to
name letters, know the sounds associated with those letters, and understand
basic concepts about stories and printed words -- increased when preschool
classrooms incorporated video and games. Children with the most to learn in
the study gained the most, learning an average of 7.5 more letters than
children in a comparison group during the brief, intensive curriculum.

In the study, 398 low-income children in 80 preschool classes in New York City
and San Francisco were taught with a special curriculum that included active
video viewing and hands-on play with letters, sounds, and books. Since most of
the teachers had little prior training in literacy instruction or the use of
digital media in the classroom, they were given coaching and support to help
them conduct the curriculum successfully.

Most children in the study were from traditionally economically disadvantaged
communities where children are often far less prepared for school than their
more affluent peers. The research, conducted from January through June 2009,
found that early literacy skills -- the ability to name letters, know the
sounds associated with those letters, and understand basic concepts about
stories and printed words -- all increased significantly compared to children
who did not participate in the curriculum.

"Many studies have shown that computer technologies can improve learning for
students in kindergarten through grade 12, but using digital media in
preschool has been controversial," said lead researcher Shelley Pasnik,
director of EDC's Center for Children and Technology. "To make these kinds of
gains after preschoolers and their teachers use technology, we think is
especially significant," she said.

In the study, preschool teachers were randomly assigned to use either a
technology-supported literacy curriculum or a technology-supported science
curriculum for 10 weeks. (The students in the classrooms with the science
curriculum served as the study's comparison group.) Children who participated
in the literacy curriculum outscored children in the science curriculum on all
five of the study's measures: the ability to name letters, know the sounds
associated with those letters, recognize letters in their own names, and
understand basic concepts about stories and printed words.

"We know public media can improve literacy skills when kids watch at home;
what we didn't know is that content from multiple shows could be effectively
integrated into a curriculum and implemented by teachers," said William
Penuel, Ph.D., director of evaluation research for SRI's Center for Technology
and Learning. "If media can be harnessed to help close this literacy gap, as
this study has shown, it's a powerful new tool for preschool teachers."

The study was commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to
evaluate video and interactive games from the programs Super Why!, Between the
Lions and Sesame Street, produced for PBS KIDS as part of the Ready to Learn
initiative, which creates educational programming, web content, and outreach
activities. The evaluation was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and
CPB, in partnership with PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service.

To access the full study, sample content from the curriculum, and a video
interview with a teacher who participated in the study, go to:
http://cct.edc.org/rtl.

About Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
EDC is a global nonprofit organization that develops, delivers, and evaluates
innovative programs to address some of the world's most urgent challenges in
education, health, and economic development. EDC manages more than 300
projects in 35 countries. Visit www.edc.org. EDC's Center for Children and
Technology investigates the roles technology can play to improve teaching and
learning. Its work covers a range of activities, from prototype design of
technology applications to professional development for teachers, to
strategies for ensuring equitable access to technology resources. Visit
http://cct.edc.org/.

About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading
independent research and technology development organizations. SRI was founded
by Stanford University as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and became
independent in 1970. The nonprofit institute performs sponsored research and
development for government agencies, businesses, and foundations. SRI's Center
for Technology in Learning (CTL) evaluates large-scale technology innovations,
designs assessments that enhance teaching and learning, develops tools to help
students master complex ideas, builds online communities of learners, and
offers strategic learning consulting services.

About Ready to Learn
Ready to Learn is a national literacy initiative which supports PBS KIDS
Raising Readers, a campaign to increase literacy skills for kids ages 2-to-8,
with an emphasis on children from low-income families, through the use of
multiplatform content developed with scientifically-based reading research and
targeted, local community engagement activities. The effort is funded in part
by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative
agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, and the Ready to
Learn Partnership.

SOURCE SRI International; Education Development Center, Inc.

Bronwyn Taggart of Education Development Center, Inc., +1-212-807-4214,
btaggart@edc.org; or Dina Basin of SRI International, +1-650-859-3845,
dina.basin@sri.com; or Alison Cohen of Education Development Center, Inc.,
+1-617-618-2109, acohen@edc.org