Remote literacy instruction and curriculum for pre-K: Educators’ and parents’ perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71085/joclsi.04.01.59Keywords:
early childhood literacy, parent's perspectives, educator's perspectives, COVID-19 pandemic, remote instructionAbstract
Research has consistently demonstrated that quality instruction in Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) plays a tremendous role in building a foundation for literacy, particularly among disadvantaged students. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the instruction provided in Pre-K classrooms worldwide. Pre-K students who were typically instructed using play-based interactive learning techniques were forced to learn in virtual environments, often using unfamiliar technologies. Educational research identified this sudden and unplanned instructional shift as emergency remote teaching (ERT). The present study was conducted to understand educators’ and parents’ perspectives about the nature and impact of the transition to remote literacy instruction in Pre-K settings. An online survey was developed and administered in collaboration with the school district leadership of a mid-sized urban city in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Findings highlighted changes centered on the content and delivery of literacy curriculum and available support and resources for remote learning.. Due in part to the unprecedented nature of a pandemic of this scale, educators and parents shared that there was a struggle to implement an early literacy curriculum and their unfulfilled needs concerning literacy instruction.
Downloads
References
Beiner, G. (2022, March). Introduction: The great flu between remembering and forgetting. In G. Beiner (Ed.) Pandemic Re-Awakenings: The Forgotten and Unforgotten ‘Spanish’ Flu of 1918-1919. Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192843739.003.0001
Burchinal et al., (2010). Threshold analysis of association between childcare quality and child outcomes for low-income children in pre-kindergarten programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), pp. 166–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.10.004
Callaghan, G., & Madelaine, A. (2012). Leveling the playing field for kindergarten entry: Research implications for preschool early literacy instruction. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693911203700103
Cornish, F., Gillespie, A., & Zittoun, T. (2013). Collaborative analysis of qualitative data. In Flick, U. (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 79-93). Sage.
Crosby, A. W. (2003). America’s forgotten pandemic: The influenza of 1918. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press/ https://doi:10.1017/CBO9780511586576
Dickinson, D. K., Golinkoff, R .M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2010). Speaking out for language: Why language is central to reading development. Educational Researcher, 39, 305-310.
Dodge, D. T., Heroman, C., Colker, L. J., & Bickart, T. S. (2010). The Creative Curriculum for Preschool Foundation: Volume 1 (5th ed.). Teaching Strategies.
Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., Pagani, L. S., Feinstein, L., Engel, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Sexton, H., Duckworth, K., & Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428–1446. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428
Finn, S., Brunn, D., Kamath, L., Powell, M., & Reardon, K. M. (2006). Residents at the center: A handbook on community-based planning for distressed neighborhoods. Rutgers University.
Goudeau, S., Sanrey, C., Stanczak, A., Manstead, A., & Darnon, C. (2021). Why lockdown and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(10), 10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01212-7
Hassinger-Das, B., Dore, R. A., Aloisi, K., Hossain, M., Pearce, M., & Paterra, M. (2020). Children’s reality status judgments of digital media: Implications for a COVID-19 world and beyond. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570068
Heckman, J. J. (2011). The economics of inequality: The value of early childhood education. American Educator, 35(1), 31-47.
Henning, C., McIntosh, B., Arnott, W., & Dodd, B. (2010). Long-term outcome of oral language and phonological awareness intervention with socially disadvantaged preschoolers: The impact on language and literacy. Journal of Research in Reading, 33(3), 231–246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01410.x
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020, March 27). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
Hogan, T. P., Cain, K. & Bridges, M. S. (2013). Young children’s oral language ability and later comprehension. In T. Shanahan & C. Lonigan (Eds.), Early childhood literacy: The National Early Literacy Panel and beyond (pp. 217-232). Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
Hollenbeck, J. E. (2009). Lessons learned from the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic. Indian Journal of Microbiology, 49, 348-351.
Honig, A. S. (2007). Oral language development. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 581-613. https://doi:10.1080/03004430701377482j
Justice, L. M., & Sofka, A. E. (2010). Entering a world of print: Young children’s development of print knowledge. In L. M. Justice & A. Sofka (Eds.), Engaging children with print: Building early literacy skills through quality read-alouds (pp. 1-20). The Guilford Press.
Karoly, L. A., & Whitaker, A. A. (2016). Informing Investments in Preschool Quality and Access in Cincinnati: Evidence of Impacts and Economic Returns from National, State, and Local Preschool Programs. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1461.html
Ladd, H. F. (2017). Do some groups of children benefit more than others from pre-kindergarten programs? In D. Phillips, M. Lipsey, K. Dodge, R. Haskins, D. Bassok, M. Burchinal, G. Duncan, M. Dynarski, K. Magnuson, & C. Weiland (Eds.), The current state of
scientific knowledge on pre-kindergarten effects (pp. 31-36). The Brookings Institution and the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy.
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/duke_prekstudy_final_4-4-17_hires.pdf
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in US schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. University of California Press.
Lee, R., Zhai, F., Brooks-Gunn, J., Han, W. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2014). Head start participation and school readiness: evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Developmental Psychology, 50(1), 202-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032280
Marshall, D. T., Shannon, D. M., & Love, S. M. (2020). How teachers experienced the COVID-19 transition to remote instruction. Phi Delta Kappan, 102(3), 46–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721720970702
Massaro, D. W. (2017). Reading aloud to children: Benefits and implications for acquiring literacy before schooling begins. The American Journal of Psychology, 130(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.130.1.0063
National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. National Institute for Literacy.
Neece, C., McIntyre, L. L., & Fenning, R. (2020). Examining the impact of COVID‐19 in ethnically diverse families with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 64(10), 739–749. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12769
Orfield, G. & Lee, C. (2005). Why segregation matters: Poverty and educational inequality.The Civil Rights Project. Harvard University. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489186.pdf
Ovcharuk, O., Ivaniuk, I., & Leshchenko, M. (2023). Impact of school lockdown on access to online instruction during the war in Ukraine. European Journal of Education, 58, 561–574. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12589
Özer, S., & Demir, M. R. (2024). Distance education and remote literacy instruction: Experiences and opinions of first-grade teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 21(3), 302-311. https://doi.org/10.5152/hayef.2024.24022
Peisner-Feinberg, E. S., Burchinal, M. R., Clifford, R. M., Culkin, M. L., Howes, C., Kagan, S. L., & Yazejian, N. (2001). The relation of preschool child-care quality to children’s cognitive and social developmental trajectories through second grade. Child Development, 72(5), 1534–1553. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00364
Pentimonti, J., Justice, L., & Piasta, S. (2013). Sharing books with children. In Shanahan, T., & Lonigan, C. J. (Eds.), Early childhood literacy: The National Early Literacy Panel and beyond (pp. 117-134).
Saldana, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). Sage Publication Ltd.
Thai, K. P., & Ponciano, L. (2016). Improving outcomes for at-risk prekindergarten and
kindergarten students with a digital learning resource. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 7(2), 8.
Teaching Strategies, LLC. (2023). Innovation and evolution of The Creative Curriculum cloud. https://teachingstrategies.com/blog/taking-the-cloud-to-the-next-level/
Timmons, K., Cooper, A., Bozek, E., & Braund, H. (2021). The impacts of COVID‑19 on early childhood education: Capturing the unique challenges associated with remote teaching and learning in K‑2. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49, 887–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01207-z
Washington, J. & Seidenberg, M. (2021). Teaching reading to African American children: When home and school languages differ. American Educator, 45(2), 26-40.
Wright, T. S., Bruner, L., Cummings, A., & Strunk, K. O. (2024). Understanding K-3 Teachers’ Literacy Instructional Practices During the Pandemic-Impacted 2020–2021 School Year. Reading Research Quarterly, 59(1), 124–146. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.523
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
Zhai, F., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2011). Head Start and Urban Children’s School Readiness: A Birth Cohort Study in 18 Cities. Developmental Psychology, 47(1), 134–152. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020784
Downloads
Published
Data Availability Statement
The data will be provided on reasonable request to the corresponding author for research purposes.
Issue
Section
Categories
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Creative Commons-Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License 4.0 International applies to all works published by Journal of Childhood Literacy and Societal Issues. Authors will retain copyright of the work.
