Special Analysis 2003 – Reading— Young Children's Achievement and Classroom Experiences

Special Analysis-Reading— Young Children's Achievement and Classroom Experiences

Introduction
Measures of Reading Achievement in the ECLS-K
Reading Knowledge and Skills
-	Introduction
-	What reading skills do children demonstrate when they enter kindergarten?
-	What reading skills and knowledge do children gain across kindergarten and 1st grade?
-	What are some of the factors that are related to children's reading skills?
Reading Experiences in the Kindergarten Classroom
Summary and Discussion
References

PDF Version- Complete Document

Reading Knowledge and Skills

What reading skills do children demonstrate when they enter kindergarten?

Children who entered kindergarten for the first time in fall 1998 brought certain reading skills into their kindergarten classrooms. About two-thirds of the kindergartners already knew the letters of the alphabet. About one-third knew the letter-sound relationship at the beginning of words, and about one-in-five knew the letter-sound relationship at the end of words (e.g., "cat" begins with the letter "c"; "dog" ends with the letter "g"). A small percentage of children who entered kindergarten could already read single words or words within the context of a sentence (figure 1).

		Figure 1: Percentage distribution of first-time kindergartners' reading scores, by type of reading knowledge and skills: Fall 1998, spring 1999, fall 1999, and spring 2000

		Table FS1: Standard errors for the percentage distribution of first-time kindergartners' reading scores, by type of reading knowledge and skills: Fall 1998, spring 1999, fall 1999, and spring 2000

What reading skills do children demonstrate when they enter kindergarten?

NCES Headlines