Results of Teaching Reading and Writing Strategies on Early Literacy of Children at-risk

Introduction. There is substantial research literature emphasizing the positive impact of early literacy learning on school achievement, mainly in the case of children at-risk, but there aren't adequate conditions at school to develop them. Here we examine the effects of teaching reading and writing strategies on at-risk children's literacy learning (mean 5 years 3 months). Material and method: 339 at-risk Chilean children (132 in the intervention group and 207 in the comparison group) were assessed, at the beginning and the end of the school year. Teachers participated in a 1-year professional development intervention that included training and expert coaching. Results: Positive intervention effects were observed on children's knowledge of the alphabet, emergent writing and word identification. There was no effect on children's oral language outcomes. Discussion: The results were contrasted with other programs, showing the importance of training and coaching educators.