Article Critique

1283 Words3 Pages

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS) for students with disabilities. Additionally it looked to see if there was a correlation between the amount of training the teacher received and the students’ success. The team of authors used a variety of statistical methods to determine the effectiveness in both of these areas. A random group of 89 kindergartners, from 47 different classrooms in Minnesota schools all with individualized education programs, were divided into three different test groups. These groups were control, K-PALS Level 1, and K-PALS Level 2. The study concluded that the K-PALS students outperformed the control group on alphabetic and oral reading measures.

Problem
Proficient reading is strongly related to the academic success of students from the very beginning of their education. There is such a heavy weight of importance put upon the shoulders of elementary teachers and students to build a foundation of phonological awareness and phonics instruction to help foster the student’s reading success. Some of the biggest educational challenges that elementary children face are difficulties in reading. This is especially prevalent among children with disabilities. Unfortunately the outcome for struggling readers is very poor unless effective intervention is put in place early on in the child’s educational career. This concern leads educators to seek programs that will provide beneficial instruction to all students in the general education classroom setting. One such program is Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS).
The intent of this study was to answer two main research questions: (1) Does partic...

... middle of paper ...

...onclusion and Implications

Overall Assessment
As an elementary reading teacher, closing the gaps in reading is an area that I strive daily to help my students achieve. Finding strategies and interventions that will reach some of my lowest performing students is always a challenge. Even if this program would help a few children out, I think that it would be a beneficial program to try. It is important to remember that no matter how beneficial a program may seem, there is never going to be a program that works for all students. That is why as educators we must constantly strive to find new and engaging methods to help all of our children reach their full potential. I feel like this article was one that proved to be beneficial for the authors study and the findings helped some children with learning disabilities have another option for them to be successful.

Open Document