Early Literacy Essay

Differentiated Literacy Instruction in Early Childhood Although the world of education continues to change, one trend appears to stand the test of time. The expectation of developing students into proficient readers by the end of third grade has always been, and continues to be, significant. Instructional approaches to literacy have changed quite dramatically over the years, but their purpose has not. Educators continue to strive to create skilled, confident readers who are prepared to conquer a literacy driven workforce. Unfortunately, due to the wide range of abilities present in the classroom, the task of developing all students into proficient learners can be deemed as nearly impossible.
Scope of Research
According to Lee, Grigg, and Donahue (2007), only 30% of students entering fourth grade, are seen as proficient readers. The process of closing this gap in literacy …show more content…
However, current research introduces educators to new approaches to literacy instruction which meet the range of literacy skills of students more efficiently (Ankrum, Genest, and Belcastro, 2014). The approach to providing personalized learning by differentiating the forms of literacy instruction students are receiving is hypothesized as a solution to improving the literacy skills of all students.
Before early educators can begin to make decisions on how to provide purposeful differentiated instruction, meeting the needs of even the lowest-performing learners, they need to first research a reflect on a three essential questions. 1) What factors influence a child’s potential for being at-risk of developing insufficient literacy skills? 2) How does developing a solid foundation of literacy skills in early childhood effect academic performance in the future? 3) Does literacy focused professional development impact student achievement