ABRACADABRA in the hands of teachers: The effectiveness of a web-based literacy intervention in grade 1 language arts programs

A randomized controlled trial of an early‐intervention, computer‐based literacy program to boost phonological skills in 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children

“…Importantly, the role of the teacher must be stressed in critically evaluating the most effective use of any such resources at an individual pupil level. This may be particularly important given the growing evidence of the impact of adult mediation in determining the success of computer‐based programs (Brooks, ; Savage et al ., ). While the present results are positive in terms of the efficacy of the program for the majority of participating children, it may be noted that the expertise and critical professional judgement of the class teacher is likely to be a crucial factor in its most effective deployment.…”

Using computer-based instruction to improve Indigenous early literacy in Northern Australia: A quasi-experimental study

“…Both studies contained many students with English as an additional language and who are also 'at risk' in terms of SES, and both shared a pattern of response to intervention in which phonological awareness but not reading ability showed the strongest growth. If so, it is worth bearing in mind that a follow up of the Comaskey and colleagues study (2009) by Di Stasio, Savage and Abrami (2010) indicates that one year after the ABRACADABRA intervention closed in Canada, significant effects of intervention were evident on reading comprehension, and medium sized effects of intervention were evident across a range of other literacy measures. It may be speculated that the effects of learning about the metacognitive process of phonological awareness take time to directly impact reading ability.…”

Teacher roles and pupil outcomes in technology-rich early literacy learning

“…Findings showed that, compared to their respective pupil control groups, statistically significant levels of learning took place in cases with low, medium and high levels of implementation. This finding is consistent with a study from Lowther et al (2012), which found no significant effects on pupils' achievement, when teachers were involved in a technology integration program, but is contrary to results of other studies (Block et al, 2007;Savage et al, 2010), which show a positive relationship between teacher involvement in technology use programs and pupil learning outcomes.…”

“…Pupils from classes of executor-only teachers had high learning outcomes, although the extent of integration of executor-only teachers was significantly lower compared to re-and co-designer teachers. A study of Savage et al, (2010) identified no significantly greater pupil learning literacy outcomes in the condition in which teachers did not implement a technology-rich program effectively (e.g. no well-planned activities) compared to pupils not exposed to intervention.…”