Second Grade is Important: Literacy Instruction and Learning of Young Children in a High-Poverty School

Journal of Literacy Research, Winter 2003/2004 by Barone, Diane

This article is centered on the literacy learning and instruction that 13 children received from kindergarten through second grade. The children were enrolled in a school deemed at risk because of the children's home backgrounds-low SES, minority status, and home language other than English. The purpose of this research was to provide a clearer picture of the day-to-day literacy instruction and learning of children in such a setting to better understand the documented achievement results of children in high-poverty schools. Although there was great variability in the literacy instruction provided to these children from skills-based to more meaning-based instruction, the majority of the children were considered to be at grade level or above at the end of second grade. However, the children displayed variable patterns of literacy development across these grades. During the second grade year meaning-based instruction was made available to students. The second grade teachers were able to build from the skillsbased instruction that the students received in kindergarten and first grade and provide a richer understanding of reading and writing. This article shares an overview of the instruction and learning that occurred over the three years and ends with a closer examination of the learning of two children who came to school with a home language of Spanish.

Several years ago, I began a research project that had as its main purpose the description of literacy instruction and growth demonstrated by 13 children in an elementary school (kindergarten through sixth grade) considered at risk because the majority of students are minority, learning English as a new language, and financially poor. My goal for this research project was to better understand literacy learning and instruction in such a setting. I, like others, pondered why children in such schools have not been more successful as literacy learners. It is important to conduct such work because although we know much about the depressing statistics centered on the teaching and achievement of children in schools labeled at-risk (Allington & Walmsley, 1995), we know little about their day-to-day learning and instruction. As Neufeld and Fitzgerald (2001) state, "The need is great to describe and understand what happens with regard to these young at-risk readers" (p. 98). This is especially true since so many of these students experience literacy learning and instruction in English, not their home language. Learning to read and write is coupled with children's learning of English, and there are few descriptions of this complex process (Garcia, 2000).

In this article, I describe the first three years (kindergarten-grade two) of the learning and instruction that occurred. These years are particularly important to study because success in primary grade reading has been strongly connected to future academic success in school (Allington & Cunningham, 2002; Juel, 1988; Stanovich, 1986).

Theoretical Grounding

To guide my work, I utilized the empirical evidence that centered on early literacy instruction and the importance of this instruction to students' learning in the primary grades, especially students in schools considered at risk. Because ten of the focal children were learning English as a new language (see Table 1), I also reviewed the work that looked at the literacy instruction and learning of children acquiring English as a new language while they simultaneously learned to read and write in English. Finally, I considered research that identified predictors of academic success in elementary schools.

Literacy Instruction and Learning

Once children move from home to school, classrooms become the most important context for successful literacy achievement. Teachers and their classroom environments are especially critical for children who rely on school for the majority of their learning, importantly literacy learning (Wilkinson & Silliman, 2000). Within primary classrooms, the importance of oral and written language to support literate cognition has been documented (Wilkinson & Silliman, 2000). Purcell-Gates, McIntyre, and Freppon (1995) document that children from high-poverty backgrounds gain knowledge of written narrative more successfully in classrooms that emphasize more holistic uses and functions of language. In these classrooms, conversations among students, and among students and teachers, are seen as critical to student achievement and understanding.

Building from these language expectations, Block, Oakar, and Hurt (2002) described characteristics of exemplary literacy teachers from preschool to fifth grade. Exemplary kindergarten teachers are "masterful guardians, catching, cradling, and championing every child's discoveries about print" (p. 189). They value the familiar and believe in repetition of text with students to ensure student understanding.

In first grade, "teachers are master encouragers and supporters" (p. 190). These exemplary teachers are described by the complexity of teaching that they orchestrate. They are able to teach multiple skills based on student need and know how to develop students' literacy understandings. Moreover, they are excellent record keepers who can match informal assessment to instruction.