February 15, 2010
Contact: Kristen Coyne
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Jeanne Wanzek
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Jeanne Wanzek, an assistant professor in the Florida State University’s School of Teacher Education and a researcher with the university’s Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR), has been awarded a grant for $145,308 from the National Institutes of Health to study kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties. FCRR is jointly administered by the Learning Systems Institute and FSU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
The two-year study will examine two classroom variables: the amount of time students at-risk for reading difficulties spend interacting with their teachers on reading academics, and how much time they actively read print material in class – whether stories, words or just sounds. Wanzek will also look at how well the amount of time spent on these activities predicts the children’s competency in reading by the end of the academic year.
Beginning kindergarten students are considered at-risk for reading difficulties if they perform below average on reading pre-skills such as knowing letter names and recognizing the constituent sounds of words.
“They may need more feedback and instruction from the teacher than a child who is not at risk for reading difficulties,” said Wanzek, a former special educator and elementary teacher whose research focuses on prevention and remediation for students with reading difficulties and disabilities.
Wanzek will observe classroom videotapes collected by the Florida Learning Disabilities Center, housed under FCRR. Half the teachers whose classrooms will be observed in the study received professional development in reading instruction; the other half did not. Wanzek will be looking to see what role that training may play in student performance.
The study will help inform effective interventions in the future, said Wanzek. “Knowing more about what is able to happen in the classroom helps to form the intervention,” she said, “so by the time students are in first grade, they are on track for beginning reading.”