Anchorage Literacy Project, Anchorage, Alaska

Institution

Anchorage Literacy Project, Anchorage, Alaska

Scope of Work

Pilot Reading Horizons and Discover Intensive Phonics software

Tool

TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education) Reading

Evaluation

April 2-June 13, 2002

The Reading Horizons and Discover Intensive Phonics programs were selected for enhancing the Anchorage Literacy Project I, an Intermediate Multi-Sensory Spelling class. The focus of the class was to learn the various spellings for most English vowel sounds. The class is an expansion of the Beginning Multi-Sensory Spelling class.

The next class scheduled for the Reading Horizons implementation was the Beginning Multi-Sensory class. This class was pre- and post-tested using TABE. An accelerated version of the software was used with this class, as it more closely matched predetermined objectives (mostly consonant sounds and short vowel sounds).

Data

Evaluator’s Observations

The instructor at first reported being apprehensive that students would be confused when working with the software because of differences between how the instructor taught key concepts and those methods employed by the software. However, despite differences in style and delivery, the computer software became, for the students, a tool that enabled them to guide themselves toward a greater understanding of concepts. As students worked through the Reading Horizons software lessons, they began to sound out more and vocalize when spelling words.