HI Carol, I am glad you chimed in. I usually try not to criticize a program unless I've actually used it or spent time in a classroom where it is used. I admit that I only saw some of the phonics stuff being used on the computer for Waterford. Those parts looked like what I see on this program. Sounds like Waterford includes actual literature both on the computer and in the form of books to take home. This is quite different from the program we're talking about here. I would guess that is an important part of what is making it work for you!
I do think there were other studies besides the LA one that might be worth looking at. There was one quite in depth qualitative one I remember that did look at both the positive and negative effects. I mayb e remembering wrongly but these are really important decisions with consequences for children so it's worth researching thoroughly. I'll try to see if somehow I saved this in my computer files at home. Again thanks for chiming in. We really do need to actually see and use to some degree the programs we are talking about. And there can often be ways to use programs more or less effectively. Sally On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 3:46 PM, Carol Lau wrote: > Carol: I am not one to fall for the high claims of intervention > programs, > including and especially, those presented by computers. But I must > speak > positively about Waterford's Early Reading (ERP) Program. My school > was > using > this program during the same time as the LAUSD, , but unlike LAUSD, we > continued > to use it after the negative results were reported by LAUSD in the LA > Times. > The research base that comes with the program recommends 30 minutes of > daily > use of the ERP and repeated readings of the literature selections in > the > form > of real-live books that match the computer selections. At our school, > we > have > all K-2 students working on ERP daily for 30 minutes and then students > take > home > the literature books to share with their families. > .com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
