Closing the gap: Impact of instruction on students not ready for kindergarten

This program evaluation examined students that entered kindergarten not ready on the Brigance screener and received research based reading interventions to determine if an elementary school was successful in closing the achievement gap so that they would have the literacy skills needed to be successful in first grade. Evidence of success was based on progress monitoring through Brigance and MAP testing. The researcher concluded that while 50% of the students were ready at the end of kindergarten only 7% returned to first grade ready. Other results indicated that the achievement gap was closing for students in special education but not low income students as well as gains for students receiving intervention and those not receiving intervention were equivalent. Implications for practice include the importance of preschool and full-day kindergarten as well as ensuring that summer learning is considered between kindergarten and first grade