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Literacy attainments of Singapore preschoolers : an exploratory validation study of the snake and ladder screen
Author
Ooh, Jessie Guat Teng
Supervisor
Liem, Gregory Arief D.
Yeo, Lay See
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a locally developed curriculum-based measure, the Snake and Ladder Screen used to assess early literacy and math skills on 234 Kindergarten Two children. Items on the Screen were rated by preschool staff in terms of item representativeness in relation to the local curriculum. Item ratings fell on or above a set criterion, indicating high content representativeness to the local curriculum. Test-retest reliability for the Screen was also examined. Resulting coefficients were highly significant for letters and numbers knowledge, indicating strong stability in these items. Most of the criterion-related validity correlations between the Screen and standardized measures reported mild to strong correlations. Results suggest that the Screen was more sensitive to variations in young children’s growth towards skills mastery. Construct validity was analyzed by performing ANOVA on the data. Independent variables considered as part of the main study included subjects’ gender and family income category. The Screen was significant for gender in spelling and income level for all the measured dependent variables of total score, reading and spelling items, indicating that boys and children from lower SES have weaker preschool literacy attainments. Finally, results of the teacher survey indicated strong support for the utility of the Screen in developing instructional goals for children and in tracking their learning progress. Implications for future research include modification of the tool and assessment procedures before large scale data collection and standardization.
Date Issued
2010
Call Number
LB1139.3.S55 Ooh
Date Submitted
2010