Graduate School of Education Doctoral Student, Elisa Garcia examines the preschool skills that are most strongly associated with reading achievement in early elementary schools using PALS, DRDP, and SFUSD's Kindergarten Readiness Indicator. Her sample includes the Pre-K Cohort of 2013-2014 who are currently 1st grade students. These results do not include students who did not attend preschool.
Results include:
- Preschool language & literacy development and math development from the DRDP assessment sections were the strongest predictors of children's reading level in the fall of first grade.
- Only two subscales of the PALS significantly predicted first grade reading level: lower case letter recognition and beginning sound awareness
Read the full 2 page brief below for more results and research methodology.