National Early Literacy Panel
Developing Early Literacy
Concerns and research
The National Early Literacy Panel was concerned that less than 85% of children were performing on grade level by the time that they entered fourth grade. They began to research what skills predicted reading success, programs and interventions that proved success in reading, and which environments effected later reading success.
Alphabet Knowledge and Phonemic Awareness
The panel found that letter knowledge and phonemic awareness were the top predictors of later literacy skills. Children who had these two skills often became better readers.
Rapid Automatic Naming
This is the ability to remember numbers, letters, or words quickly. This was also found to be a predictor of literacy skills.
Phonological Memory
Phonological memory is the ability to hold spoken information in your working memory.