Research Proves Just 30 Minutes/Week of ABC Music & Me Delivers 32% Literacy Gain!

Improving Student Language & Literacy Skills:

A Study of the Effectiveness of ABC Music & Me

Overview

To evaluate the effectiveness of Kindermusik’s ABC Music & Me curriculum, an independent research firm, SEG Measurement, conducted a national, multi-site study* following 299 preschool children during the 2012-13 school year. ABC Music & Me is a supplemental early childhood curriculum that uses music and movement to engage young children while teaching a variety of skills critical to later school success. Extensive at-home materials, provided to parents monthly with each new curriculum unit, inform families of their children’s classroom experiences and provide the means for continuing classroom learning at home.

Research Proves 32% Literacy GainThe findings indicate that students in classes using the ABC Music & Me program made significantly greater gains in language and literacy skills as compared to students in classes that did not use any of the ABC Music & Me program components.

Study Design

The study examined the effectiveness of the ABC Music & Me program by comparing the growth in language and literacy skills among preschool students receiving the ABC Music & Me curriculum to a comparable group of preschoolers who did not receive the ABC Music & Me program.
The study incorporated a pre- and post-test treatment- and control-group design. All participating students took the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) Pre-K Assessment** at both the beginning and end of the school year. Students in the treatment group received ABC Music & Me instruction and activities as part of their preschool curriculum during the school year. Students in the control group did not receive any ABC Music & Me instruction or activities.
Students in the control and treatment groups attended the same or comparable schools, and statistical analyses were conducted to ensure that the groups were comparable. Analysis of Covariance was used to compare treatment and control-group performance on the post-test while controlling for any initial differences in ability.
Teacher and parent feedback regarding ABC Music & Me was also collected through biweekly teacher surveys on curriculum usage, an end-of-year teacher survey, a classroom environment survey, and two parent surveys investigating families’ use of the ABC Music & Me Home Materials.

Results

The results of the study show that students who received ABC Music & Me instruction showed significantly larger gains on the PALS test than did students who did not receive ABC Music & Me instruction. In fact, ABC Music & Me students showed 32% more improvement on the PALS test than did control group students. These results indicate that the ABC Music & Me program successfully boosts preschoolers’ language and literacy skills.
Graph: Research Proves PreK Student Literacy GainsResults from teacher surveys indicate that preschool teachers found the ABC Music & Me curriculum to be effective in teaching a variety of skills, and would strongly recommend it to other preschool teachers, and that parents would recommend the program to other parents.

Conclusions

Students who participated in ABC Music & Me showed significantly greater gains in language and literacy skills than students who did not receive ABC Music & Me instruction.
Teachers who used ABC Music & Me found the program to be effective in many areas. Both teachers and parents would strongly recommend the program to others.
*This study was conducted by SEG Measurement, supported by a grant from Kindermusik International. SEG is an independent research firm, providing research services to educational publishers, technology providers, and government agencies, since 1979.
**About PALS: The PALS-(Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) Pre-K Assessment is a scientifically-based phonological awareness and literacy screening that measures preschoolers’ developing knowledge of important literacy fundamentals and offers guidance to teachers for tailoring instruction to children’s specific needs. The assessment reflects skills that are predictive of future reading success and measures name writing ability, upper-case and lower-case alphabet recognition, letter sound and beginning sound production, print and word awareness, rhyme awareness and nursery rhyme awareness.
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Public Schools, Elementary Curriculum – Making a Difference with ABC Music & Me

ABC Music & Me Special Education Curriculum - Sycamore Creek Elementary

Teachers at Sycamore Creek Elementary in the Wake County Schools, North Carolina share their experience with ABC Music & Me, and the difference this elementary school curriculum from Kindermusik International has made with their students.

ABC Music & Me Special Education Curriculum - Sycamore Creek Elementary“I began using ABC Music & Me with my developmentally delayed preschool classroom in the fall of 2011 when it was brought into our school system. The program was ready to use out of the box with a few simple modifications for my students with visual impairments. From the first day of use my students fell in love with the songs, instruments and activities from the unit called Laugh & Learn. I really like the way the program has a wide mix of listening, movement, and instrument activities scattered throughout the lessons. This setup keeps the students actively engaged and prevents their attention from wondering.
ABC Music & Me Preschool Curriculum - Sycamore Creek ElementaryIn late 2011 I was moved into a classroom for kindergarten to second grade students with Autism at the same school. The school PTA was looking at purchasing a different music program for the class with the previous teacher. After hearing this I instantly contacted Ms. Kerri, my trainer, from ABC Music & Me and began discussing with her what would be the most appropriate level for my new students. Ms. Kerri and I gathered the needed information and I took the proposal for the unit called Move & Groove back to the PTA. After seeing the proposal and hearing my success with the preschool students the PTA agreed to purchase Move & Groove for our Autism programs. We began using our Move & Groove program in August of this year.
ABC Music & Me Elementary School Curriculum - Sycamore Creek ElementarySchoolThe transition of programs has been a little bit of adjustment for me as I need to become familiar with the content change. I do make some modifications to meet my students’ developmental needs such as shortening the lessons and taking out areas that may be frustrating for them. Overall we have all enjoyed our new program. Through the use of ABC Music & Me all of my students have started to sing, hum or make vocalizations to the music even my students who are non-verbal. We have also discovered that many of our friends have great rhythm. I am so glad that I was introduced to ABC Music & Me and was able to bring the program to my students.”

Trisha Dillon, NBCT ’04
Autism 1 Special Education Teacher
Sycamore Creek Elementary
Wake County Schools, North Carolina

ABC Music & Me Elementary Curriculum - Sycamore Creek Elementary
“Being a new teacher it has been wonderful using ABC Music & Me. The children look forward to it and it is a great outlet for some of our kids who love dance and music.  We have a best practice curriculum in our classroom, so it is always nice to have a program to follow for a certain subject area. The program is easy to use and to follow and that is nice as a new teacher because there are so many other things that I need to take care of. It is nice to have a program that is so easy to use and the kids love so much.”

Cindy Winter
Developmentally Delayed Preschool Classroom Teacher
Sycamore Creek Elementary
Wake County Schools, North Carolina

For more information about ABC Music & Me, email us at: info@abcmusicandme.com

Kindermusik Community Updates

For all our Kindermusik families…

We are now making it easier for all Kindermusik communities to come together and learn from each other by combining our blog communities! Kindermusik has multiple brands across the globe. For better collaboration, we will now communicate through 1 blog:

Minds on Music is the Official Blog of Kindermusik International.

We welcome our communities from:

ABC Music & Me - Early Literacy and Language CurriculumABC Music & Me – Kindermusik’s early childhood music curriculum. Staying current with research on early literacy and language development, we share these findings with our community and continue to incorporate into our curriculum. As many schools, childcare centers, head start programs, special needs programs, after-school programs, and others use ABC Music & Me, we continue to see positive results as we help children learn through music.

ABC English & Me - Teaching English to Children through MusicABC English & Me – our ELL (English Language Learning) curriculum. We’ll continue to share exciting stories from around the world of children learning English through music. Our community of bilingual children and families continue to grow so we’ll keep sharing ELL resources, tips, research and inspiration!

Kindermusik Green - SustainabilityKindermusik Green – our approach to Sustainability. We believe in making a better future for our children, not only by empowering children to learn through music, but also through sustainable practices. We’ll share tips, stories, and action items we take as a company to promote a Green future; teaching kids, families, and educators how to incorporate sustainability into their lives.

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