When to begin reading intervention

[Dick]

First grade is too late! Both Scanlon and her colleagues and McGill-
Franzen and her colleagues have demonstrated that we can intervene in
K and solve the problems of 50 to 75% of all at-risk kids before they
begin first grade. In both of these studies though the researchers
found PD for K teachers was at least as effective at addressing the
problems low-readiness kids present as was one-to-one expert tutoring.
In other words, once K teachers know what to do and then do it many of
the problems first grade teachers face are resolved and first graders
needing extra help decrease to almost no such children. And all you
need to know at the beginning of K is which children do not already
know all the letter names. Those are the kids at risk of failure in
first grade. Since two-thirds of all entering K students in 2008 knew
all the letter names one would think schools would be on top of this.
Of course one would also think K teachers would have put away the
letter of the week curriculum plans. But in both cases, NO.