Beginning reading - Reading Fluency

Program
Earobics

EarobicsĀ®

Program Description

EarobicsĀ® is an interactive software designed for students from prekindergarten to grade 3, offering personalized and systematic early literacy instruction using animated characters. EarobicsĀ® Foundations is designed for prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade, while EarobicsĀ® Connections is tailored for second and third graders, as well as older students who struggle with reading. The program focuses on improving skills in phonemic awareness, auditory processing, phonics, and the cognitive and language abilities necessary for comprehension. Each instructional level focuses on sound recognition and blending, rhyming, and phoneme discrimination, based on each student's proficiency. In addition to the software, materials include music, audiocassettes, videotapes, picture/word cards, letter-sound decks, books, and leveled readers for both independent and group reading.

Student population

EarobicsĀ® has been examined in Kindergarten through 3rd grades in both urban and rural settings. Participants were majority White (41%), followed by Native American (17%), and those categorized as Other or Unknown (22%). Smaller proportions include Asian (9%) and Black (7%) participants. Ethnically, 37% identify as Hispanic, while 63% are Not Hispanic or Latino. Males made up 55% of the populations studied, with females accounting for 45%. Socioeconomic factors indicate that 58% of participants qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, suggesting a significant portion come from low-income backgrounds. Additionally, 58% of the participants are English learners.

Current evidence

EarobicsĀ® has been rated as Promising by the What Works Clearinghouse (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/158). Two studies met WWC evidence standards, while two met the standards with reservations. These studies involved 246 students from grades K-3 in various locations, including Los Angeles, southwest Florida, Anchorage, and Chicago. The WWC found the evidence for EarobicsĀ® to be small in the areas of alphabetics and reading fluency. No studies meeting WWC standards examined its effectiveness in comprehension or general reading achievement.

For more information:

EarobicsĀ® has been retired.

Meets WWC evidence standards:

Cognitive Concepts, Inc. (2003). Outcomes report: Los Angeles Unified School District, California. Retrieved from http://www. earobics.com/results/la.php.

Gale, D. (2006). The effect of computer-delivered phonological awareness training on the early literacy skills of students identified as at-risk for reading failure. Retrieved from the University of South Florida website: http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/ et/SFE0001531.

Meets WWC evidence standards with reservations:

Rehmann, R. (2005). The effect of Earobics (TM) Step 1, software on student acquisition of phonological awareness skills. Dissertation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 66(07A), 157ā€“2533. (UMI No. 3181124).

Valliath, S. (2002). An evaluation of a computer-based phonological awareness training program: Effects on phonological awareness, reading and spelling. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63(04), 1291A. (UMI No. 3050601)