ABRACADABRA! (ABRA) is a multimedia software program that helps early childhood teachers reinforce foundation literacy skills among emerging learners. Designed by the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University in Canada, ABRA is based on the best knowledge available on the science of learning acquisition, brain development and foundations of literacy in early childhood.
After proving successful in improving literacy skills for early learners in Canada, ABRA is now being trialled in Northern Territory (NT) Schools by the School for Social and Policy Research with support from the Telstra Foundation and Collier Charitable Fund. In mid-2008, ABRA was used in three urban and remote NT schools that had a high proportion of Indigenous students. Over a 10-week period, ABRA drew teacher enthusiasm and considerable student engagement. Most significantly, the 100 ABRA students across all schools improved their literacy skills (refer to graphs below).
In 2009, ABRA is being trialled in six urban and remote NT schools that also have a large Indigenous cohort. If the students continue to show positive results, mirroring the Canadian achievements, we plan to study the program using a randomised experiment (which will include control groups for comparison) in 12 NT schools in 2010.
ABRA, and the associated research, is an innovative addition to the field of Indigenous education where historically programs have been conducted on the basis of advocacy, intuition and funding opportunism rather than concrete evidence.
Promising student gains - 2008
lk
Students’ literacy skills were assessed prior to and after the 2008 pilot study. The literacy assessment instruments used were the internationally validated (Waterman, 2003; Fugate, 2003) GRADE assessment; and LLANS, developed by the Australian Council for Education Research (Meiers, Khoo, Stephanou, Anderson & Nolan, 2006).
 |
 |
GRADE: the largest gains on the GRADE instruments were in early literacy skills and sound recognition. Figure 1. Average pre-test and post-test comparisons for students (n=31) tested with the GRADE P. |
LLANS: Similar to the GRADE, the biggest gains on the LLANS instruments were in sound recognition and print concepts. Figure 2. Average pre-test and post-test comparisons for students (n=77) tested with the LLANS level 1. |
About ABRACADABRA! klj |
|||
 |
For further information about student progress, our research plan, answers for teachers, and program implementation. We are pleased to publish the ABRA end of year report, which details the findings from the 2008 pilot study. In brief, the 2008 pilot study results were very positive; students gained significantly from pre-test to post-test and there is reason to believe the gains were due to the use of ABRA. |
||
Project timeline 2008: pilot unmodified version of ABRA in three schools 2009: trial 'Australianised' version of ABRA in six schools 2010: multi-site randomised control trial Project leader Research partners Northern Territory Department of Education and Training Concordia University, Montreal, Canada Menzies School of Health Research ABRACADABRA! in Australia is made possible by the tremendous support of the Telstra Foundation, who have committed $750,000 over a three year period to 2010, the Collier Charitable Fund, the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Australian Research Council. |
|||
