preschool class

Student Outcomes

Ability to Listen, Comprehend, and Respond

GrapeSEED students actively engage in a variety of oral language experiences to gain an increasing level of comprehension and oral language skills. Students will:

  • Distinguish and produce certain standard English sounds, words, and greetings.
  • Listen for different purposes (functions) such as to get information, solve problems, enjoy, and appreciate.
  • Infer meaning by associating words with actions and pictures.
  • Understand information given or questions asked by others.

Ability to Speak Clearly

GrapeSEED students speak to different audiences using developmental vocabulary with increasing fluency and accuracy. Students will:

  • Engage in activities that demonstrate communication and language acquisition skills.
  • Initiate conversation by employing newly acquired vocabulary and concepts (notions).
  • Choose and adapt spoken language appropriate to the audience, purpose, and occasion.
  • Gain increasing accuracy and appropriate word choice when speaking.

Ability to Read and Understand

GrapeSEED students demonstrate phonemic awareness and vocabulary development. They learn to comprehend and ask questions about selections read aloud. Students will:

  • Develop vocabulary through meaningful exercises and concrete experiences.
  • Develop vocabulary by discussing selections that are read aloud.
  • Use knowledge of phonics to decode familiar English words.
  • Read and understand almost all English words in their receptive vocabulary.

Writing Readiness

GrapeSEED students develop the foundations of writing. Students will:

  • Learn to air write letters and numbers.
  • Write each letter of the alphabet and demonstrate increasing control of penmanship.
  • Write sentences dictated by the teacher.
  • Revise and edit their own writing to make ideas clearer and more precise.

GrapeSEED Works!

GrapeSEED works
SIX SUBTESTS OF THE CLINICAL EVALUATION OF LANGUAGE FUNDAMENTALS (CELF) test were administered in the Fall and Spring to 432 GSRP preschool students participating in GrapeSEED lessons. The percent of students performing at or above their age norm increased significantly from the fall to spring assessment. The difference is due entirely to the improvement of at-risk students since all students who performed at or above their age norms in the Fall assessment maintained that status in the Spring assessment. GrapeSEED students grew faster than expected for their age (“age norm”) in all six categories. The growth was deemed highly significant, meaning it could not happen by chance. Students naturally grow over time and the CELF test accounts for this by using nationally normed data (normal growth would show as a flat line). The upward slope shows the GrapeSEED students growing much faster than their national peers in every category.

An independent research study was conducted by Oakland University and the University of Michigan to determine the effectiveness of GrapeSEED with groups of students from the GSRP preschool program in Michigan. The Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) is Michigan’s state-funded preschool program for four-year-old children with factors which may place them at risk of educational failure.

The conclusion: GrapeSEED enabled at-risk preschool students to grow faster than their national non-risk peers in every category of language fundamentals.