Annabelle and her colorful friends, the CoGlo Amigos, are the cast of a series of children’s books by South Carolina-based author Rhonda Atkins Leonard. Thanks to a $900,000 Innovation Grant through the S.C. Department of Education, a series of 10 short (one- to two-minute) videos were developed for South Carolina

Educational Television (SCETV) using the state’s Early Learning Standards and Profile of the Ready Kindergartner, a Spartanburg-based educator took the books and videos and developed 10 lesson plans to roll out in a pilot program that was offered to approximately 50 public and private 4K classrooms around Spartanburg County. Twenty-nine opted to participate, and every student in a participating classroom was given a copy of the book Annabelle’s Best Spring Ever.

Students took pre- and post-assessments to measure their improvement in three areas: ordering, retelling, and counting. The concept of ordering is on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) and was chosen because it is an abstract skill students can practice throughout the year. Retelling is a foundational skill to help students recall and identify important parts of a story. And counting was chosen because 4K students need continuous practice with this concept in order to understand addition and other mathematical concepts.

Overall, students overwhelmingly either maintained or improved between the pre- and post-assessments in all three areas – ordering (99.2%), retelling (99.8%), and counting (98.6%). Specifically, the percentage of students who showed measurable improvement from pre- to post-assessment was the most encouraging – ordering (53%), retelling (56%), and counting (41%).

In statistics, McNemar’s Test is a statistical test used on paired nominal data. The McNemar Test is used to determine if the proportions of categories in two related groups significantly differ from each other. In each of the three assessments administered in the Annabelle pilot study, it was concluded that there was a significant difference after the treatment, which was defined as the lessons conducted using the accompanying Annabelle book.

Leonard and her team met with teachers for a professional development session before launching the pilot program; one called the lessons “engaging and interactive.” Teachers were also surveyed before and after the program for their feedback.

The lessons included at-home activities for students to complete with their parents. Among the parent feedback that was received, one remarked that the activities were helpful “to parents who have never led their child through a book.” Several said their child was excited about the book and shared it with their siblings. Teacher and parent feedback will be used to further develop the CoGlo Amigos program to roll out to South Carolina classrooms statewide.

Cogloamigos For Educators overview is available for download (1 page PDF): Coglomigos Summary

The Pilot Study is available for download here (27 pages PDF): Cogloamigos Pilot Study