Improving spelling for at‐risk kindergartners through element skill frequency building

Kostewicz et al. (2020) worked with at-risk kindergartners in a regular classroom. They used short, timed drills to build speed on tiny spelling pieces: saying letter sounds, naming letters, and writing letter strings.

The kids practiced each piece every day until they hit a speed goal. Then the team checked if the faster pieces helped the children spell whole words better.

The kindergartners got quicker at every little skill. Their spelling of whole words improved right after the drills and stayed better later.

Building fluent pieces made the bigger spelling skill easier for them.

Visitacion et al. (2024) did the same thing with adults in job training. Both studies show that speed drills on small parts work, but the adult paper warns you must practice the full task on the real job site or the skill falls apart. Kostewicz did not test that next step, so plan it yourself.

Miller et al. (2025) asked whether to teach whole words or tiny pieces. They found teaching letter-by-letter matching beat whole-word matching for most kids. This backs up Kostewicz: focus on the pieces first.

Connell et al. (2004) also taught letter sounds and names, but with computer games instead of speed drills. Their kids learned the pieces too, showing the target matters more than the tool.

If you work with beginning readers or spellers, run 1-minute timings on letter sounds, naming, and writing strings. Set a quick aim, celebrate when they hit it, then move to real spelling words right away. This cheap class-wide tactic can keep at-risk kids on track without extra staff.