Printing Errors in Kindergarten and the Prediction of Academic Performance

Abstract

Kindergarten children printed from memory immediately after seeing each of the 41 reversible letters and numbers. The results showed that form errors, which involve some overall changes in the actual shape of the letter itself, correlated reliably with academic performance measured at the end of kindergarten as well as throughout grade I in reading, phonics, language, and math. This was not the case for the left-right reversal errors generated by these same letters and numbers. Moreover, the magnitude of the correlations suggested that these form errors could hold considerable promise as a means of identifying with reasonable accuracy children at risk for failure.