Abstract. With the call of the Department of Education, schools are encouraged to explore relevant strategies to achieve the desirable literacy performance outcomes, especially in reading in the foundational key stage of learning. To improve the beginning reading performance of Kindergarten learners, this study explored the development, validation, and utilization of a researcher-developed reading intervention material employing the principles of the Marungko approach. Participants of this study were 32 Kindergarten learners from a private school and three Kindergarten teacher-validators in the Schools Division Office of Nueva Vizcaya. Ethical research guidelines set by the division office and the participating school were strictly followed in the study. The participants were informed of the study’s objectives, associated benefits and risks, management of vulnerability issues, and their rights before their consent to participate was requested. The descriptive-comparative research design was employed where the pre-test and post-test reading performances and the validity indices of the developed intervention material were described, and a statistical comparison of both performances was made to assess the potential of the designed intervention material. The results revealed that the developed reading intervention material met the minimum standards set by the Department of Education and was valid for utilization. Also, increases in the performance levels of the Kindergarten learners across reading subskills were noted after the intervention. The reading performance of Kindergarten learners in the pre-intervention phase considering letters Mm, Ss, and Aa significantly improved after the two-week intervention using the developed Marungko-based intervention material. These findings emphasize the significance of employing developmentally appropriate practices in developing intervention materials toward improving foundational literacy. Further, the study highlights the necessity of evaluating the learning intervention materials to ensure compliance with the Department of Education’s standards before utilization.

Keywords: Intervention material; Kindergarten education; Marungko approach; Reading.