Education Commons^™

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting Top Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2009, Bentley R. Kirkland, James V. Shuls, Caleb P. Rose, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

Since our founding in 2003, the mission of the Office for Education Policy has been to look at pressing issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Every once in a while, however, we think it is okay to stray from issue analysis and simply share some good news! So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we merely aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight the top performing schools around the state in an annual AER entitled the Outstanding …

Successful Sustainable Literacy Practice For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie

Indigenous Education Research

The author discusses current approaches to the literacy education of Indigenous students within the context of best practice literacy education for all students. Issues addressed include: Literacy and disadvantaged groups; Literacy programs for Indigenous Australian Students; Teachers and literacy learning; Assessment and measurement of literacy learning; and good literacy curriculum.

Working For And With Latino/Latina Immigrant Newcomers In The English Language Arts Classroom, Bernadette Musetti, Spencer Salas, Theresa Perez

Faculty and Research Publications

The article discusses how the English language arts practitioners work with the Latin immigrants who are newcomers in learning English language in middle and high school in the U.S. Accordingly, practitioners provide more instructional time to contextualized learning and literacy on first and second language and advocate them to attain a high level of literacy. Moreover, it states that the literacy development of the newcomers must be anchored in patience, flexibility and conscientiousness.

The Black-White Achievement Gap Amongst Struggling Readers: A Case Study Of Early Intervention Outcomes In Massachusetts, Emily Dexter, Jessica Simon

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

A number of analyses of large data sets have suggested that the reading achievement gap between African American and White U.S. is negligible or small at school entry, but widens substantially during the school years because African American students show slower rates of growth in elementary and secondary school. Identifying when and why gaps occur, therefore, is a an important research endeavor. In addition, being able to predict which African American children are most likely to fall behind can contribute to efforts to close the achievement gap. This paper analyzes first grade and third grade data on African American and …

Laying The Foundation For Literacy (Full Report), Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program

Community Benchmarks Program

The purpose of this report is to provide baseline data for eight indicators developed by the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County (LCOC) to measure the organization’s success in achieving their mission of 100% literacy through 100% Community Engagement.

1. Percent of children who are read to daily 2. Percent of incoming kindergarteners prepared for school. 3. Percent of K-12 students meeting proficiency standards on New York State English and Language Arts assessment. 4. Percent of youth graduating from high school. 5. Percent of adult learners who make educational gain. 6. Percent of adult learners entering or retaining employment. 7. Percent …

Literacy And Numeracy Diagnostic Tools : An Evaluation, Margaret Forster

Monitoring Learning

Within the context of a national drive to improve literacy and numeracy learning, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) is looking at the possibility of developing a set of literacy and numeracy diagnostic tools for use in Australian schools. This scoping study—a relatively small scale piece of work designed as a first step from which DEEWR might move forward—is not a direct study of ‘what works to improve literacy and numeracy’. Its focus is on the identification and evaluation of the print and on-line literacy and numeracy diagnostic tools used currently in Australian schools. Particular attention is …

Getting Boys To Read: A Look At The Research And The Books They Love, Carrie Lynn Cooper, Kathy Cox Watson

Library Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

This session focuses on what the research says about males as readers and introduces the audience to great boy books and other types of text that appeals to male readers. The presenters have chosen titles from the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards program that are of interest to young male readers. Presenters also introduce and promote Kentucky’s children’s choice reading program, the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards. To misquote George Ella Lyon, the presenters would like to get boys to "shake hands with a book."

A Family Strengths Approach To Early Language And Literacy Development, Deborah Carter, David J. Chard, Juli Pool

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Language and literacy skills are an essential element of young children’s development and allow them to interact meaningfully with other people and to develop knowledge in all subject areas. Despite the importance of language and literacy development, however, more than one third of children in the United States enter school with significant differences in language, early literacy skills, and motivation to learn that place them at considerable risk for developing long-term reading difficulties. The quantity and quality of language interactions children have with their parents and exposure to print in their home environment prior to entering school have an important …

Strategy Instruction And Lessons Learned In Teaching Higher Level Thinking Skills In An Urban Middle School Classroom, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

Through a compilation of standards-based lesson plans for small- and whole-group instruction, this chapter offers a humorous and heartbreaking perspective of the author's experiences during a yearlong university partnership “Book Bistro” in a 7th grade classroom with urban adolescent struggling readers. Using a combination of leveled, fictional, nonfictional, and culturally relevant text, the chapter is written as a personal narrative to address higher level thinking through systematic instruction in comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and structural analysis. A step-by-step implementation procedure for each of the research-based strategies is presented, including concept of definition, discussion web, probable passage, pointed reading, semantic feature analysis, …

Literacy Initiatives In The Urban Setting That Promote Higher Level Thinking, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

How does an urban district become a twice-nominated candidate by the Broad Foundation? In a district in which 72 languages are spoken, 38% of the students live in homes in which English is not the dominant language, and 91% of the population is minority (African American, Asian, and Hispanic), this largest school district in Connecticut not only made student learning a priority, but focused on higher level thinking as part of the process. This chapter provides insight to grassroots implementation of district and department initiatives over the course of five years that emphasized cognitive and metacognitive strategies in advancing the …

School, Home, And Community: A Symbiosis For A Literacy Partnership, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

With the belief that fertile ground for a literate environment is created through lots of oral language, ancestral anecdotes, and reading a variety of genre in fiction and nonfiction, it is possible to link home and school literacy communities. This chapter describes the connection between district literacy events and functional home activities as the basis for a partnership in developing higher level thinking that transcends the classroom. At monthly get-togethers, families were encouraged to participate in the very activities that were used in the classroom as part of the district's literacy block. In helping families acquire a few basic strategies …

"Authentic" Learning Experiences: What Does This Mean And Where Is The Literacy Learning?, Jessica Mantei, Lisa K. Kervin

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Teachers are challenged to adopt practices that facilitate the development of “necessary” skills and strategies for learners. For many, however, what is required in policy and curricula is increasingly obscured and even confusing as teachers are bombarded with jargon prescribing seemingly similar (yet apparently different) approaches such as “rich tasks”, “big questions” and “fertile questions” that are to be “relevant”, “authentic” and “engaging” for the learner. Barton and Hamilton (2000) argue that literacy learning should take the learner beyond the transmission of technical skills in the classroom to an understanding of its role within a community’s cultural practices. These literacy …

One Teacher's Response To Literacy Learning And Teaching Using Technology, Lisa K. Kervin, Pauline T. Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up as “groundbreaking reform” as “digital schools” become a reality for more students. However, access to technology remains uneven across schools, student competency levels differ and teacher expertise varies considerably. Incorporating new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, smartboards and mobile communication devices into interactive practices frequently requires rethinking configurations of curriculum, bodies and space.

Teachers are experts in pedagogy, but not necessarily in technology. It is vital that teachers are acknowledged for the considerable knowledge they have about their profession – what constitutes ‘good’ pedagogy, …

Establishing Design Principles For Online Synchronous Literacy Learning For Indigenous Learners, Michelle J. Eady, Anthony Herrington, Caroline Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Synchronous learning has the potential to provide literacy and essential skills training to Indigenous learners living in remote and isolated communities. Although there is considerable research completed in the area of internet-based learning technologies in general, there is very little research in the area of online synchronous learning opportunities for remote Indigenous learners. This paper presents the results and theoretical framework of the first and second phases of a four phase design-based research approach that aims to establish design principles to guide the future development of synchronous online literacy services for Indigenous learners living in remote Australian communities.

A New Generation Of Goals For Technology Education, John M. Ritz

STEMPS Faculty Publications

[Introduction, First paragraph]

To develop meaningful instructional programs for technology education, goals need to be in place to direct the outcomes of curriculum development and teaching. Goals are program terminal outcomes that focus curriculum writers or teachers who structure content for learners. Goals provide direction so content can be delivered for long-term impact to students who study the subject. They go beyond everyday teaching objectives; they are directed at long-term learning and programmatic outcomes.