Missouri Education News
November
2007
IN THIS ISSUE:
Five Public Schools Win ÒBlue RibbonÓ Honors
Young Missourians Provide National
Leadership for Student Career Organizations
Public Charter Schools Increase Market Share—Kansas City and St. Louis Highly Ranked
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Reading
Across the Nation is
designed as a resource for policymakers and professionals who are working to
optimize the early language and literacy experiences of young children. By
presenting Òreading snapshotsÓ for each state, with comparative rankings on
literacy indicators, this chartbook will be a useful tool for policy makers and
program planners as they consider how to make investments in the early years to
enhance literacy and language development. The charts provide detailed state by
state information about whether parents are meeting the basic recommendation of
daily reading aloud to their children.
Data on frequency of reading to young children are from the National Survey of ChildrenÕs Health (2003), in which families of a nationally representative sample of children were interviewed by telephone about early childhood routines (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). For each state, data are also presented on fourth grade reading performance from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (2005). Reach Out and Read (ROR) National Center data (2007) and US census data (2000) are used to derive proportions of young children ages 0-5 years in each state who are served by ROR, both in the general population and for those families living in or near poverty. Data are also presented on the ratio of young children to libraries for each state.
The
Problem: Children
entering school not ready to learn
Up to one-third of American children
enter kindergarten lacking at least some of the skills needed for a successful
learning experience. For too many children, the preschool years have left them
without the language skills necessary for literacy acquisition. When children
are poor readers by the end of first grade, they are likely to remain so in
fourth grade. Interventions in the early years that promote language
development are powerful, cost-effective routes to improved school performance.
The National Research CouncilÕs Committee on the Prevention of Reading
Difficulties in Young Children stated that most reading difficulties can be
prevented by promoting language and literacy development. Snow CE, Burns S,
Griffin P (Eds) (1998)
The
Solution: Parents
reading aloud
Parents
reading frequently to their children provide language and literacy skills that
help children learn to read. Helping children to prepare for the challenge of
learning to read before school entry is better than helping them catch up
later. Reading aloud is the single most important activity for building the
knowledge required for eventual success in reading. Early language skills, the
foundation for later reading ability, are based primarily on language exposure
and human interaction – parents and other adults talking to young
children. The more words parents use when speaking to an eight-month-old
infant, the greater the size of the childÕs vocabulary at age three. Many
children from low-income families hear fewer 4
Missouri.
Report: http://healthychild.ucla.edu/ROR/States/Missouri.pdf
http://www.ruraledu.org/site/apps/nl/content.asp?c=beJMIZOCIrH&b=3508831&ct=4537855
Five
public elementary schools in Missouri have been honored as ÒNo Child Left
Behind - Blue Ribbon SchoolsÓ by the U.S. Department of Education:
á Brennan Woods Elementary
School, Northwest R-I School District
á Conway Elementary School,
Ladue School District
á Bessie Ellison Elementary
School, St. Joseph School District
á Jefferson Elementary
School, Farmington School District
á Westchester Elementary
School, Kirkwood School District
The
Missouri schools are among 287 outstanding elementary schools that were
recognized this week (October 2) by Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings.
To
qualify for the prestigious national award, schools must: have at least
40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds and make dramatic
gains in academic performance; or score in the top 10 percent on their
respective state tests. In addition, schools must meet the adequate
yearly progress (AYP) goals defined by each state for academic achievement in
reading and math.
Missouri
has produced a bumper crop of young leaders this year, with high school
students from across the state serving as national leaders in three student
organizations.
Levi
Rash (http://www.fcclainc.org/content/levi-rash/
) was selected Vice President of Membership for the national Family, Career and
Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) organization during its annual
conference in Orlando, Fl., in July. Rash is a senior at South Shelby
High School, Shelbina, Mo.
The
National FCCLA has more than 230,000 members in middle school and high
school. Missouri FCCLA is the fifth largest chapter with 13,700
members. Membership categories include Comprehensive and
Occupational. Comprehensive members emphasize a variety of Family and
Consumer Sciences Education classes in their plans of study. Occupational
members are enrolled in educational programs that prepare them for paid
employment in a specific Family and Consumer Sciences-related career.
Michael
Miller (mailto:fblatreas@fbla.org ) is
a senior at Carl Junction High School in Missouri. Miller joined Future
Business Leaders of America (FBLA) as a freshman and has competed in district
and state business events. After an unsuccessful campaign as a state
treasurer candidate, he ran for the national office and won. Most of
Miller's time is dedicated to FBLA and its members at the local, district,
state and national level. His primary responsibility as treasurer is to oversee
national officer travel and compile reports. He is a key contact for four
states (Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania) and works closely
with the state chapters. Outside of FBLA, Miller is involved in the
National Honor Society, Freshman Mentoring Program, student council, and his
local youth group.
Future
Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc. is a national organization
that serves over 225,000 high school, college, and professional members.
Missouri FBLA is a state association of FBLA-PBL with 15,442 members in 403
chapters across the state, the second largest chapter in the nation. The
FBLA-PBL brings business and education together in a positive working
relationship through innovative leadership and career development
programs. Co-curricular activities include career exploration, civic
service, economic education, and fostering entrepreneurship.
Public charter schools are growing in both
"market share" and educational impact in an increasing number of American
communities, according to two analyses (http://www.publiccharters.org/UserFiles/File/Marketshare
Press Release.pdf) released by the National Alliance for Public Charter
Schools.
The
AllianceÕs annual ÒTop 10Ó study identifies communities with the largest
percentages
of public school students enrolled in public charter schools. This yearÕs
analysis,
which examined 2006-2007 enrollment data in communities with at least
10,000
public school students, found New Orleans again heading the list with 57% of
students
enrolled in charter schools. A total of twenty-nine communities occupy this
year's
"Top 10" list (with many ties in percentages); that compares to 19 a
year ago.
Eight
communities had at least 1/5th of their public school students in public
charter
schools,
an increase from six in the 2005-2006 school year.
The
ÒTop 10Ó communities are:
1.
57%: New Orleans, LA 14,822 11,343 26,165
2.
27% : Southfield, MI, Dayton, OH. Washington, DC
3.
23%: Pontiac, MI, Youngstown, OH
4.
20%: Detroit, MI, Kansas City, MO
5.
18%: Toledo, OH 18%
6.
17%: Chula Vista, CA, Cleveland, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Milwaukee, WI
7.
16%: Buffalo, NY, Dearborn, MI
8.
15% Oakland, CA, Brighton, CO, Albany, NY, St. Louis, MO
9.
14%: Minneapolis, MN
10.
13%: Camden, NJ, St. Paul, MN, Philadelphia, PA, Columbus, OH, Vista, CA,
Saginaw, MI, Mohave County, AZ,
Napa Valley, CA. Appleton, WI
The
full ÒTop 10Ó report is available at
http://publiccharters.org/content/publication/detail/2869/.