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The Right Test Preparation Materials
Kids’ Reading Drops Off After Age Eight Parents Can Have a Direct Impact on Getting Kids to Read Among Kids Who Read Most, Parents Are a Top Source for Book Suggestions The time kids spend reading for fun declines sharply after age 8 and continues to drop off through the teen years, according to a new national study released by Yankelovich, a leader in consumer trends tracking, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing and media company. While 40% of kids between the ages of 5-8 years old are high frequency readers (reading for fun every day), only 29% of kids ages 9-11 years old are high frequency readers and the percentage continues to decline through age 17. The Kids and Family Reading Report™, a national survey of children ages 5-17 and their parents, also found that parents can have a direct impact on their kids’ reading attitudes and behaviors, especially by reading more frequently themselves and by helping kids find books they like. “Parents excel when it comes to introducing their very young children to beautiful picture books and bedtime stories, but when their kids start reading independently, parents need to become more, not less, involved,” stated Lisa Holton, President Scholastic Book Fairs and Trade Publishing. “As kids get older, the role parents play changes. We found that not only do parents need to be reading role models, but that they must play a key role in helping their older children select books that capture their imagination and interest.” Almost three-quarters of parents surveyed (74%) say they value reading as the most important skill for a child to develop -- followed by critical thinking (49%), math (46%), social (46%) and computer (27%) skills. While two-thirds of parents agree that strong reading skills are critical to future success and 80% say it is very important for kids to read books for fun outside of school, only 21% of parents identify themselves as high frequency readers (reading every day). The importance of parents as reading role models is evidenced by the fact that children of high frequency readers are far more likely to read for fun every day than children whose parents are not high frequency readers. The study found that 53% of children whose parents are high frequency readers are reading books for fun every day; however, among children whose parents are low frequency readers (reading 2-3 times a month or less), only 15% read for fun daily. Parents who are high frequency readers are more likely to see themselves as primarily responsible for encouraging their children to read than parents who are low-frequency readers (60% vs. 46%). Whether or not parents are high frequency readers themselves, they can positively impact kids’ reading habits. Kids who are high frequency readers are more than twice as likely as low frequency readers to cite their parents as a top source of ideas for good books to read (21% vs. 8%). Kids who are low frequency readers are more inclined to rely on their teachers, friends, librarians and television to help them find books to read than on their parents. While nearly all kids surveyed enjoy reading books for fun, kids report that the number one reason they do not read more is that they cannot find books they like. Parents, on the other hand, say they think kids, especially the older ones, are not reading more because of too much homework. “With all the media that today’s youth are faced with day in and day out, the truth is kids really do enjoy reading books for fun,” stated Dr. Hal Quinley from Yankelovich. “Parents may be underestimating the difficulty kids have finding books they like. Although kids value their independence, they seek guidance from parents and that includes the suggestion of a great book to read.” The following are additional key findings from the survey: Kids’ Relationship with Reading:
Kids’ Reading Attitudes Change As They Get Older:
Boys vs. Girls:
Summer Reading:
Harry Potter Series: Data from The Kids and Family Reading Report™, quantifies for the first time the impact that the Harry Potter series has had on kids’ reading attitudes and behaviors. According to the study, both kids and their parents credit the popular books with getting more kids to read for fun and with helping kids do better in school. Just over half (51%) of Harry Potter readers ages 5-17 years old say they did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter, but now they do, and 65% say they have been doing better in school since they started reading the series. Parents see an even greater impact. The vast majority of parents (89%) say that reading Harry Potter has helped their child enjoy reading more, and 76% say that reading Harry Potter has helped their child do better in school. The findings also show that Harry Potter books have had a significant impact on the reading attitudes and behaviors of boys. More boys than girls have read Harry Potter (57% vs. 51%), and a greater number of boys than girls say that they did not read books for fun before Harry Potter (61% vs. 41%). More boys than girls say that it was important for them to read Harry Potter so that they would feel “in” with their friends (63% vs. 44%). Previously released results from The Kids and Family Reading Report™, a national survey of the reading attitudes and behaviors of children ages 5-17 and their parents, found that there is a significant falloff in children’s reading frequency after age eight. Yet, according to the Harry Potter section of the survey, the average age kids say they start reading the series is age nine and they continue to read and re-read the books as they mature. Nearly 60% of kids ages 9-11 years old have read the books, and 70% say they are interested in reading or re-reading them; 63% of kids ages 12-14 have read the books and 69% are interested in reading/re-reading them; and 57% of 15-17 year olds have read the books and 60% say they are interested in reading/re-reading them. “While the overwhelming success of Harry Potter is undeniable, this study quantifies for the first time the impact children and parents believe the series has had on helping kids to read and learn and indicates that the right book can even lure older kids to stay engaged with reading” stated Dr. Hal Quinley from Yankelovich. “The Harry Potter series is exactly the kind of book that helps parents and kids stay connected and enjoy reading together.” The study confirms that interest in reading Harry Potter crosses generations. Half of all parents say they too are Harry Potter readers. And what will kids do after they read the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series? Nearly one in five Harry Potter readers can’t seem to face the end of the series, saying they don’t really believe it will be over. Half of all Harry Potter readers say they are going to look for a new series. One in three will re-read the Harry Potter books and 27% say they are going to look for the next book by J.K. Rowling. Methodology: The Kids and Family Reading Report is a national survey of 1000 individuals -- 500 children ages 5 to 17 years old and one parent or primary guardian per child. Interviews took place through mall-intercepts in 25 major cities across the country from January 16th through February 8th, 2006. The survey was designed and analyzed by the staffs at Scholastic and Yankelovich. Quotas for race, gender and child age-group were established to ensure ample base sizes for analysis purposes. The margin of error is ± 4.5 percentage points. The Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report is available online at To see a related article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0502/p13s01-legn.htm Virtual Reality World Teaches Deaf Children Math Skills Purdue University is using technology employed in the films "King Kong" and "Lord of the Rings" to create colorful characters in a virtual reality world who teach deaf children math. Computer graphics technology students are working in Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization with high-tech cameras and "cybergloves" that can translate body and hand motions into digital images. The resulting cartoon rabbit, robot and pig use sign language in fun, interactive environments projected on the walls and floor of a "cave" of screens that surrounds the deaf students. The virtual reality program is designed to provide early elementary school age students with disabilities with a number of active, individualized learning conditions:
For example, in a virtual candy store environment the student communicates to the storekeeper in sign language, some of which is specific to mathematics. Pinch gloves allow students to count candies and to add and subtract by putting candy on or off the counter. The task can be repeated over and over at the student's own pace while providing consistent and understandable feedback. "Learning is the development of one experience into a new experience," said Ronnie Wilbur, professor and chair of linguistics in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences who has served as a consultant to the College of Technology during the project. "Immersive learning environments such as this are more effective than traditional computer software." The project's supervising professor, Nicoletta Adamo-Villani, said virtual reality helps break down some of the barriers deaf children experience. "Environments are more stimulating when students are able to interact with the subject and travel through the scenes," said Adamo-Villani, assistant professor of computer graphics. "Hands-on experiences equate to a better understanding of mathematical concepts in real-world situations." Adamo-Villani said research shows that humans process visual information 60,000 times faster than textual information and that an eight-week virtual reality program can improve student math skill scores by 16 percent. She said that learning enthusiasm remains even after the novelty of virtual reality fades. "Our mission is to be a worldwide leader in virtual learning environment development," said Laura Arns, the associate director of the Envision Center who is helping develop this virtual reality application. "We want to advance industry-leading concepts, software and services while fostering an environment of empowerment, creativity and commitment." The program is being designed to overcome the barriers deaf children experience in learning math skills. Those barriers include:
Adamo-Villani hopes by reducing the impact of these barriers, the program can help increase the number of deaf students who go on to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields in which they are statistically underrepresented. Background research for the application revealed that deaf students historically have had difficulty gaining entry into higher education that leads to these careers. "As a leading educator in these fields, Purdue is dedicated to increasing access for deaf students," Adamo-Villani said. Because research shows that children prefer bright colors, student programmers are working to ensure that the program is as colorful as possible. Also, certain colors increase alpha waves directly linked to awareness and improve students' attention span and elicit emotional responses. Specific examples in the Purdue program include shelves lined with jarfuls of hard candies and Chef Pig's icing-smeared apron. The programmers continue the time-consuming task of calibrating and cleaning up data, tasks necessary to make the characters' movements as smooth and lifelike as possible. "Fluid, non-mechanical motion is fundamental to learning sign language effectively," said Edward Carpenter, the graduate research assistant working directly with the five undergraduate programmers who have dubbed themselves "Dented Can, LLC." "That's why we have invested our efforts in developing natural gestures that are appealing to children." Undergraduate David D. Jones never expected to be mastering complex skills such as environment modeling, character modeling and rigging, motion-capture data application and programming for interaction in 3-D space so early in his academic career. He said he is excited that his work will be utilized for years to come to help others learn — a prospect that he said far outshines any class project grade he will receive. "I truly hope that this program plants some of the seeds necessary to develop good math skills in those children," said Jones, who continues his computer graphics training as a graduate student at Purdue fall semester. "Who knows, maybe someday they'll be as fortunate as I was and get to apply those skills to something interesting and worthwhile." Gifted children attending academic camps at Purdue came to the Envision Center this summer to test the system and provide feedback. In the fall, a portable version of the virtual reality application will be taken to Indianapolis and introduced to classrooms at the Indiana School for the Deaf. "Three years of inventive, collaborative work have created a tool I am eager to see used to open new horizons for deaf students," Wilbur said. Adamo-Villani credits the university's investment in information technology and its emphasis on internal and external collaboration for making the new instructional tool possible. She and her students from the Department of Computer Graphics Technology have been working with the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization; Information Technology at Purdue; the College of Liberal Arts' Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; and the Indiana School for the Deaf to develop the virtual reality program. Understanding High School Graduation Rates Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation’s public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. In today’s increasingly competitive global economy, graduating high school is a critical step towards securing a good job and a promising future. Yet nationally, one-third of our students—about 1.2 million each year—leave high school without a diploma, and graduation rates for poor and minority students are even lower. The failure to graduate every child prepared for the 21st century has serious consequences for both individual students and the rest of American society. Yet, the unacceptably low graduation rates of America’s youth have been obscured for far too long by inaccurate data, misleading calculations and reporting, and flawed accountability systems. Nationally, and for each state, Understanding High School Graduation Rates illustrates the discrepancies in graduation rates reported by government and independent sources, examines why this is important, and describes three core policy areas that are fundamental to calculating, reporting, and improving accurate graduation rates:
Policies that meaningfully holds high schools accountable for improving student achievement on test scores and increasing graduation rates so that low-performing students are not unnecessarily held back or encouraged to leave school without a diploma. To see full report: http://www.all4ed.org/publications/wcwc/National_wc.pdf RAND Study Finds Alcohol Advertising and Marketing Are Associated with Adolescent Drinking Children's exposure to alcohol advertising during early adolescence appears to influence both beer drinking and their intentions to drink a year later, according to a RAND Corporation study issued. The study of children in the sixth and seventh grades found that those exposed to alcohol advertising at high levels – from television, magazines, in-store displays and promotional items like T-shirts and posters – were 50 percent more likely to drink and 36 percent more likely to intend to drink than children whose exposure to alcohol advertising was very low. Previous studies have found that adolescents on average see at least 245 television ads for alcoholic beverages every year, and that these ads may promote drinking. But the RAND study is unique because it also asked adolescents about advertising in magazines, radio and elsewhere, along with whether they owned any promotional items from alcoholic beverage companies. “Parents may be aware that advertising may promote drinking among early adolescents,” said Rebecca L. Collins, a RAND senior behavioral scientist and lead author of the study. “We did a previous study that found that children as young as fourth grade were very familiar with alcohol advertising and can tell you slogans and brand names. This new study shows that by the time they get to sixth grade, ads may be influencing them to drink.” “Parents often think they don't have to worry about their kids drinking before they get to high school, but sixth grade — or even before then — is the time to talk with children about alcohol marketing techniques, as well as drinking,” Collins added. “Getting kids to think critically about ads may lessen any effects the ads have.” The study by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, is titled “Early Adolescent Exposure to Alcohol Advertising and its Relationship to Underage Drinking” and is available from the Journal of Adolescent Health Web site at www.JAHOnline.org. It will be published in the June issue of the journal. The study is based on a RAND survey of 1,786 South Dakota sixth graders about their exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing, and a second survey of the same children a year later about drinking intentions and behavior. More research is needed, Collins said. South Dakota ranks among the top ten states in terms of binge drinking among adolescents, and results might be different where drinking is not as common, she said. The sixth-graders in the RAND study were the youngest group to be studied longitudinally on alcohol advertising issues. By the time children are in the eighth grade, slightly more than 50 percent have already experimented with alcohol. Those who have not experimented have seen the effects of alcohol on their friends. By seventh grade, 17 percent of the children surveyed reported that they had consumed beer in the past year; 16 percent said they “definitely” or “probably” would drink in the next six months; 23 percent said they “probably would not;” and 61 percent they “definitely would not.” Like other studies, the RAND research found that television ads, which mostly appear during sports programming, are a key factor. But the RAND study also found that the 19 percent of children who owned a hat, poster or T-shirt promoting alcohol were nearly twice as likely to drink or intend to drink as other youngsters. “We were a little surprised by how common these promotional items were,” Collins said. “Parents can make a difference by keeping promotional merchandise from their kids. My guess is that many parents think it's harmless: your kid has a Budweiser T-shirt, it's just funny. But it probably is a subtle communication to kids that beer drinking is cool.” Researchers also found that a child would be more likely to drink if the child's friends approved of drinking and if the child's parents didn't monitor him or her. Learn More: Read the Abstract at jahonline.org Smoking, Drugs, Obesity Top Health Concerns for Kids It’s only natural to for adults to worry about children’s health and well-being at school, on the roads and even online. But adults’ No. 1 health concern for children and adolescents in the United States? It’s smoking, according to new results from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. Drug abuse ranked No. 2. The poll, which asked adults to rate 17 different health problems for children living in their communities, also found that childhood obesity now ranks among the public’s top three concerns for children’s health, ahead of alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy. Also making the public’s overall list of top10 health concerns for kids: Driving accidents, Internet safety, school violence, sexually transmitted infections, and abuse and neglect. The child health issues that didn’t make the top 10 list, but were still rated as “big problems” by 6 to 18 percent of adults: Psychological stress, depression, eating disorders, suicide, autism, childhood cancer and food contamination. “We found that major race/ethnicity groups differ when it comes to the top three health concerns for children as well. While white adults list smoking, drug abuse and alcohol abuse at their top three concerns, black adults rate teen pregnancy, smoking and drug abuse, and Hispanic adults rank smoking, drug abuse and childhood obesity as the three major health problems for children,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the National Poll on Children’s Health, part of the U-M Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit in the U-M Division of General Pediatrics. To rank the public’s top health concerns for children, the National Poll on Children’s Health, in collaboration with Knowledge Networks, Inc., conducted a national online survey in March 2007. The survey, administered to a random sample of 2,076 adults who are a part of Knowledge Network’s online KnowledgePanelSM, revealed the top 10 out of 17 health concerns for children in the U.S. Top 10 overall health concerns for children in the U.S.
Ratings for the top 10 list did not differ between adults who have children in their households, and those who do not. Overall, higher proportions of blacks and Hispanic adults rated all 17 concerns as “big problems” compared with white adults. “This poll provides us with a detailed picture of what the public views as some of the biggest health concerns for children and adolescents today,” says Davis, associate professor of general pediatrics and internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. “It also suggests that the government may want to target more investment toward issues such as teen smoking, drug abuse and childhood obesity, in a way that reflects the fact that the public is currently prioritizing these problems as even bigger than other issues on the list.” The next report from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health will be released on May 23. About the National Poll on Children’s Health The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health is funded by the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the U-M Health System. As part of the U-M Division of General Pediatric Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit, the National Poll on Children’s Health is designed to measure major health care issues and trends for U.S. children. For a copy of the reports from National Poll on Children’s Health, visit www.chear.umich.edu. For regular podcasts of polling results, go to www.med.umich.edu/podcast Comic Book Project Proves to Be Effective Learning Tool UNIVERSITY EVALUATION LAUDS THE POTENTIAL OF THE UNIQUE EDUCATION PROGRAM Maryland teachers piloting the state’s unique Maryland Comics in the Classroom Initiative rate the program an effective, enjoyable education tool that enhances student interest in reading and produces positive results. The Comics in the Classroom program uses classic Disney comics in 10 active lessons for the third and fourth grades. Working with Disney Publishing Worldwide and Diamond Comic Distributors, MSDE developed materials for several grade levels that are being piloted at various schools throughout the state. A new evaluation of the program found that two in three teachers using the program rated it positively or very positively. Lessons are challenging and sparked student interest in reading, the study said. Nearly 70 percent of students involved in the program said it helped make them a better reader. The evaluation, completed by educational researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, also offered ideas to improve the program, such as adding a teacher usage introduction and providing additional flexibility in vocabulary use and instruction. “Reading is such an important activity for all children, and using comic book-related lessons offers teachers an important new tool to draw students into the world of words,” said Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick. “This project enhances other work that goes on in the reading class. Comic books and graphic novels cannot replace other forms of literature, but they can be an entry point for some reluctant readers.” “We are proud to work with the Maryland State Department of Education and Diamond Comic Distributors on this groundbreaking initiative,” said Jonathan Yaged, vice president and U.S. publisher, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “It is inspiring to see how Disney characters and comics can be used in the classroom to help children read and learn.” “Promoting the legitimate applications of comics as an educational tool has long been a passion of mine,” said Diamond Comic Distributors President and CEO Steve Geppi. “Comics are the foundation on which my fervor for reading developed, and it's validating to see the students of Maryland using comics as learning tools.” MSDE’s broader graphic literature program, the Comic Book Initiative, began in September 2004 to explore the use of comics and graphic novels in classroom settings. It was developed by a creative team that includes award-winning teachers, reading specialists, educational administrators, library specialists, comic book authors, and publishers. This unique statewide project does not mandate comic books or replace traditional classroom materials. Rather, the program provides options for teachers as they seek to encourage reading in students of all ages.Pre-K Investment Yields Bonuses for Children, Families, Communities, and Governments Groundbreaking study shows nationwide program for three- and four-year-olds starts paying for itself in as little as six years, and strengthens case for public investment in comprehensive early childhood development If we want to do better at building a strong economy, increasing earnings, reducing crime, and balancing budgets, a very good place to start is with high quality pre-kindergarten for the nation’s children, according to new research published today by the Economic Policy Institute. Investing in pre-K, whether it’s a program open to all eight million of the nation’s three- and four-year-olds or one targeted to the 25 percent of children most in need, yields large, measurable economic benefits for children, families, communities, and the nation. Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation, by economist Robert G. Lynch, adds a crucial new dimension to previous research that had already solidly documented the positive effects of high-quality pre-kindergarten education for children. Lynch’s research shows that the pre- K investment that pays off so dramatically for children does the same for society and for government budgets. Explaining his findings, Lynch said: “A high quality pre-K program should be an integral part of a larger, comprehensive public investment in early childhood development that spans the critical time period of prenatal through age five.” Lynch’s research shows, state-by-state and nationally, the societal, economic, and budgetary gains that would flow from investing now to build either a universal or a targeted pre-K program that is implemented nationwide. His analysis is based on data on the Chicago Child- Parent Center Program, which provides center-based, comprehensive education, and familysupportservices to economically disadvantaged children from prekindergarten (ages three or four) to early elementary school (up to grade three/age nine). It is the oldest federally funded prekindergarten program in the nation after Head Start, and the oldest extended earlychildhood program. “Investing in high-quality pre-K isn’t only good for children and society, it’s also great for government budgets,” says Lynch, whose new study measures the economic, crime, and budgetary benefits of high quality pre-K against its costs. “Governments can realize huge savings in areas such as remedial education, law enforcement, and child welfare, and will experience increases in tax revenues. Add to that the benefits of less crime and a more highly skilled workforce that is more likely to be employed and better paid – and that makes pre-K spending one of the smartest moves governments can make.” Lynch’s study shows that, overall, a fully funded pre-K program for the most at-risk children would start to pay for itself in just six years – and in nine years, in the case of a universal program serving all the nation’s children. Commenting on the importance of this research, Ruby Takanishi, President of the Foundation for Child Development, a major funder of Lynch’s research, said: “Troubling results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), known as ‘the nation’s report card,’ show that only about 40 percent of white and Asian fourth graders were proficient in reading in 2005, and fewer than one-in-five black, Hispanic/Latino, and all low-income children demonstrated proficiency in reading. Quality prekindergarten must be connected to quality K-3 education to sustain gains made in pre-K, and to prepare children for lifelong learning and productive engagement in their communities.” Comparing government budget benefits alone to costs (and leaving aside the benefits to individuals of less crime and higher earnings), a targeted program would pay for itself within nine years and a universal program, within 17 years. Individual state government budgets would reach the break-even point even sooner – in just four years for a targeted pre-K program in the case of Connecticut, Delaware, and Vermont, and in just 10 years for Kentucky and New York in the case of a universal program. When other states would reach this point depends primarily on whether and how much they already invest in pre-K and other educational, criminal justice, and child welfare programs, as well as on their tax systems. Nevertheless, if pre-K programs targeted to the most at-risk children were fully implemented this year, state government budget gains would surpass costs in over 80 percent of the states in 10 years or less, and all but two would reach surplus by 2020. For those two, the break-even point would come in 2024 (Indiana) and 2025 (Alabama). For a universal program, budget benefits alone would exceed program costs within 25 years in every state except Alabama, which would break even in the 29th year, 2036. “State-funded, high quality pre-kindergarten not only helps children learn their ABCs and how to get along with others, it is also an investment that can yield significant returns,” said Sara Watson, senior officer, State Policy Initiatives, The Pew Charitable Trusts. “An investment in quality pre-K builds the foundation for young children to do well in school and later in life, and it can start to pay for itself in as little as six years.” Lynch not only shows the overall gains to be realized from instituting high quality pre-K nationwide, but also breaks out the major sources of these gains and the economic benefits to the participating children and their families. In the year 2050, he shows that the total benefits of a targeted program would be more than 12 times as high as its costs. In that year, the combined annual benefits from government budgetary gains, increased compensation to individuals, and savings to individuals from reduced crime would add up to more than $315 billion. The ratio of gains to costs would vary by state from about 29-to-1 in Delaware to about 8-to-1 in Alabama. For a universal program the total budgetary, crime, and earnings benefits would be even greater, summing to $779 billion in 2050 and exceeding program costs more than eightfold in that year. The total annual benefits in 2050 would surpass the program costs by a ratio of about 6-to-1 in Alabama and by greater than 11-to-1 in Wyoming. To put in context the gains that are possible from pre-K investment, Lynch noted: “Analysts point to stock market, with its average annual gains of about 6 percent between 1871 and 1998, as the model of a sound investment. Yet with returns that have been measured at 16 percent or more annually, good pre-K programs far outperform the stock market.” To see executive summary: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/book_enriching#exec State-by-state costs and benefits of a targeted pre-K program for at-risk children: State-by-state costs and benefits of a universal pre-K program for all children: http://www.epi.org/books/enriching/mediakit/lynchtable9.pdf Child and Adolescent Development Research and Teacher Education A report recently released by the National Association for the Accreditation of Teacher Education comes to the following conclusions:
To see the full report: http://www.ncate.org/documents/research/ChildAdolDevTeacherEd.pdf School Readiness Study Shows Progress The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has released the “Minnesota School Readiness Study,” which tracks kindergarten readiness in physical development, the arts, personal and social development, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking. The study, which involved 48 elementary schools, divides proficiency into three levels – not yet, in process and proficient. Findings from the study show a moderate increase in the percentage of children rated as “proficient” in all categories compared to previous years of the study. For example, between year one and year four in mathematical thinking, there was a ten percent increase in proficiency. However, there has been little movement across all years in the percentage of children rated, on average, as “not yet.” Beginning in 2002, MDE initiated a series of three yearly studies focused on obtaining a picture of the school readiness of Minnesota kindergartners as they enter school in the fall. The studies were well-received by the public, and during the 2006 legislative session, Governor Pawlenty proposed, and the legislature appropriated, funding for the study to continue on an annual basis. The most recent report summarizes study findings from previous representative studies and presents findings from the assessment of school readiness of a random sample of children entering kindergarten in fall 2006. The study brief of the report can be found at: http://www.education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/EarlyLearning/documents/Report/031300.pdfA Report from the Center on Educational Governance University of Southern California Like other public schools, California charter schools are judged primarily by one measure: student test scores. Though necessary, the Academic Performance Index and Average Yearly Progress scores
can’t assess charter schools’ broad dimensions of student learning, program effectiveness
and school operations. The state’s accountability system requires that all public
schools submit mountains of data, but it’s not reported in a way that’s useful for the
schools to evaluate themselves. And charter schools rely on this data to sustain their The first report of its kind, Charter Schools Indicators-USC transforms data submitted to the state for compliance purposes into a tool for school improvement and accountability. USC’s Center on Educational Governance built CSI-USC in partnership with the charter school community: state policymakers, charter school authorizers, charter school operators and professional organizations of charter schools. Performance measures are organized into four areas: financial resources and investment, school quality, student performance and academic productivity. The report also updates the profile of the California charter school population. To read the report: http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/cegov/CSI_USC.pdf To see a related article: http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me- 40 Percent of 3-month-old Infants Are Regularly Watching TV, DVDs or Videos A large number of parents are ignoring warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics and are allowing their very young children to watch television, DVDs or videos so that by 3 months of age 40 percent of infants are regular viewers. That number jumps to 90 percent of 2-year-olds, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute. The findings are being published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The study is the first to look at the trajectory of media viewing in the first two years of life and to explore the content of what is being watched. The research also explores parents’ reasons for permitting it. “Exposure to TV takes time away from more developmentally appropriate activities such as a parent or adult caregiver and an infant engaging in free play with dolls, blocks or cars,” said Frederick Zimmerman, lead author of the study and a UW associate professor of health services. “While appropriate television viewing at the right age can be helpful for both children and parents, excessive viewing before age 3 has been shown to be associated with problems of attention control, aggressive behavior and poor cognitive development. Early television viewing has exploded in recent years, and is one of the major public health issues facing American children.” Co-authors of the study are Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrics researcher at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute and a UW associate professor of medicine, and Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. “This study is important because it teaches us about the media diet of infants who are too young to speak for themselves. Most parents seek what’s best for their child, and we discovered that many parents believe that they are providing educational and brain development opportunities by exposing their babies to 10 to 20 hours of viewing per week,” said Meltzoff, a developmental psychologist who is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki endowed chair in psychology at the UW. “We need more research on both the positive and negative effects of a steady diet of baby TV and DVD viewing. But parents should feel confident that high-quality social interaction with babies, including reading and talking with them, provides all the stimulation that the growing brain needs. It’s not as though TV or a DVD provides an extra vitamin of some kind in the first two years of life, where we concentrated our research in this study. This area is one in which science, health and public policy all meet. We need to get our facts right so we can productively advise parents who so desperately want to do the right thing.” The researchers conducted random telephone surveys of more than 1,000 families in Minnesota and Washington with a child born in the previous two years, and found the median age at which infants were regularly exposed to media was 9 months. Among those who watched TV, DVDs or videos, the average daily viewing time jumped from one hour per day for those children younger than 12 months to more than 1½ hours a day by 24 months. The three most important and common reasons cited by parents for allowing their children to watch TV, DVDs or videos were:
Even though educational content was the top reason given by parents, only about half the infant viewing time was reported to be in what researchers classified as a children’s educational category. This included educational TV programs such as “Sesame Street” and “Arthur” and DVDs or videos such as “Blue’s Clues.” The remaining viewing time was roughly split among children’s non-educational programs, baby DVDs or videos and grown-up television. Although parents believe in the educational value of TV, DVDs and videos, just 32 percent of parents always watched with their children. Parents also had an inflated idea of how much of these media other children were watching and believed that their children viewed less than the average amount. The study indicated that the perceived average viewing for other families is 73 percent higher than the actual average. “At the end of the day the amount of TV viewing is based on what parents think is normal,” said Zimmerman. “Perceptions of norms tend to shape behavior even if those norms are inflated.”New Substance Use Prevention Program being Developed, Tested in Middle Schools Based on decades of research and success in helping to change smoking and other high-risk behaviors of teenagers and adults, the University of Rhode Island's Cancer Prevention Research Center will now bring tailored programs to younger children to prevent these behaviors from even getting started. The University received a $3.5 million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to support its innovative research for the prevention of substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors. Led by URI Psychology Professor Wayne Velicer, one of the developers of the Transtheoretical (stages of change) Model, the research will for the first time focus on prevention of health-risk behaviors among children in grades 6-8. Based on these sobering facts, Velicer and his team have built a new program focusing on substance use prevention with younger participants. The research will use computer-based expert systems to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies that will reinforce children's healthy behaviors and evaluate the processes that may influence children to adopt certain high-risk behaviors. "I'm very excited about developing new ways to prevent these unhealthy behaviors from starting," said Velicer, who co-directs the Cancer Prevention Research Center with Psychology Professor James Prochaska. "These programs represent a very new approach. We are employing the latest in computer information technology combined with the knowledge that we have been able to gain from fifteen years of research. We have been able to follow two large samples of adolescents who were substance use-free for three years to see what might predict increased risk behaviors. The new program will help prevent and reduce major long-term and immediate risk behaviors among these pre-teens when they become teenagers." "We are very proud of these efforts to prevent unhealthy behaviors from starting in a whole new generation," said URI President Robert L. Carothers. "This is a new program that will take place in Rhode Island's middle schools, and it is one more example of the way in which the work of the University is changing the lives of thousands in this state and beyond." Nicknamed Project BEST (Behavior Expert System Trial), this will be the first interactive study focused on prevention that will involve early adolescents. The University has received letters of support for the project from 20 Rhode Island middle schools and is now meeting with schools to arrange for their participation in September. One of the unique features of these interventions is that they are tailored to each student. They are also fully interactive, making them very engaging for the students. If the expert system intervention results in the predicted outcomes, it will be an important breakthrough for school-based multiple risk factor studies and practical interventions. Project BEST will involve children in two treatment groups. Researchers from the University will bring laptop computers with the health-focused multimedia interventions to the classrooms. As each student uses the program, it becomes tailored to his or her own individual level of risk behavior. The programs seek to prevent tobacco and alcohol use and promote healthy eating habits and physical exercise. Use of the expert system provides one-on-one contact and feedback with students that may supplement classroom-wide discussions by teachers. Participation in the study will also help schools meet the National Standards in Health Education for Grades 6-8. The computers will remember each student’s responses and can use that information to provide individual feedback on progress in future interactions. "School-based smoking prevention programs are typically identical for all students. We've found that tailoring prevention materials to focus on individual needs with an emphasis on students at highest risk is a promising alternative," said Velicer of Peace Dale, who has pioneered the application of computer-based intervention to health promotion and disease prevention. "Instead of inundating kids with anti-smoking or drinking lectures and films, our expert system will reach out to students individually and based on their profile provide information to help prevent them from adopting high-risk behaviors." "This highly competitive research award is a strong vote of confidence by the federal government in the behavior change-related work underway here. It is a classic example of the public benefits directly realized from the research and outreach of a State's robust research university," said Peter Alfonso, vice provost for research, graduate studies and outreach. In previous studies conducted by the URI Cancer Prevention Research Center, computer-based technology for health behavior research has been demonstrated to be effective with high school students. The expert system approach provides an opportunity for users to receive individually tailored, stage-based information to track and help prevent high-risk health behaviors. The use of computer-based expert systems recognize that health behaviors vary -widely by individuals and demonstrates to users that a 'one size fits all' approach doesn't always work for health. According to national studies, school-based prevention programs generally have had limited success. Velicer said that most of the approaches taken lack individualized attention. The University's high school programs used an innovative, interactive computer program as the primary means of intervention with the students. At a laptop computer during a typical 40-minute health education classroom session, students answer numerous health questions regarding smoking habits and receive immediate on-screen feedback based on their individual needs and behaviors. The interventions are fully multimedia with print, sound, pictures, figures, and brief movies, all designed to engage the students. The other principal investigators on the grant include Prochaska, intervention development expert Colleen A. Redding and research & development Director Kathryn Meier all of Wakefield and Robert Laforge of East Greenwich. The University's earlier high school-based research projects included a $10 million National Cancer Institute-funded "Health Information Highway" study from 1995-1999 that involved nearly 5,000 students from 22 schools and focused on tobacco use, skin protection from the sun, and nutrition. Results from this study showed that students in the schools receiving interventions progressed toward healthier choices. The "Keys to Change" project (2001-2005) involved 13 schools with about 3,450 students focused on tobacco and alcohol use, skin protection, nutrition, and exercise and stress management. Results from this study are currently being analyzed. Are the kids we teach prepared for life and work? The April issue of Educational Leadership ponders what students need as they prepare to graduate from high school and from college. Vivien Stewart describes what students will need to know about their world—from world geography to multiple languages. David T. Conley addresses college readiness, and Paul T. Barton and Gary Hoachlander explore new vistas in vocational studies. Mel Levine offers his recommendations for the life-readiness skills each student needs in his or her "essential cognitive backpack." All the authors reflect on how schools must change to better prepare tomorrow's adult. To access the April issue: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.2a4fb56d79bd30a98d7ea23161a001ca/ To see the May issue, which focuses on Educating the Whole Child: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.c00a836e7622024fb85516f762108a0c/ Children Across Cultures See Same and Different Natural World A Tzotzil Maya infant from a remote village in the Guatemala Highlands and a North American infant from Chicago have vastly different cultural experiences and know words that the other can't fathom. Yet children such as these from diverse cultures around the world share strikingly similar aspects of conceptual and language development related to notions about the natural world, according to Northwestern University research. Children, by four or five, whether they grow up in the heart of a U.S. city or in a far-off rural area of the world show strong universal patterns in the most fundamental notions about the natural world, said Sandra Waxman, professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. Waxman, recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as a 2007-08 James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship, is writing a book that will synthesize findings from an interdisciplinary research project on notions about the natural world. She is directing the project with Douglas Medin, professor of psychology at Northwestern. “Our research shows that children come into the world ready to form concepts such as 'living thing,' 'animal,' 'plant' and 'human,'” Waxman said. “Within their first years, children from across the world's communities will spontaneously form concepts about the objects and events they encounter and will use these concepts as a foundation upon which they add knowledge about the world around them.” The research also offers striking examples of how children's basic concepts and organization of knowledge are affected by their cultural environments. One of the major focuses of Waxman's research is how infants' strong cognitive capacities are fine-tuned by language and culture. The Maya and, by six or seven, the Indonesian-speaking children understand that plants and animals are “alive.” But the English-speaking children, whether raised in rural Wisconsin, urban Chicago or suburban Evanston (a relatively well educated community), have difficulty understanding that plants, like animals, are “alive.” The research finds that roughly 50 percent of the nine- and 10-year-old English-speaking children studied agree that plants are “alive,” according to Waxman. “Basically majority culture children in the United States learn, directly or indirectly, that they are the pinnacle of the natural world whereas the Maya and Indonesian children learn that they merely are a part of the natural world,” said Waxman. “The cultural differences are significant, and they help explain why English-speaking children have such difficulty understanding that plants, too, should be seen as living.” Waxman found that children in each of the populations appreciate the overarching and rather abstract core concept of living things, but the scope of the concept is “tuned up” by their linguistic and cultural communities. “Ultimately our beliefs about the natural world and the relations among plants, humans and non-humans serve as the bedrock upon which we base our actions,” said Waxman. “And no doubt young children's concepts bear the imprint of community-wide discourse and belief systems.” The extensive research program directed by Waxman and Medin includes psychologists, linguists and anthropologists who are studying young children and adults from a range of language and cultural communities, including urban and rural U.S. English speakers from majority culture and Native American populations. The researchers also are comparing how majority culture and Native American populations perceive humans in the universe of living things. Extensive research in developmental psychology suggests that children's early conceptions of the natural world are strongly anthropocentric. But this proclivity toward anthropocentrism is not universal. In the United States, children's books, movies and songs often feature anthropocentric images of non-human animals, such as Richard Scarry's multitude of creatures with human characteristics and the much beloved “Bambi.” In contrast, Native American communities see humans as intricate participants in the living world. Anthropocentrism is less prevalent in parent-child discourse. The research suggests that anthropocentrism of young urban children not only is a byproduct of their more limited exposure to the natural world, but also is a result of what is passed on by adults in their community. Waxman's interest in how innate capacities are fine-tuned by the environment is at the center of her research on early language and conceptual development in infants and toddlers at Northwestern University's Project on Child Development as well as on her cross-cultural research on notions of the natural world. “My work largely is devoted to infants and young children from diverse cultures, because they are the only ones who can answer questions concerning the origin and evolution of knowledge,” Waxman said. “In my view, these are the most exciting questions in cognitive science today.”American Education Research Association Report Provides Guidance for Establishing Causality The American Education Research Association (AERA) has released its latest publication directed to advancing education research and scholarship of the highest quality in this field. Its publication comes as education research faces new challenges and opportunities due to legislation calling for scientifically based research and as new research methods and datasets emerge. The report, Estimating Causal Effects Using Experimental and Observational Designs, is the product of a think tank of the AERA Grants Program led by authors Barbara Schneider and William Schmidt, both of Michigan State University. Coauthors are Martin Carnoy and Richard Shavelson, both of Stanford University, and Jeremy Kilpatrick of the University of Georgia. The new report is designed to help researchers, policymakers and funders understand the capacities and limits of examining the causes of educational outcomes with large-scale databases. It is intended to help researchers consider a range of methods designed to establish causality, from experimental to non-experimental designs. For example, the ordinary question “Did A cause B” takes on great significance when applied to education intervention programs. Can small class size, or highly qualified teachers, be shown to have caused increased or decreased learning? With what degree of confidence? “This report is especially timely as the education research community strives to increase researchers’ capacity to study education problems scientifically and to eliminate fragmented and often unreliable findings,” states William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, chair of the Governing Board of the AERA Grants Program. Professor Schmidt emphasizes that the report will help address the many questions that researchers and policymakers are confronting about the logic of causality and appropriate research methods for establishing causality. He acknowledges that the report is, in part, a response to recent federal initiatives designed to promote the accumulation of scientific evidence in education that rely on randomized controlled trials, which apply rigorous, systematic, and objective methods to obtain reliable and valid knowledge. As part of the AERA Report, Barbara L. Schneider of Michigan State University, an AERA Grants Board member and the report’s senior author, points out that the report is not intended to be a “how to” manual for designing research studies or analyzing experimental or observational data. However, it is intended to help researchers, educators, and policymakers understand causal estimation by describing the logic of causal inference and reviewing designs and methods that allow researchers to draw causal inferences about the effectiveness of educational interventions. The report specifically:
The authors have provided decision rules specific to the evaluation of studies based on large-scale, nationally representative datasets. In their report, they conclude that “existing large-scale datasets remain a rich resource for descriptive statistics on nationally representative samples and of students and subgroups….However, these datasets have been underutilized for purposes of study replication. Properly analyzed, they present cost-effective alternatives for addressing causal questions about the effectiveness of educational interventions.” The AERA volume was released recently during AERA’s 88th Annual Meeting at an Association-wide session, “How Large-Scale Data Sets Can Address Causal Questions in Education—Guidance from a New AERA Report.” At the Annual Meeting, more than 15,700 education researchers from 68 countries attended this Chicago meeting.: Established 16 years ago, the AERA Grants Board enhances capacity for conducting quantitative analyses of national and international datasets that have implications for education policy, with a special emphasis on science and mathematics. Through grants from the National Center for Education Statistics, a component of the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation, the AERA Grants Board funds pre- and postdoctoral fellows, as well as researchers who pursue questions on the effects of instruction and curricula, organizational practices and policies, and teacher development on student learning, achievement, and educational attainment. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, the AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. AERA is dedicated to strengthening education research capacity by promoting research of the highest quality, undertaking education and training programs, and advancing sound research and science policy.Slightly Early Birth May Still Spell Trouble at School, Say Packard Children’s Researchers Babies born moderately early — eight to four weeks premature — are more likely than their full-term peers to struggle in kindergarten and grade school, say researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. The results, from a study of a national database of young children, fly in the face of conventional wisdom that holds these “late preterm infants” are unlikely to suffer long-term effects from their early births. The findings also highlight the importance of regular developmental screening for this group to identify problems early. “These kids appear to require more support in school,” said pediatric developmental specialist Trenna Sutcliffe, MD. “They are about twice as likely at all grade levels studied to require special education or individual education programs, and teachers often indicate that their skills in math and reading are below average.” More than 80 percent of the 500,000 preterm infants born annually in the United States are born within this window of 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Despite the findings, parents shouldn’t panic. Although late premature infants, or LPIs, scored significantly lower on standardized math and reading tests in kindergarten and first grade than children who were born full term, these differences were no longer detectable by fifth grade even though teachers still identified the LPIs as struggling. Although it’s not clear why, it’s possible that the discrepancy may be a testimony both to the children’s hard work and timely school or medical interventions that allow them to increase their test scores. “The majority of children who were late preterm infants do very well,” said Chyi, who was turned on to the research after fielding inquiries from alert teachers. “Most of them are not going to have an issue with school. Our hope is that an awareness of this increased risk will encourage those parents and teachers who do notice a child struggling to intervene early,” she said. Appropriate intervention could range from a specialized education program at school to something as simple as the parent working more with their child at home, depending on the degree of problem and the age of the child, said Chyi. The researchers used a national database called the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort to evaluate nearly 1,000 LPIs from kindergarten to fifth grade for the study. They compared their reading and math test scores, teacher evaluations and rates of special education enrollment to more than 13,000 children born full term. “This late preterm group has received very little research attention in the past,” said Sutcliffe, pointing out that most developmental research has instead focused on more severely premature infants. “Physically speaking they’re usually not terribly bad off at birth, and they may even be discharged very quickly.” But recent studies have indicated that LPIs are slightly more likely than full-term infants to be jaundiced and to have low blood sugar — medical blips that pale in the face of the much more severe problems seen in very premature infants. The LPIs are also more likely to be re-hospitalized after discharge. Sutcliffe and others are now wondering if these subtle complications are responsible for the newfound school difficulties. “Maybe these conditions carry long-term risk for brain development that we’ve not previously identified,” said Sutcliffe. “Right now, small increases in bilirubin or decreases in blood sugar don’t attract a lot of attention in this group of infants. Maybe we need to rethink how we manage these conditions.” Overall, though, it’s important to keep the study findings in perspective, according to Sutcliffe. “We don’t want to alarm parents,” she said. “If you have a trusted pediatrician who follows the developmental screening guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics, it should be possible to identify and intervene early if potential problems arise.” Supplemental Education Services under NCLB: Emerging Evidence and Policy Issues This policy brief analyzes evidence relating to the implementation and effects of the supplemental education services (SES) provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The SES provision requires school districts to pay the cost of third-party, after-school tutoring services for eligible students. The data and analyses presented here highlight limitations in the current law and implementation of SES: low participation rates; limited services available for English Language Learners and special education students; and, state and district capacity to implement the law and monitor program quality. Even with improvement in such areas, however, it is unclear how SES might affect academic achievement, because existing research leaves many questions unanswered. Similarly, existing research offers little information about specific conditions that support positive outcomes. To make well-informed decisions in the future, policy makers will require additional empirical evidence. To see full report: http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/epru_2007_Research_Writing.htm Southern States Show Long-Term Gains on SAT and ACT; More Progress Needed College admission test scores in Southern Regional Education Board. (SREB) states generally have improved over the past decade, but average scores in many states still have not reached national averages and gaps persists among average scores for various groups of students, concludes a new Southern Regional Education Board report. Improving ACT and SAT Scores: Making Progress, Facing Challenges, released by SREB, analyzes 10 years of test-score data and trends in across the region. “Students throughout the region are raising average ACT and SAT scores over time. It is good news that more students are taking the exams and preparing for college. Still, many states have a way to go to meet the national averages. We must help traditionally undereducated groups of students raise their scores in substantially higher numbers than ever before,” said SREB President Dave Spence. Virginia is the only SREB state with an average 2006 score that topped the national average on its dominant test, the SAT. (For the SAT, the report looked at changes in reading and math scores only. A writing section that was added to the SAT in 2006 is too recent to indicate a trend.) Eight other SREB states narrowed gaps in 2006 between average scores and the national averages. Six ACT-dominant states — Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia, and four SAT-dominant states — Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia — kept pace or gained ground on the national average for their dominant test from 1997 to 2006. Two ACT-dominant states — Alabama and Mississippi — and one SAT-dominant state, Florida, increased the percentage of high school seniors tested by at least 10 percentage points from 1997 to 2006. All major racial/ethnic groups of students — black, Hispanic and white students — improved their average composite scores on the dominant test in seven SREB states from 1997 to 2006: Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. White students improved their average scores in every SREB state except Florida and Oklahoma. Average scores declined for both black and Hispanic students in four SREB states: Delaware, Florida, Maryland and Oklahoma. Significantly more black and Hispanic students took the ACT and SAT in SREB states in 2006 than in 1997, the report shows. Eight states doubled the number of Hispanic students taking college admission tests during that span. Thirteen states had increases of 20 percent or more in the number of black students tested. Seven states had increases of 20 percent or more in the number of white students tested. Gains in average ACT and SAT scores for black and Hispanic students did not keep pace with the gains for white students in most SREB states from 1997 to 2006. The report urges SREB states to improve efforts to help all students take the rigorous high school courses they need to ensure higher SAT and ACT scores and to prepare for college and the workplace. States also should step up efforts to support students who seek access to college, especially from groups who historically have had limited access. The report also asserts that SREB states need to develop reading, writing and mathematics standards that signal what it means for students to be well-prepared for college and careers. States should embed such standards into high school curricula and adjust high school tests to measure students’ progress on meeting the standards. States should provide classroom teachers with extensive training on the higher standards and find ways to help struggling students meet the standards. This process could reduce the need for remedial courses in college, improve high school and college graduation rates, and raise the educational levels of people throughout the region. To see report: http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/07E02_ACT_and_SAT_Test_Scores.pdf Study Concludes Istation’s Online Assessment of Reading Skills as Valid as DIBELS Automated Assessment Praised for Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness A study has concluded that Istation Indicators of Progress (ISIP™) is as valid an indicator of kindergarten through third grade reading skills as Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS®). The study, completed in April of 2007 by the Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) Institute for Reading Research under the direction of Patricia G. Mathes, Ph.D., further concluded that ISIP was more predictive of third grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skill’s (TAKS) reading results than DIBELS oral reading fluency. The study was conducted in four elementary schools in a mid-sized, southwestern suburban and urban school district in the Dallas Metropolitan area of Texas. District personnel identified these schools as having highly diverse, multicultural and multi-ethnic student populations that were representative of the United States population as a whole. Each school identified 20 students from their kindergarten through third grade classes to participate in the study. Principals at the schools expressed eagerness to participate in the ISIP study because DIBELS takes so much time from student instruction. The study concluded that:
The examiners who conducted the field testing at the four elementary schools in February and March repeatedly commented on how easy it was to use the automated ISIP assessment. Unlike DIBELS, which is teacher administered and requires about 20 minutes per student, ISIP took only 20 minutes to screen an entire class. Adding to ISIP’s ease of use, the examiners did not have to enter, review, correct information or wait for results to be processed. ISIP data was available online as each subtest was completed. Mr. Grayson continued, “Until now, districts have been faced with the high cost of teacher-administered assessments that can be frustrating to teachers and take valuable instruction time. We developed ISIP to ease the burden of administration on teachers while providing instant access to data to evaluate student progress and the effectiveness of instruction. In addition, students enjoy ISIP activities, and testing anxiety is virtually eliminated.” ISIP provides data on skills that have been shown through research to be predictive of student success at learning to read. That data is used to provide reports that track progress and categorize students as being At Risk, Some Risk or On Track. ISIP also automatically links continuous progress monitoring results to individualized instruction through links to teacher-directed lessons provided on the istation Priority Report. The performance data is analyzed; students at risk of reading failure are grouped by skill needs; links are provided to lessons addressing skill needs; and a history of interventions is tracked. Mr. Grayson added, “Our mission is to use computers and the Internet to transform education. With ISIP, we have taken another step in that direction. Taken together, The Imagination Station and ISIP automate administration, scoring and reporting of DIBELS-equivalent benchmarks and continuous progress monitoring. The resulting real-time data is used to individualize instruction in The Imagination Station and provide district, school, class and student reports that categorize risk and show skill growth. Data is made actionable in the classroom through links to teacher-directed lessons for use in individual interventions and small group instruction. By using data from research-validated, online assessments to differentiate instruction on the computer and in the classroom, teachers can ensure all students learn to read to the best of their ability.” For details, read the full study at www.istation.com/en/corpsite/research/pdfs/isipcv.pdf. Download images related to the release at www.istation.com/en/corpsite/company/galleryISIP.asp. About ISIP ISIP, the first online automated benchmark and continuous progress monitoring assessment of early reading skills, benchmarks students four times a year, monitors their progress every four weeks between benchmarks, provides on demand assessments and provides results in the form of data files, graphs and reports instantly. Customers have the ability to adjust ISIP’s assessment calendar and specify which dates the benchmark and CPM assessments are run. Subscribers of The Imagination Station receive ISIP built into the program, with ISIP-specific teacher resources and a teacher manual covering both programs at no additional cost. With ISIP standalone subscriptions, school districts not only receive the teacher resources and a manual, but also istation’s Priority Report that analyzes data, pinpoints specific areas of need, groups students by need, recommends teacher resources for use in intervention and documents a history of intervention. About istation istation is an educational software developer and publisher of ISIP and The Imagination Station, an Internet-based interactive reading instruction and intervention program that teaches students to read fluently with comprehension. Developed using scientifically based reading research, The Imagination Station systematically teaches students to learn developmentally appropriate skills in the five essential reading areas. Aligned to national standards, The Imagination Station is the only reading program that provides data-driven individualized instruction, delivers continuous progress monitoring and easy-to-use reports, cumulatively assesses student performance, recommends teacher-directed lessons, analyzes data to pinpoint specific areas of need and documents a history of intervention. To learn more about istation, ISIP and The Imagination Station, visit www.istation.com.Teacher Appreciation: Survey Finds It’s Not the Gift that Counts, It’s the Thanks and Effort In spite of modest salaries, crowded classrooms, anxiety about meeting standardized testing goals and lack of resources; teachers say that all they need to feel appreciated is a thank-you and effort on the part of students and their parents, according to a recent survey. The survey was conducted by Learning Resources, a manufacturer of hands-on educational products for the classroom and home, in recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-11. For the past 15 years, the first full week in May has been designated Teacher Appreciation Week, with that Tuesday, this year May 8, being National Teacher Appreciation Day. The purpose of the week is to set aside time to show teachers that they are appreciated. As far as feeling appreciated, the majority of the teachers surveyed said that it was important to them, but most said they don’t always feel appreciated. Doing good class work and a simple thank-you were the top picks of the surveyed teachers for how students can show their appreciation. Teachers selected being involved in their child’s education and a simple thank-you as the two best ways for parents to show their appreciation. As one California educator stated, “I do not need gifts. It is the thank-you, or a comment like, ‘I learned a lot in your class’ that is the best reward. It is knowing that my efforts are appreciated and effective.” In addition to students and parents, the majority of the teachers surveyed would like their bosses — school principals and administrators — to show their appreciation with praise and acknowledgement. A salary increase was selected by a small minority of the respondents. ASCD Examines Key Elements of High School Reform This spring the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is heading to high school. The recently released issue of Infobrief—The Building Blocks of High School Redesign—tackles the ways we can redesign high schools to improve the graduation rate in the United States and better prepare graduates for college and the workplace through personalized learning programs, multiple assessments, and sustained professional development initiatives for teachers. Infobrief is a quarterly policy publication that provides concise information on current education issues. Additional insights from leading experts on redesigning high schools to meet the needs of 21st century learners can be found in the April 2007 issue of ASCD's flagship journal Educational Leadership. In this issue entitled "The Prepared Graduate," diverse authors explore how our schools must change to develop the minds our students' new world will demand. For example, the Asia Society's Vivien Stewart discusses what will be important for young people to know about their world, while Mel Levine, at the University of North Carolina Medical School, is concerned with making sure that students are prepared for the real world, whether college or work. The skills that Levine recommends range from knowing how to interpret complex texts and situations to knowing how to organize one's thinking, time, and space. To see the full report: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd?ascdnavitem=/Infobrief/Archived%20Issues&journal Activating the Desire to Learn BOB SULLO Wouldn't your job be easier if students were just more interested in learning? Now, here's a book that will open your eyes to where the desire to learn actually comes from and what teachers can really do to activate it. Using stories from classroom teachers, counselors, administrators, and students, Bob Sullo explains why the desire to learn is based on five personal needs. Find out why schools that base programs and practices on meeting these personal needs have fewer disruptions and more students who are improving academically. And explore the principles and guidelines you need to know to change the dynamics of learning in your classroom or school:
To read sample chapters: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.book/menuitem.b71d101a2f7c208cdeb3ffdb62108a Testing the Whole Teacher Approach to Professional Development: A Study of Enhancing Early Childhood Teachers’ Technology Proficiency The contribution of early education to children's well-being and school success is widely recognized. Effective teachers are the most critical factor in the quality of a child's education. The key to sustaining teacher effectiveness and supporting continuous growth is high-quality professional development. Despite its critical importance, professional development for early childhood teachers is inconsistent and fragmented. The field of early education lacks a common conceptual framework to organize and integrate teacher development experiences. In this paper, the whole teacher development approach is proposed as an organizing framework. The approach is distinguished by its simultaneous focus on teacher attitudes, skills and knowledge, and practices. Also distinctive is its application of an integrated developmental framework that promotes teacher proficiency in a wide range of specific domains. To test the approach, a study of teachers' technology proficiency was carried out. The study analyzed relationships among teacher attitudes, skills, and practices, using data collected from teachers in the process of developing computer proficiency. Among teachers who participated in a technology program based on the whole teacher development approach, significant degrees of association among attitudes, skills, and practices were found. To see full report: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v8n1/chen.html New Research Reveals Risky Internet Behavior Among Teens New research by Cox Communications Inc., in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and TV host and children’s advocate John Walsh reveals that more parents and guardians are talking to their children about the potential dangers of the Internet. Still, many teens remain unconcerned about the risks of sharing personal info online and nearly two-thirds post photos or videos of themselves. The findings are from the third annual survey Cox and NCMEC have fielded to help parents and guardians understand the potential dangers of the Internet. The 2007 survey was nearly identical to the questions asked in 2006, revealing compelling year-over-year trends about teen Internet use. Key findings: Teens are increasingly active online and at potential risk of falling prey to online predators.
Parents and guardians are becoming more involved in monitoring their teens’ Internet use and talking to them about online safety.
Many teens are unconcerned about the dangers of sharing personal info online.
Teens are showing some signs of making safer, smarter choices online.
The national teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted,” will discuss the research and implications for families live in local broadcast television and radio interviews today. He also will be available via Web cast 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EDT today to answer viewers’ questions about Internet safety and discuss the teen survey in greater detail. To view the Web cast, go to http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=39334. As a continuation of the research findings, Cox will partner with NCMEC, Walsh and Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson on the second annual Cox Communications National Teen Summit on Internet Safety June 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Teen participants will discuss Internet safety and ways parents, guardians and teen mentors can help children and young adults be safer online, and will deliver the messages directly to Capitol Hill in meetings with members of Congress. The Summit will air on Cox Cable channels nationwide in late summer. Search for Building Literacy in Social Studies: Strategies for Improving Comprehension and Critical Thinking It's tough to teach social studies and history to students who have trouble reading and understanding textbooks and other resources. But you can overcome those obstacles and motivate students to excel in social studies classes by using the concepts and research-based techniques in this guide. Renowned reading expert Donna Ogle teams up with two experienced educators to equip you with can't-miss ideas and advice, including
All strategies feature step-by-step instructions for modeling and teaching the strategy. Graphic organizers are included to help teachers learn the strategies in teacher study teams and teach them to students in the classroom. Plus, the authors explain how to organize learning environments and student groups to reinforce literacy instruction and knowledge of democratic principles. Read parts of the book:
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