ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Role of Out-of-School Factors in the Literacy Problem
Author: Waldfogel, Jane
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Immigrants,Reading Skills,Peer Groups,Emergent Literacy,Socioeconomic Status,Literacy,Performance Factors,Hispanic Americans,Children,Nonschool Educational Programs

When U.S. children enter school, their reading skills vary widely by their socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and immigrant status. Because these literacy gaps exist before children enter school, observes Jane Waldfogel, the disparities must arise from conditions outside of schools--from the children's families and communities. And the same out-of-school factors may continue to influence reading skills as children progress through school. Waldfogel examines how specific out-of-school factors may contribute to literacy gaps at school entry and to the widening of the gaps for some groups thereafter. Some factors are important across groups. For instance, differences in parenting help explain black-white literacy gaps as well as gaps associated with socioeconomic status. Other factors differ by group. For instance, key influences on early literacy for immigrant children are the language spoken at home, parental proficiency in English, and whether a child participates in preschool. What happens to early gaps in literacy during the school years also varies by group. Reading gaps for Hispanic children tend to close or stabilize after a few years, perhaps because of such out-of-school factors as strong families, less crime, or better peer group attitudes in Hispanic communities. But black-white gaps and gaps between children from socioeconomically disadvantaged and more advantaged families tend to widen during the school years. An important challenge for future research is to understand why that is the case. Waldfogel concludes that addressing early literacy gaps, and later gaps, requires tailoring policy responses depending on which group is being targeted. But across all groups, one important conclusion holds. Although out-of-school factors contribute--sometimes in major ways--to literacy disparities, says Waldfogel, schools have a responsibility to try to close such gaps. Research on the out-of-school sources of literacy problems can support schools in this effort by helping practitioners and policy makers better understand which children are likely to encounter problems in literacy and why, as well as what schools and others can do to address those problems. (Contains 52 endnotes.)
Improving Reading in the Primary Grades
Author: Duke, Nell K.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Instruction,Teaching Methods,Kindergarten,Reading Difficulties,Educational Change,Reading Comprehension,Best Practices,Vocabulary,Young Children,Reading Skills,Word Recognition,Primary Education,Intervention,Prevention

Almost fifteen years have passed since the publication of the National Research Council's seminal report "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," which provided research-based recommendations on what could be done to better position students in pre-kindergarten through third grade for success in grade four and above. This article by Nell Duke and Meghan Block first examines whether specific key recommendations from the report have been implemented in U.S. classrooms. They find that recommendations regarding increased access to kindergarten and greater attention to and improvement of students' word-reading skills have been widely adopted. Others have not. Vocabulary and comprehension, long neglected in the primary grades, still appear to be neglected. Contrary to the report's recommendations, attention to building conceptual and content knowledge in science and social studies has actually decreased in the past fifteen years. In other words, the easier-to-master skills are being attended to, but the broader domains of accomplishment that constitute preparation for comprehension and learning in the later grades--vocabulary knowledge, comprehension strategy use, and conceptual and content knowledge--are being neglected. Near stagnation in fourth-grade students' comprehension achievement is thus unsurprising. The authors then turn to research and reviews of research on improving primary-grade reading published since 1998, when "Preventing Reading Difficulties" was issued. They discuss several instructional approaches identified as effective in improving word-reading skill, vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, comprehension strategies, and reading outside of school; they discuss advances in interventions for struggling readers, and in whole-school literacy reform. Duke and Block then identify three key obstacles that have prevented widespread adoption of these best practices in teaching reading. The first obstacle is a short-term orientation toward instruction and instructional reform that perpetuates a focus on the easier-to-learn reading skills at the expense of vocabulary, conceptual and content knowledge, and reading comprehension strategies. The second is a lack of expertise among many educators in how to effectively teach these harder-to-master reading skills, and the third is the limited time available in the school day and year to meet unprecedented expectations for children's learning. Policy makers, the education community, and parents must attend to these three challenges if they wish to see meaningful improvements in the reading skills of American children. (Contains 1 table and 61 endnotes.)
Reading and Reading Instruction for Children from Low-Income and Non-English-Speaking Households
Author: Lesaux, Nonie K.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Instruction,Teaching Methods,Secondary School Students,Middle School Students,Elementary School Students,Family (Sociological Unit),Reading Difficulties,Reading Comprehension,Low Income Groups,Reading Skills,Reading,Non English Speaking,Literacy,Literacy Education

Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the &quot;skills-based competencies&quot; that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the &quot;knowledge-based competencies&quot; that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for teaching the conceptual and knowledge-based reading competencies that are critical for academic success, particularly for academically vulnerable populations. (Contains 50 endnotes.)
Adolescent Literacy: Learning and Understanding Content
Author: Goldman, Susan R.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literacy,Teaching Methods,Reading Comprehension,Content Area Reading,Discussion,Adolescents,Reading Skills,Reading Instruction,Adolescent Literature,Reading,Reading Achievement,Cues

Learning to read--amazing as it is to small children and their parents--is one thing. Reading to learn, explains Susan Goldman of the University of Illinois at Chicago, is quite another. Are today's students able to use reading and writing to acquire knowledge, solve problems, and make decisions in academic, personal, and professional arenas? Do they have the literacy skills necessary to meet the demands of the twenty-first century? To answer these questions, Goldman describes the increasingly complex comprehension, reasoning skills, and knowledge that students need as they progress through school and surveys what researchers and educators know about how to teach those skills. Successfully reading to learn requires the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information from multiple sources, Goldman writes. Effective readers must be able to apply different knowledge, reading, and reasoning processes to different types of content, from fiction to history and science, to news accounts and user manuals. They must assess sources of information for relevance, reliability, impartiality, and completeness. And they must connect information across multiple sources. In short, successful readers must not only use general reading skills but also pay close attention to discipline-specific processes. Goldman reviews the evidence on three different instructional approaches to reading to learn: general comprehension strategies, classroom discussion, and disciplinary content instruction. She argues that building the literacy skills necessary for U.S. students to read comprehensively and critically and to learn content in a variety of disciplines should be a primary responsibility for all of the nation's teachers. But outside of English, few subject-area teachers are aware of the need to teach subject-area reading comprehension skills, nor have they had opportunities to learn them themselves. Building the capacity of all teachers to meet the literacy needs of today's students requires long-term investment and commitment from the education community as well as society as a whole. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 98 endnotes.)
The Importance of Infrastructure Development to High-Quality Literacy Instruction
Author: Cohen, David K.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,State Standards,Governance,Literacy,Educational Change,Standard Setting,Literacy Education,Accountability,Core Curriculum,Alignment (Education),Educational Improvement

Although the education community has identified numerous effective interventions for improving the literacy of U.S. schoolchildren, little headway has been made in raising literacy capabilities. David K. Cohen and Monica P. Bhatt, of the University of Michigan, contend that a major obstacle is the organizational structure of the U.S. education system. Three features in particular--the lack of educational infrastructure, a decentralized governance system, and the organization of teaching as an occupation--stymie efforts to improve literacy instruction. The authors emphasize that the education system in the United States has always been a patchwork of local school systems that share no common curricula, student examinations, teacher education, or means of observing and improving instruction. Although localities have broad powers over education, few have built the capability to judge or support quality in educational programs. The quality criteria that have developed chiefly concern teachers, not teaching. The decentralization and weak governance of U.S. schooling also deprives teachers of opportunities to build the occupational knowledge and skill that can inform standards for the quality of work, in this case instruction. And, unlike practitioners in other professions teachers have little opportunity to try to strengthen teaching quality by setting standards for entry to the occupation. Cohen and Bhatt review six types of organizational reforms undertaken over the past several decades to improve literacy and other academic outcomes for U.S. students. After briefly describing accountability, comprehensive school reforms, knowledge diffusion, improvement of human capital, and market-based reforms, the authors turn to the Common Core State Standards, an effort initiated by state governors and school leaders to raise student achievement. The authors conclude that the fundamental question about the Common Core, as with the other reforms they discuss, is whether educators and policy makers can mobilize the capability to help states and localities invent, adapt, and implement reliable ways to improve instruction. (Contains 41 endnotes.)
Technology Tools to Support Reading in the Digital Age
Author: Biancarosa, Gina
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Access to Education,Computers,Educational Technology,Evidence,Literacy Education,Literacy,Learning Theories,Reading,Technological Advancement,Technology Uses in Education,Adults

Advances in digital technologies are dramatically altering the texts and tools available to teachers and students. These technological advances have created excitement among many for their potential to be used as instructional tools for literacy education. Yet with the promise of these advances come issues that can exacerbate the literacy challenges identified in the other articles in this issue. In this article Gina Biancarosa and Gina Griffiths characterize how literacy demands have changed in the digital age and how challenges identified in other articles in the issue intersect with these new demands. Rather than seeing technology as something to be fit into an already crowded education agenda, Biancarosa and Griffiths argue that technology can be conceptualized as affording tools that teachers can deploy in their quest to create young readers who possess the higher levels of literacy skills and background knowledge demanded by today's information-based society. Biancarosa and Griffiths draw on research to highlight some of the ways technology has been used to build the skills and knowledge needed both by children who are learning to read and by those who have progressed to reading to learn. In their review of the research, Biancarosa and Griffiths focus on the hardware and software used to display and interface with digital text, or what they term e-reading technology. Drawing on studies of e-reading technology and computer technology more broadly, they also reflect on the very real, practical challenges to optimal use of e-reading technology. The authors conclude by presenting four recommendations to help schools and school systems meet some of the challenges that come with investing in e-reading technology: use only technologies that support Universal Design for Learning; choose evidence-based tools; provide technology users with systemic supports; and capitalize on the data capacities and volume of information that technology provides. (Contains 1 figure and 77 endnotes.)
Problem-Based Learning in the Educational Psychology Classroom: Bahraini Teacher Candidates' Experience
Author: Razzak, Nina Abdul
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Active Learning,Problem Based Learning,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Educational Change,Course Content,Educational Psychology,Teamwork,Student Reaction,Reflection,Schools of Education,Problem Solving,Creativity,Higher Education,Undergraduate Students,Outcomes of Education,Student Motivation

There was a concern from faculty at Bahrain Teachers' College that undergraduate Bahraini students lack the necessary competencies needed for success in educational contexts that are conducive to active, student-centered learning. It was decided that the students be introduced to a problem-based learning (PBL) strategy in one of their educational psychology courses to encourage more active learning on their part. PBL is a strategy through which students learn course content by analyzing and solving real-life problems related to the course, and in Bahrain it is a strategy that is seldom, if at all, applied in classroom contexts other than those of the medical sciences. In this sense, the current study was somewhat unique and it focused on exploring the effects of, and the students' reactions, to PBL. In it, observation, monitoring of students' performance, and students' personal reflections and group presentations were utilized as the main assessment instruments. Results indicated a high satisfaction rate with PBL, as well as improved learning outcomes in the educational psychology classroom, with the development of competencies that are more in line with what is needed for solid professional teaching practice. The results also suggested interesting implications related to teacher preparatory colleges and educational reform. (Contains 2 tables.)
Comparing Student Perceptions of Textbooks: Does Liking Influence Learning?
Author: Gurung, Regan
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Attitudes,Electronic Mail,Visual Aids,Psychology,Textbooks,Correlation,College Students,College Faculty,Questionnaires,Student Surveys,Tables (Data),Textbook Selection,Literary Styles,Instructional Effectiveness

Faculty perceptions of textbook quality, anecdotal posts to listservs, and published ratings frequently determine textbook choice. Although faculty members intend to have students use the textbooks, few published empirical studies assess student opinions. In two studies, students rated widely adopted introductory psychology textbooks on eight categories ranging from visual aids to writing quality. Results showed little inter-textbook differences; however, students indicated clear preferences. We found different patterns in preferences for visual material (e.g., photographs) versus written material (e.g., examples), but no differences in the ratings of tables and in the use of research examples. Students clearly differentiate between textbooks, but textbook ratings did not relate to quiz scores on text material. (Contains 2 tables.)
Redefining Online Discussions: Using Participant Stances to Promote Collaboration and Cognitive Engagement
Author: Putman, S. Michael
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cooperation,Electronic Learning,Distance Education,Online Courses,Taxonomy,Educational Technology,Discussion,Technological Advancement,Asynchronous Communication,Computer Mediated Communication,Content Analysis,Course Content,Masters Degrees,Elementary Education,Higher Education,Technology Uses in Education

Advances in technology are having a profound impact on distance education as online learning is becoming a preferred educational option. Within these online learning experiences, the asynchronous online discussion has evolved into one of the most commonly used communication tools. However, a lack of cognitive processing and interaction in the discussions appears to limit the potential benefits as suggested within social constructivist theories. This research analyzed participant responses and postings in online discussions and identified seven stances relative to collaboration and cognitive engagement of participants. A taxonomy was created that allows categorization of participant stances with respect to the two constructs. Implications for teaching and research are presented with attention to facilitative prompts, which are used to enhance collaboration and participation within online discussions. (Contains 1 figure.)
An American Professor's Perspective on the Dialectics of Teaching Interpersonal Communication in the Swedish Classroom
Author: Natalle, Elizabeth J.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Case Studies,North Americans,College Faculty,Personal Autonomy,Grading,Attendance,Language Usage,Gender Differences,Teaching Experience,Values,Curriculum Development,Foreign Countries,Interpersonal Communication,Classroom Communication,Cultural Awareness

This case study of an American professor's teaching experience in Sweden analyzes classroom communication using relational dialectics theory and cultural values theory. Tensions of hierarchy vs. equality and autonomy vs. connection were described through classroom processes such as greeting practices, dress, grading, attendance, gendered language use, and participation. Three Swedish values served as partial explanation for the communication processes described in this essay: &quot;folkhemmet&quot; (i.e., &quot;the good home&quot;), &quot;lagom&quot; (i.e., &quot;moderation&quot;), and &quot;ensamhet&quot; (i.e., &quot;solitude&quot;). Results of this interpretive research suggest that professors preparing for teaching abroad would benefit from the use of relational theories, cultural values, and metaphors to assist in competent professional interaction and successful learning outcomes.
Science Faculty Improving Teaching Practice: Identifying Needs and Finding Meaningful Professional Development
Author: Bouwma-Gearhart, Jana
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,College Faculty,Teaching Methods,Faculty Development,Science Instruction,Science Teachers,Teacher Attitudes

While research into the effectiveness of teaching professional development for postsecondary educators has increased over the last 40 years, little is known about science faculty members' teaching professional development needs and their perceptions regarding what constitutes meaningful teaching professional development. Informed by an extensive review of the literature and numerous research projects involving hundreds of faculty members in the sciences from multiple universities, this paper seeks to help science faculty members assess their own teaching professional development needs as well as to seek out meaningful and effective teaching professional development activities to help meet their needs.
The Classroom Is Alive with the Sound of Thinking: The Power of the Exit Slip
Author: Leigh, S. Rebecca
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Feedback (Response),Reflection,Graduate Students,Preservice Teachers,Schools of Education,Undergraduate Students,College Students,Higher Education,Teacher Education,College Faculty

This 14-week qualitative study investigated the use of exit slips in two literacy courses in the college of education at a public university in the Midwest of the United States. A group of 44 undergraduate and graduate students participated. These students included pre-service teachers who are developing their understanding of what counts as effective literacy practice and in-service teachers who are interested in improving their existing practices. The main focus of this study was to examine how exit slips supported students in two teacher education courses. Data included 608 exit slips and student feedback shared in class about exit slip use. This paper reports on how exit slip writing during class encouraged reflective thinking about teaching as a profession. Specifically, this paper examines eight different reflections students made that point to growth in content knowledge and a sense of self as practitioner and learner. It is contended that exit slips can help students identify, develop, and articulate their beliefs about teaching and learning, resulting in giving pre-service and practicing teachers an edge in improving their curricular practices. It is also contended that the positive effect of exit slips points to uses in higher education classrooms in general. (Contains 1 figure.)