Learning Together: A Family-Centered Literacy Program

ABSTRACT

Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina serves a rapidly growing Hispanic population through its Family-Centered Literacy Program. The Hispanic population in the region has been increasing at a staggering rate of 50% per year, most of which is in-migration. These newcomers frequently face challenges adjusting to their jobs, schools, and living environment. The Family-Centered Literacy Program is teaching new skills to new residents to minimize the “culture shock”, and to make community immersion a less difficult process. The program offers evening classes 2 nights a week for parents and their children. Parents attend classes in basic and conversational English and General Education Development (GED) preparation; school-age children receive tutoring and help with homework; and preschool children learn from fluency-building games and activities. The college also provides Spanish instruction for school personnel who want to better communicate with Hispanic students and their parents. The program currently operates in 5 elementary schools. Each school has taken on the role of “community center” for Hispanic families.     

Computer Literacy Needs in a Traditional Library Literacy Program: Results of a Needs Analysis

This study reports the results of a needs analysis of literacy programs for a library system serving three rural and suburban counties. It examines the computing skills and needs of literacy tutors as well as native-speaking and English language learner (ELL) literacy tutees enrolled in the programs. Paper surveys were mailed to tutors, who were asked to complete a survey themselves and assist their tutees to complete one. Results of this study offer insights into the incorporation of digital literacy into traditional adult literacy programs focusing on the needs, wants, and support systems of user groups.     

A Literacy Program for Fathers: A Case Study

A case study approach was used to document the literacy experiences of 25 fathers and their children who participated in a family literacy program. It explored the effects of a literacy intervention that was designed to assist fathers of five-year-old children to develop their children’s literacy learning in a family environment. The findings indicated that the fathers promoted their children’s literacy development when they learned literacy strategies and activities in the program. Although all fathers were provided with the same literacy content, they differed in their use of literacy strategies. Themes were identified and described based on the literacy strategies, interactions, materials, and activities that the fathers used.     

澳大利亚全国读写计算能力考评计划述评

全国读写计算能力考评计划是澳大利亚学业成就评价改革的重要举措。其旨在促进澳大利亚课程标准的统一,提高学生学业成绩跨州跨地区的可比性,提升澳大利亚教育体质的透明度。其启示在于:作为全国性的学业成就考试必须公正、透明;学业成就评价的信息来源应该是多渠道的,不应将考评结果作为惟一的参考依据;全国性的学业成就评价的考评报告内容应翔实,应充分反映学生具体的学业水平;学业成就考评报告应立足多元化。     

试析PISA科学素养测评

国际教育评估项目PISA对青少年科学素养的测评,因其规模、过程、内容、标准、功能等的标准化运作和成功实践,越来越引起人们的关注。文章简要介绍了PISA监测项目的概况,深入剖析其科学素养监测的特点,以期对相关研究和实践有所裨益。     

PISA对化学学科素养的测评

本文结合具体案例介绍了PISA测评化学学科素养的特点,提出PISA试题在化学出题上,对创设情境的注重、互动性的问答方式以及开放性的评分方式都是鼓励学生应用知识、分析解决实际问题的好借鉴。     

The Efficacy of an Early Literacy Tutoring Program Implemented by College Students

Absctract. This article describes a two‐year study addressing the effectiveness of a highly structured, systematic tutoring intervention implemented by minimally trained college students with two cohorts of at‐risk first‐grade readers. Participants were 61 first‐grade children in Cohort 1 and 76 first‐grade children in Cohort 2. Tutors participated in three one‐hour training sessions and received occasional on‐site assistance. Individual tutoring sessions were scheduled for three to four times each week for one school year, with each cohort receiving approximately 10–14 hours of instruction across 44 sessions. The curriculum included a game to teach phonemic awareness and letter‐sound correspondence, structured word‐study activities, reading of leveled books, and simple comprehension strategies. Significant differences were found on measures of phonemic awareness and nonsense word reading for both cohorts. For Cohort 1, but not Cohort 2, significant differences were also detected for real‐word identification. Our results support using tutors to provide additional assistance and instruction in early reading, even when tutors are not professionally trained teachers.     

Literacy Literacy

The paper argues that the term ‘literacy’ has become attached to too many disparate practices, and that renewed attention needs to be paid to how the acquisition and use of skills of written communication are conditioned by the core structures of the home, the classroom, and the state. It reviews the current usages of literacy and examines the agenda for further research in the central areas of reading and particularly writing. Attention is drawn to the contemporary engagement with literacy as a basic skill, and to the recent implementation in England of the “National Literacy Strategy.” The close parallels between the 19th and early 21st century literacy strategies are noted. If historians wish to apply their research to an interrogation of contemporary ideology and practice, greater attention should be paid to domestic instruction and to the role of government over time.     

A 3-Year Study of a School-Based Parental Involvement Program in Early Literacy

ABSTRACT

Although parental involvement in children's literacy development has been recognized for its potential in helping children develop early literacy achievement, studies of the effectiveness and sustainability of school-based parent involvement programs are not numerous. This study examines the effectiveness and durability of a school-based parent involvement program that was implemented by school staff without external supervision over 3 consecutive years in a public school. Results indicate that implementation of the program was associated with higher levels of children's achievement in foundational literacy competencies. Moreover, the program has sustained over 3 years and actually grew in the levels of parental participation over time. The authors argue that effective and systemic parental involvement programs are possible and can be guided by certain principles of program development and if implemented by a committed teaching staff.     

Enhancing Television Literacy Skills Among Preschool Children Through an Intervention Program in the Kindergarten

A study amongst 150 preschool children assigned to experimental and control groups indicates that an intervention program supported by systematic teachers' mediation can enhance preschoolers interpretive skills of television material, such as the ability to identify elements of fantasy in a television presentation in relation to special effects, the ability to bridge temporal and logical gaps, the ability to identify elements of camera work and their visual implications and the ability to make intelligent predictions based on inference from visual cues.     

Teacher Candidates Learn to Enact Curriculum in a Partnership-Sponsored Literacy Enrichment Program for Youth

This article reports on a multiyear formative experiment of a summer enrichment program that served as literacy enrichment for middle-school students, a field experience for preservice teacher candidates, and a professional development and leadership opportunity for practicing teachers. The analysis focuses on how the design team conceptualized, implemented, and researched inquiry-based, literacy-infused curriculum within the program, which was embedded in a broader university–school partnership. Findings report curriculum-related decisions and adjustments made over two iterations of the program before detailing the data-driven adjustments planned for the program’s third iteration in 2017. Findings reveal that literacy supports were richer when the curriculum with which preservice teacher candidates worked was explicit about the content they must address and well sequenced. Such explicitness left more bandwidth for candidates to focus on literacy and reduced the chances it would get lost in candidates’ other concerns. Implications are discussed for others designing clinical experiences intended to interrupt the status quo in both literacy teacher education and K–12 schooling, with the goal of promoting more equitable outcomes for all.     

校外学习时间和数学素养对财经素养的影响:来自PISA的结果

使用来自上海市155个学校的1197名中学生参加PISA2012年数学素养测试的数据,探讨校外学习时间和数学素养对财经素养的影响作用,建构并验证一个中介效应模型。研究结果显示,学生的校外学习时间正向影响其财经素养水平,这一影响作用是通过学生的数学素养而达到的,即数学素养在校外学习时间与财经素养之间起完全中介效应。     

Technology-Mediated Writing Instruction in the Early Literacy Program: Perils,Procedures, and Possibilities

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine one kindergarten teacher's use of digital and multimodal technologies to mediate early writing instruction and explore the students' appropriation of that instruction to support their independent writing. Data sources included observations of writing instruction, as well as students' participation during independent writing time, student writing samples, and interviews with case study participants. Data were analyzed inductively using a semantic relationship analysis (Hatch, 2002). Results of the study revealed that the teacher used a range of technologies to demonstrate what it means to compose narrative texts and how young children could go about it. Students were attentive and motivated to participate in writing instruction and related activities, given their fascination with the technology and multimodal texts their teacher created. Students appropriated important concepts and strategies from their teacher's technology-mediated instruction, which they used to compose narrative texts during independent writing time.     

Pen 2 Paper 2 Power: Lessons from an Arts-Based Literacy Program Serving Somali Immigrant Youth

This study illustrates the ways in which the practices of two instructors in an arts-based, after-school literacy program serving Somali youth provide insights for teaching urban immigrant students. It draws on a qualitative self-study that examines the experiences and practices of the researchers in the development and implementation of a program called Pen 2 Paper 2 Power. It illuminates the difficulties of using culturally relevant pedagogy with immigrant youth, given the complexity of immigrant youth cultures, formed at the intersection of ethnic culture, youth culture, and popular culture. The research also examines the pedagogical implications of practicing culturally relevant hip-hop pedagogy with urban immigrant youth.     

Curriculum-Integrated Information Literacy (CIIL) in a Community College Nursing Program: A Practical Model

This article describes a strategy to integrate information literacy into the curriculum of a nursing program in a community college. The model is articulated in four explained phases: preparatory, planning, implementation, and evaluation. It describes a collaborative process encouraging librarians to work with nursing faculty, driving students to acquire information literacy competencies, to use information resources as part of their learning process, and to be lifelong learners. The literature reviews the evolution of the concept of informatics in nursing practice and the different blueprints organized to attain information literacy competencies. It also describes studies that have included these competencies into nursing curriculum.     

Unique Effects of a Family Literacy Program on the Early Reading Development of English Language Learners

Research Findings: The present study evaluated the effects of a Family Literacy program on the early English reading development of speakers of English as a first language (EL1s) and English language learners (ELLs). The study included a linguistically and culturally diverse sample of 132 kindergarten children and their parents. Families in the experimental group participated in a 9-week intervention program that was designed to promote early literacy in the home, whereas those in the control group did not receive the intervention. Both the experimental and control groups included EL1 and ELL children. Dependent variables included children's gains in alphabet knowledge, conventions of print, and meaning. Results indicated that ELL children in the experimental group made greater gains in their knowledge of the alphabet and their ability to infer meaning from print than EL1 children in the experimental group and both ELL and EL1 controls. There were no language group differences in children's gains in conventions of print. Practice or Policy: The results suggest that Family Literacy programs are associated with differential effects on the English reading development of EL1 and ELL children. Educational implications related to the development and implementation of effective Family Literacy programs for diverse communities are discussed.     

Literacy,Numeracy and Computer Literacy

Abstract

Prevailing hierarchical attitudes have prevented most British organisations changing to more successful democratically run organisational cultures. Many academics have played a part in this by themselves suppressing the lessons of best democratic practice. The human and economic cost of hierarchical working and teaching/ learning practices makes it morally incumbent on those who work in education to rationally and honestly evaluate evidence and voice the central and urgent need for top managers to take the lead in the culture change process required for high quality educational and industrial performance.     

国际预科证书课程体系中创新素养的理论和实践研究

根据国际预科证书课程体系的新旧两个大纲,笔者从理念和目标、课程组织、课程实施和评价四个方面,结合我国对该课程体系的引进和改造实际,探究了该课程体系中创新素养的理论和培养方式,以期对深化课程改革有所助益。     

信息教育中的教师信息素养及培养

在信息教育中，教师的作用是多方面的，一方面自身也需要接受信息教育；另一方面，教师又是学校教育的主要承担者，在学科教学中让学生接受信息教育，教师自身的信息素养关系到整个信息教育的成败。本文论述了教师信息素养的重要性和特征，还对如何提高我国的教师信息素养提出了若干建议。