Reading and writing to learn science: Achieving scientific literacy

A key step in helping students to achieve scientific literacy is to ensure that each school's curriculum supports students' efforts to learn science meaningfully. Educational researchers play a vital role in this step by providing teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and policy makers with information about the creation of a curriculum that supports scientific literacy. In a scientific literacy curriculum, reading and writing can serve as dynamic vehicles for learning science meaningfully. The task of educational researchers is to show how reading and writing can be used most effectively to support science learning. Much of what is done now in schools is based on teacher intuition—good intuition—but intuition nonetheless. What is needed is school-based research to validate and build upon these intuitions. This article is intended to stimulate research on reading and writing to learn science.     

The role of maternal mediation of writing to kindergartners in promoting literacy in school: A longitudinal perspective

The current study follows up on Aram andLevin's (2001, Cognitive Development, 16, 831–852)analysis of the role of maternalwriting mediation among low SES Israelikindergartners. That study's main findingindicated that the quality of maternal writingmediation correlated concurrently withkindergartners' literacy skills aftercontrolling for socio-cultural measures. Thepresent study followed up the participants tothe second grade in school, and evaluated theirlevel of Spelling, Reading Comprehension, andLinguistic Knowledge two and a half years later. Theresults indicate that the children's literacymeasures in school were predicted by maternalwriting mediation in kindergarten beyond SESand the early literacy measures assessed in thekindergarten (Word Writing and LinguisticKnowledge). These results highlight thesignificance of early maternal writingmediation as a major factor in literacydevelopment.     

Lessons from past literacy campaigns: A critical assessment

Former Director of the Centre for International Programmes, University of Guelph, Ontario (1974–85); of the Division of Adult Education (1972–74) and of the Literacy Division (1968–72), Unesco. He has considerable experience with adult education and literacy programmes in less developed countries, notably in South and South-East Asia.     

课程改革呼唤进一步增强中小学教师信息素养

信息时代的到来,特别是新一轮基础教育课程改革的实施,对中小学教师的信息素养提出了新的要求。广大中小学教师只有进一步提高自身的信息素养,才能够适应教育改革和形势发展的需要。     

A comparative judgement approach to the large-scale assessment of primary writing in England

ABSTRACT

Writing assessment is a key feature of most education systems, yet there are limitations with traditional methods of assessing writing involving rubrics. In contrast, comparative judgement appears to overcome the reliability issues that beset the assessment of performance assessment tasks. The approach presented here extends previous work on comparative judgement by directly involving teachers in a large number of schools in the judging of young pupils’ writing. To ensure quality control the process incorporated a process of ‘anchoring’ that ensured that teachers could not artificially inflate their own pupils’ scores. The approach was used to assess the writing of 55,599 primary pupils in England in 2017–2018. Overall, the results showed that a comparative judgement approach to writing incorporating anchoring shows promise in providing a fair and robust large-scale method to assess writing.     

Open assessment in higher education: The New York regents external degree

The Regents External Degree Program of The University of the State of New York offers college degrees to anyone who can qualify. No classroom attendance is required. Since 1972 more than 16,000 people have enrolled in the Program and 5,000 have graduated. These external students range in age from 17 to 87 and they reside in every state in the nation. Regents External Degrees are available in the arts, sciences, business, and nursing; each may be earned entirely by examination — 548 have already done so — or by a combination of tests, study at accredited colleges, and approved courses sponsored by the military, government, and business. The University of the State of New York, created in 1784, is America's oldest continuous educational agency. The University was established not to provide classroom instruction but to govern all education in New York, including elementary and secondary schools, museums, libraries, and 250 public and private colleges and universities. Faculty drawn from these institutions of higher education work with Regents' staff in Albany to administer America's first national examining university.

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Zusammenfassung Das Regents External Degree Programm der Staatsuniversität von New York bietet jedem einen akademischen Grad, der sich qualifizieren kann. Anwesenheit im Hörsaal wird nicht verlangt. Seit 1972 haben sich mehr als 16.000 Menschen im Rahmen dieses Programms immatrikuliert und 5000 haben einen akademischen Grad erworben. Das Alter dieser Studenten reicht von 17 bis 87, und sie wohnen in jedem Staat der USA. Akademische Grade des Regents External Degree Programms können in den geistes- und naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern sowie in wirtschaftswissen-schaftlichen Fächern, aber auch Kleinkinderziehung abgelegt werden; jeder Grad kann entweder in Gänze durch Prüfungen erworben werden, und das haben schon 548 Teilnehmer getan, oder durch eine Kombination von Tests, Studium an anerkannten Colleges, und anerkannten Kursen die durch das Militär, die Regierung oder die Wirtschaft gefördert werden. Die Staatsuniversität von New York, gegründet 1784, ist Amerikas älteste bestehende Bildungseinrichtung. Die Universität wurde ursprünglich nicht zum Erteilen von Unterricht gegründet, sondern diente als Aufsichtsinstitut für die Bildungseinrichtungen in New York, einschliesslich der Primar- und Sekundarschulen, Museen, Büchereien, und der 250 öffentlichen und privaten Colleges und Universitäten. Lehrpersonal dieser Institutionen im Hochschulbereich arbeiten zusammen mit dem Personal des Regent Programms in Albany in der Verwaltung von Amerikas erster nationaler Prüfungsuniversität.

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Résumé Le Programme Regents de Grade Externe de l'Université de l'Etat de New York concède des grades universitaires à toute personne qui peut se qualifier. Aucune fréquentation de la salle de classe n'est exigée. Depuis 1972, plus de 16.000 personnes se sont inscrites pour le programme et 5.000 personnes ont reçu un grade universitaire. L'âge de ces étudiants externes s'étend de 17 à 87 et ils résident dans chacun des Etats de la nation. Les Grades Externes du Programme Regents peuvent être obtenus pour les arts, les sciences, l'économie et la profession d'infirmière; chaque grade peut être entièrement acquis par examen — 548 ont déjà procédé de la sorte — ou par une combinaison d'épreuves, d'études dans des collèges accrédités, et de cours approuvés subventionnés par l'armée, le gouvernement et l'industrie. L'Université de l'Etat de New York, créée en 1784, est l'établissement américain educatif le plus ancien qui a toujours fonctionné sans interruption. Cette Université a été fondée non pour transmettre une instruction scolaire mais pour diriger toute forme d'éducation dans l'Etat de New York, englobant les écoles élémentaires et secondaires, les musées, les bibliothèques et les 250 collèges et universités publiques et privés. La faculté provenant de ces institutions d'éducation supérieure travaille avec le personnel du Programme Regents à Albany pour administrer la première université américaine nationale examinatrice.

     

A statewide writing assessment model: Student proficiency and future implications

This paper is an examination of statewide district writing achievement gain data from the Nebraska Statewide Writing Assessment system and implications for statewide assessment writing models. The writing assessment program is used to gain compliance with the United States No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB), a federal effort to influence school district assessment and accountability. While the research literature is mixed with some viewing statewide writing assessment as narrowing writing curriculum and “standardizing” writing, others point out that it facilitates sharing between teachers to improve writing and teachers are empowered by their participation in the process.Nebraska's Statewide Writing Assessment, based on the six-trait model, has strong support from teachers regarding their perception of the assessment in supporting teaching practices and student success. Examination of achievement gain data revealed gains in 4th, 8th, and 11th grades in the average number of students rated proficient from one administration of the assessment to the next.Implications for educational practice, recommendations for future research, and relevant related issues (NCLB concerns and measurement issues) are discussed.     

Mobilization of community resources to work with abusive and neglectful families: Community organization in New York state

This article describes the community organization experience of the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University in connection with the federally financed Resource Center on Child Abuse and Neglect which it has operated since 1975. Early on, the Center decided to concentrate its efforts on organizing local task forces on child abuse and neglect which would work at the community level to improve services for families and children afflicted with the problem. As a result, over 50 such groups were organized and they have stimulated creation of over 100 new services including Parents Anonymous chapters, parent aides, multidisciplinary teams and parenting education projects. In short, the local community organization approach enabled a small state level staff to stimulate a major mobilization of resources for child abuse and neglect at the community level throughout the state. The process began with several “trial and error” experiences in rural New York. This led to technical assistance in task force formation for a dozen more counties and finally to regional workshops on task force organizations. The process culminated with formation of a statewide federation of the local groups. The Center is now implementing the approach in New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.     

BEC中级写作测试给高职商务英语写作教学的反拨作用

本文通过对本职院商务英语写作的任课教师进行访谈,探讨了BEC剑桥商务英语中级考试的写作测试部分对于商务英语写作教学的正面和负面反拨作用。     

Valid assessment of writing and access to academic discourse

One way to improve students' access to and retention in post-secondary degree progams is to assess their readiness for such programs accurately. To place deaf and hard-of-hearing students in preparatory courses and to determine their readiness for degree programs more accurately, a direct measure of writing was developed for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at a large technical university. The purpose of this study was to estimate the concurrent and predictive validity of this measure. The Test of Written English (Educational Testing Service, 1992) served as the criterion in the concurrent validity study, and student success in the university's gateway freshman composition course served as the criterion in the predictive validity study. Results provide evidence of the concurrent and predictive validity of the measure, supporting its use for course placement and early planning purposes.     

The contribution of early home literacy activities to first grade reading and writing achievements in Arabic

This longitudinal study assessed the literacy development of native Arabic-speaking children from kindergarten to the end of first grade, focusing on the role of home literacy activities (mother–child shared book reading and joint writing). The contribution of these activities in kindergarten to children’s reading and writing at the end of first grade were evaluated, controlling for family SES and children’s early skills (vocabulary and letter naming). Eighty-eight Arabic-speaking children and their mothers participated in the study. Results revealed that family SES, children’s early skills and home literacy activities in kindergarten correlated with children’s achievements at the end of first grade. Joint writing contributed significantly to children’s literacy in first grade and the contribution of shared reading was almost significant. Joint writing was found to contribute to children’s literacy achievements in first grade beyond book reading. The study extends our knowledge on literacy acquisition in Arabic, highlighting the significance of early parent–child literacy activities as a predictor of Arabic-speaking children’s literacy achievements in school.     

Assessing the writing of deaf college students: reevaluating a direct assessment of writing

The NTID Writing Test was developed to assess the writing ability of postsecondary deaf students entering the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and to determine their appropriate placement into developmental writing courses. While previous research (Albertini et al., 1986; Albertini et al., 1996; Bochner, Albertini, Samar, & Metz, 1992) has shown the test to be reliable between multiple test raters and as a valid measure of writing ability for placement into these courses, changes in curriculum and the rater pool necessitated a new look at interrater reliability and concurrent validity. We evaluated the rating scores for 236 samples from students who entered the college during the fall 2001. Using a multiprong approach, we confirmed the interrater reliability and the validity of this direct measure of assessment. The implications of continued use of this and similar tests in light of definitions of validity, local control, and the nature of writing are discussed.     

Voice in high-stakes L1 academic writing assessment: Implications for L2 writing instruction

Despite the debate among writing researchers about its viability as a pedagogical tool in writing instruction [e.g., Helms-Park, R., & Stapleton, P. (2003). Questioning the importance of individualized voice in undergraduate L2 argumentative writing: An empirical study with pedagogical implications. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12 (3), 245–265; Stapleton, P. (2002). Critiquing voice as a viable pedagogical tool in L2 writing: Returning spotlight to ideas. Journal of Second Language Writing, 11 (3), 177–190], voice remains one of the constructs commonly addressed in learning standards and assessed in high-stakes English Language Arts tests. It is assumed, therefore, that the presence of a strong authorial voice plays an important role in the evaluation of the overall quality of students’ writing. In reality, however, there is a critical lack of empirical research that explores the nature and characteristics of the relationship between voice and overall writing quality. The present study builds on and extends the work of Helms-Park and Stapleton [Helms-Park, R., & Stapleton, P. (2003). Questioning the importance of individualized voice in undergraduate L2 argumentative writing: An empirical study with pedagogical implications. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12 (3), 245–265] and examines such a relationship in the context of an L1 high-stakes academic writing assessment. Results show a positive and significant relationship between voice intensity and writing quality, which contradicts what Helms-Park and Stapleton [Helms-Park, R., & Stapleton, P. (2003). Questioning the importance of individualized voice in undergraduate L2 argumentative writing: An empirical study with pedagogical implications. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12 (3), 245–265] found in the context of L2 argumentative writing. This study therefore contributes to the exploration of the role of voice in writing instruction and assessment.     

Correction to: The summer learning effect in writing in New Zealand

Reading and Writing - The original publication of the article contained an error.