The responsibility for the public schools 1

Collaboration between a metropolitan university's college of education and urban and suburban school districts is described via an initiative to support dissemination of effective elementary practices across 7 districts. The effort focused on the creation of 4 booklets that described best practices as identified through the research-based literature. Parent involvement, literacy instruction, multiage classrooms, and brain-based learning were the areas targeted for attention. Two conferences to share the information were also a part of the plan for dissemination. Trust and camaraderie evolved as faculty members, teachers, and administrators worked together to create a product and share it with their colleagues.     

Early phonological and lexical markers of reading disabilities

Phonological and lexical characteristics of 30-month-old children’s spontaneous language samples were examined as indicators of later reading outcome. Participants were 27 children, 10 children with reading disability and 17 children without reading disability. Of the non-disabled readers, 7 were at high familial risk for reading disability, and 10 came from families with no history of reading difficulties. Children later identified as reading disabled at second grade and beyond demonstrated narrower lexical diversity and simpler phonological forms as compared to the normal reading participants. Implications of reduced phonological complexity in the productive lexicons of reading disabled children are discussed.     

Long-term outcome of the early identification and intervention of reading disabilities

This study examined the longitudinal effects of an early literacy intervention in Kindergarten. A group of children completed reading and cognitive measures between Kindergarten (5–6 years old) and Grade 7 (12–13 years old). Our results showed that 22 % of children were identified as at-risk for reading deficits in Kindergarten, but only 6 % of children had reading difficulties in Grade 7. In Kindergarten, at-risk groups scored lower than not-at-risk groups on measures of word and letter recognition, phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, and language. We also examined a small group of children who were not-at-risk in Kindergarten, but had a reading disability in Grade 7; these children did not obtain lower scores than average readers on any of our Kindergarten measures. Finally, we illustrated that the trajectory of word reading skills was generally stable, such that most children scored within the average range between Grade 1 and 7. Our results provide evidence for the long-term positive outcomes of early literacy instruction.     

Perceptual screening: Toward identification,prediction and prevention of reading disabilities

Conclusions There is some evidence that optimal perceptual development occurs by the time a child is eight years of age; and similarly, evidence that remediation of maladaptation and reading difficulties is far more difficult to achieve after eight or nine years of age. There is also theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that there are optimal periods to intervene in order to influence development of all human characteristics (Bloom, 1964). Since perception seems to be maximally developed by eight years of age, it seems quite clear that intervention to improve on the developmental progression of perception should occur before that age. However, one thing that is not clear from previous studies, is whether instruction directed toward a child’s weak perceptual area is more beneficial than instruction directed toward the child’s strong perceptual area. Perhaps, through early group screening and empirically testing the modality concept, important data can be gathered regarding the efficacy of teaching toward a strong learning characteristic or propensity, or teaching toward a weak area in order to develop that area to an adequate level and to maximize the ability to learn beginning reading. Preparation of paper was partially supported by funds from HEW, National Advisory Committee on Dyslexia and Related Reading Disorders. An earlier version of paper was submitted by invitation to that committee.     

Early intervention for reading disabilities: teaching the alphabet principle in a connectionist framework

Forty-eight children referred by teachers at the end of first grade for difficulty in reading were randomly assigned to three treatments, all of which modeled connections between written and spoken words but did not teach phonics rules, for eight half-hour individual tutoring sessions. The children were taught 48 words of varying orders of spelling-sound predictability (Venezky, 1995) using a whole-word method, for making connections between a word's name and its constituent letters; a subword method, for making connections between each color-coded spelling unit and its corresponding phonemes; or a combined whole-word and subword method. Regardless of the method used, children improved reliably on standardized reading measures and the taught words, showing that they could make connections between written and spoken words at the whole word and subword levels, even when rules were not taught. By posttest, the subword method showed a reliable advantage on a standardized test of real word reading. Knowledge of sounds associated with both multiletter and single-letter spelling units predicted reading achievement. Order of spelling-sound predictability (easy, moderate, difficult) was correlated with standardized measures of reading at pretest and posttest, and the magnitude of the relationship increased as a result of the intervention. Individual differences in verbal intelligence, rapid automatized naming, and phonological and orthographic skills predicted response to the intervention. Instructional implications of the results are discussed.     

A comparison of multiple methods for the identification of children with reading disabilities

There has been considerable discussion of the methods used for the identification of children with reading disabilities. This study examined three different methods that could be used in the identification of children with reading disabilities and their consistency with teacher ratings of behaviors believed to be associated with reading disabilities. Standardized, norm-referenced measures of achievement, phonological processing measures, and curriculum-based measures of reading fluency were used with 40 children in Grades 1 and 2. Comparisons were made to determine which measures, if any, differentiated between children referred for reading disabilities (n = 20) and children who were progressing typically in reading in their general education classroom settings (n = 20). The results indicated significant between-group differences on standardized, norm-referenced measures of reading recognition, word attack, and comprehension; phonological measures of blending nonwords and elision; and reading fluency. Teacher ratings on the Dyslexia Screening Instrument were consistent with teacher beliefs regarding children's progress in reading. All measures were found to correlate significantly with each other. However, correlations were generally in the moderate range, suggesting that the measures used did not measure the same reading skills or, in the case of phonological processing, the underlying abilities believed to be necessary for reading. Given the differences in tasks and the moderate correlations, it is likely that the choice of measures may affect the conclusions reached regarding a student's reading ability.     

学会负责与学校责任教育

“百名学者评论中国教育”专栏,以教育研究者的角度,就教育理论和实践中的热点、焦点、难点、冰点问题发表各种建设性见解。先期办成开放式的,一事一议,或提出问题,或分析评论,力求形成百家争鸣、百花齐放之势,激活中国之教育学术。待有重点问题时,再分专题讨论。特邀教育界有影响的专家学者参与,以教授和博士为主办成一个高层次论坛。各位同仁可就自己认为教育理论与实践中的重要问题写成评论,每篇2000-3000字为宜,诚请各位同仁在百忙中赐教赐稿。     

The validity of discrepancy-based definitions of reading disabilities.

This study addressed the validity of distinguishing children with reading disabilities according to the presence or absence of discrepancies between intelligence test scores and academic achievement. Three definitions of reading disability were used to provide criteria for five groups of children who (a) met a discrepancy-based definition uncorrected for the correlation of IQ and achievement; (b) met a discrepancy-based definition correcting for the correlation of IQ and achievement; (c) met a low achievement definition with no IQ discrepancy; (d) met criteria a and b; and (e) met none of the criteria and had no reading disability. Comparison of these five groups on a set of 10 neuropsychological tests corrected for correlations with IQ showed that group differences were small and accounted for little of the variability among groups. These results question the validity of segregating children with reading deficiencies according to discrepancies with IQ scores.     

The impact of charter schools on the efficiency of traditional public schools: Evidence from Michigan

This paper examines the competitive effects of charter schools on the efficiency of traditional public schools. The analysis utilizes a statewide school-level longitudinal dataset of Michigan schools from 1994 to 2004. Fixed effect and two alternative estimation methods are employed. Overall, the results suggest that charter competition had a negative impact on student achievement and school efficiency in Michigan's traditional public schools. The effect is small or negligible in the short run, but becomes more substantial in the long run.     

An embodied cognition approach to enhancing reading achievement in New York City public schools: Promising evidence

The study purpose was to examine the relationship between the Mark DeGarmo Dance (AKA Dynamic Forms, Inc.) (MDD) program, involving principles of embodied cognition, and student achievement over time. The sample included fourth grade students (N = 169) in schools (N = 4) in New York City Public School District whose teachers and students participated in the MDD program. Using a pretest posttest single group design and hierarchical linear modeling, the results of this study analyze student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Teacher survey results are also reported. The achievement results reveal a significant increase in reading between pretest and posttest for students that were in the program. Teachers reported adequate fidelity of implementation.     

Computer-based compensation of adult reading disabilities

We studied the use of computer readers, and especially their speech synthesis component, as a compensatory tool for adults with dyslexia. We first explored the enhancement of reading skills in a group of college students and working adults. Their unaided reading was very slow, and most participants in the study could sustain reading for only short periods. Although their timed comprehension was poor, their untimed comprehension was above average. The computer reader enhanced the reading rate and comprehension of most participants and enabled them to sustain reading longer. The difference between aided and unaided reading rate was inversely proportional to the unaided rate. Slower readers experienced greater enhancement than faster ones. The enhancement of comprehension was also inversely proportional to unaided scores, and good predictions of the enhancement were obtained from multiple regression models that included scores from specific standard tests of auditory and visual cognitive abilities. We also explored the use of computer readers in the workplace and show through case studies that their use can have important positive effects on individual careers and self-confidence when specific conditions exist. Finally, we investigated the use of computer readers to supplement an adult remediation program. The readers allowed and motivated the students to read more and, as a result, to progress more rapidly. Support for this study was provided by Xerox, the Luke B. Hancock Foundation, and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.