The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate,but Perhaps Not a Cause,of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development

The home literacy environment is a well-established predictor of children’s language and literacy development. We investigated whether formal, informal, and indirect measures of the home literacy environment predict children’s reading and language skills once maternal language abilities are taken into account. Data come from a longitudinal study of children at high risk of dyslexia (N = 251) followed from preschool years. Latent factors describing maternal language were significant predictors of storybook exposure but not of direct literacy instruction. Maternal language and phonological skills respectively predicted children’s language and reading/spelling skills. However, after accounting for variations in maternal language, storybook exposure was not a significant predictor of children’s outcomes. In contrast, direct literacy instruction remained a predictor of children’s reading/spelling skills. We argue that the relationship between early informal home literacy activities and children’s language and reading skills is largely accounted for by maternal skills and may reflect genetic influences.     

Adolescent Safety on the Internet

The article examines the opportunities and limitations of the coping behavior of children and teenagers on the Internet and the assistance that they receive from significant adults (parental mediation) in the context of the new developmental social situation, which is mediated by modern information and communication technologies, and in particular the Internet. The study was conducted on the basis of the EUKidsOnline II methodology in 11 regions in seven Russian federal districts (1,025 “parent–child” pairs). The study discovered that the most common risks include sexual and negative content, fraud and theft of personal information, as well as meetings with online acquaintances. The features of experiences and mechanisms used to cope with online risks depend on the predominant activity that a particular teenager pursues online, so that if children are focused on their studies online, they are less exposed to this risk. However, they are more deeply disturbed by such situations and remain so for longer periods of time, and they more frequently employ passive strategies to cope with them. So-called “content consumers” are at the greatest risk of encountering sexual content on the network. These users actively pursue various activities online, including search engines. They experience fewer negative emotions, and they often actively try to cope with the problem while rarely using offline support. There are few opportunities for parental mediation; these include blocking content and reducing the probability that children, and in particular the teenagers that are focused on their studies, will encounter risks. The strategy of explanation and encouragement is effective for teens who pursue various activities on the Internet, and is associated with a more realistic assessment of risk and young people's active use of coping and social support strategies. For the modern teenager, the Internet is a complex psychological “tool,” which he appropriates by probing its capabilities and opportunities for self-regulation, including coping with difficult life situations.     

Beyond seat time and student satisfaction: A curricular approach to residential education

The success of a traditional residential education program is typically measured by numbers of students who attend and how much they liked it. Kathleen Kerr and James Tweedy offer a peer‐reviewed curricular approach that determines success by how much students learn.     

Joining two social institutions to counter rural Alaskan child abuse

Change in social customs and institutions is usually a slow process. This seems particularly true in attitudes about child abuse. Two key elements for change are being utilized for child protection in a rural area of Alaska with a predominantly Caucasian population. First, application of an old church custom of "constructive gossip" by volunteers is changing this rural community attitude about children. Second, use of an innovative federal government health care delivery program has established this community's first obstetric and pediatric service. With the oil boom in Alaska, widespread family disruption with frequent child abuse and neglect has become commonplace. Despite the oil tax wealth, State of Alaska Child Protection Services are strained to keep up with family and community violence. Deliberate cooperation with local community, church and service organization leaders is helping keep up with child protection needs. The obstetric and pediatric specialists of the National Health Service Corps non-profit practice were co-leaders, along with community leaders, in starting a lay volunteer service called "Friends of Families." Working cooperatively with the state child protection office, 24 families have received assistance from parent aides of Friends of Families. The influence of these two key elements of change on rural community attitudes and institutions are described.     

Work models: Beyond instructional objectives

While instructional objectives have provided a cornerstone for the practice and science of instruction, they have also locked us into a lexically based conceptual system. In order to realize the interactive potential of computer-based instructional systems, we need a new way of representing performance. This paper presents the concept of a work model which is a unit of practice which allows replication of both information and interaction. In addition, the work model idea also addresses some of the fundamental problems with objectives such as their inability to capture the richness of terminal behavior or how to relate objectives to content.