The Effect of Mother–Child Reading Time on Children's Reading Skills: Evidence From Natural Within-Family Variation

Children's exposure to book reading is thought to be an influential input into positive cognitive development. Yet there is little empirical research identifying whether it is reading time per se, or other factors associated with families who read, such as parental education or children's reading skill, that improves children's achievement. Using data on 4,239 children ages 0–13 of the female respondents of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study applies two different methodologies to identify the causal impact of mother–child reading time on children's achievement scores by controlling for several confounding child and family characteristics. The results show that a 1 SD increase in mother–child reading time increases children's reading achievement by 0.80 SDs.     

Home Literacy Environments and Foundational Literacy Skills for Struggling and Nonstruggling Readers in Rural Early Elementary Schools

Factors such as weak early literacy skills and living in poverty may put young students at risk for reading disabilities. While home literacy activities and access to literacy materials have been associated with positive reading outcomes for urban and suburban students, little is known about home literacy environments of rural early elementary school students living in poverty and their relationship to foundational reading skills for struggling and nonstruggling readers. This study examined how home literacy environments might relate to rural kindergarten and first grade students’ reading performance. Parents of 1,108 kindergarten and first grade students in the rural Southeast completed questionnaires on the frequency of home literacy activities and access to literacy materials. Multilevel model analyses revealed that home literacy activities and access to literacy materials were positively related to basic word reading skills, passage comprehension, and spelling. Implications for families and educators are discussed.     

Rethinking the modernist curriculum with Habermas’s concept of self-critical appropriation

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the implications of applying Habermas’s concept of self-critical appropriation for rethinking the structure of the modernist curriculum, specifically the organization of school subjects and instruction time devoted to each of them. To this end, the paper examines Habermas’s differentiation between the three expert cultures of science, morality and art in modernity as well as the role that Habermas envisions for education in modern societies. On the basis of the above differentiation, this paper briefly reviews three national curriculums (England, France, Finland) in order to substantiate the dominant scientific-objectivating orientation underlying the structure of current national curriculums. The review provides the contextual-factual background for rethinking the curriculum. Responding to the challenges facing curriculums in the postmodern era (both theoretical and practical), this paper presents two principles stemming from the application of the concept of self-critical appropriation: balancing the curriculum and the introduction of an integrator-subject for the development and exercise of communicative competences.     

Literacy in Citizenship Preparatory Classes

Beliefs and theories about literacy, from traditional literacy to multiliteracies to critical literacy, contain assumptions and ideologies about what it means to be literate. In the realm of U.S. citizenship, naturalization requires a certain level of English literacy and knowledge of history/civics, ascertained by a standardized interview. This article investigates views and practices of literacy in the naturalization test and citizenship preparatory classes. Ethnographic observations of three such classes indicate that English literacy is taught as discrete, decontextual, and superficial, and accuracy is accentuated over fluency. Overlooked, but equally important to become a naturalized citizen, are de facto literacy practices such as participation in high-stakes institutional discourse. In concluding that neither citizenship classes nor the citizenship test promote critical literacy or citizenship, I end with suggestions for promoting a more active and critical citizenry.     

Teaching Science for Understanding at MIT: Engaging the Best and the Brightest

Abstact Studies of instructional technology at MIT can help us understand "how good students go wrong" and how "models of practice" can be used to inform our work on instructional technology.     

Living arrangements and children's development in low-income White, Black, and Latino families

This article uses longitudinal data from approximately 2,000 low-income families participating in the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Child Development Program to examine the associations between preschool children's living arrangements and their cognitive achievement and emotional adjustment. The analysis distinguishes families in which children live only with their mothers from children who live in biological father, blended, and multigenerational households. Linkages are examined separately for White, Black, and Latino children. Fixed effects regression techniques reveal few significant associations between living arrangements and child development. These findings suggest that substantial diversity exists in the developmental contexts among children living in the same family structure. Policies seeking to change the living arrangements of low-income children may do little to improve child well-being.     

Behavioral control and resiliency in the onset of alcohol and illicit drug use: a prospective study from preschool to adolescence

The developmental trajectories of behavioral control and resiliency from early childhood to adolescence and their effects on early onset of substance use were examined. Behavioral control is the tendency to express or contain one's impulses and behaviors. Resiliency is the ability to adapt flexibly one's characteristic level of control in response to the environment. Study participants were 514 children of alcoholics and matched controls from a longitudinal community sample (Time 1 age in years: M =4.32, SD =0.89). Children with slower rates of increase in behavioral control were more likely to use alcohol and other drugs in adolescence. Children with higher initial levels of resiliency were less likely to begin using alcohol.     

Multi-age-grouping paradigm for young swimmers

The purpose of this study was to examine the adequacy of "multi-age" classification systems in youth sports with a specific focus on the unisex multi-age-groupings used by USA Swimming. In addition, we offer an analytical rationale for the multi-age-groupings and potential alternatives. We examined the top 100 US swim performances for three years (2005, 2006, and 2007) for girls and boys in 15 age-groups (7 to 20 years and a singular group of 21 years and older). Data for each age and sex were pooled over the three years and means were calculated for each of seven competitive swim events. Swim times differed among each age up to the 14-year age-group in girls (F (14,30885) = 183.9, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 1.19-3.72, large effect) and 16-year age-group in boys (F (14,30885) = 308.7, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.81-3.64, large effect) for all events. Age-related differences in swim times continued later in boys than girls likely due to differences between the sexes in timing of growth and maturation. Because of the differences in swim performance in contemporary multi-age-groups, stratifying swimmers by a single age is the best means to ensure competitive fairness and equality, although there is no rationale for swimmers under the age of 8 years to compete in separate unisex competitive groups.     

The differential effects of two self‐managed math instruction procedures: Cover,Copy, and Compare versus Copy,Cover, and Compare

This study compared the fluency and error rates produced when using the Cover, Copy, and Compare (CCC) and a modified CCC procedure (MCCC) called Copy, Cover, and Compare to complete subtraction math problems. Two second‐grade classrooms consisting of 47 total students participated in the study. The following items were administered to participants: (a) a timed pretest, (b) a timed CCC worksheet, (c) a timed MCCC worksheet, and (d) a timed posttest. Then the participants were asked which procedure they liked best. Results revealed significantly higher digits correct per minute (i.e., fluency scores) on the posttest when compared with the pretest scores. Likewise, students' fluency scores were significantly higher under the CCC condition when compared to the MCCC condition. There were no significant differences in accuracy from pretest to posttest nor between the CCC and MCCC conditions. Discussion focuses on implications for modifying instructional strategies, measuring student progress, implications for practice, and directions for future research. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.