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.     

一个标准能适合所有的项目吗:开放教育的选择

基于支持全英开放教育资源项目(英国开放教育资源项目,简称UKOER项目)的经验,本文将探讨该项目开展过程中所涌现出的各种不同的开放教育资源描述方法,及其对资源共享、工作流程计划、资源聚集观的影响.由于UKOUER项目包括个人层面的项目、学科层面的项目和院校层面的项目,而这三种类型的项目又有各自不同的特点,显然难以用一种技术或者描述性的解决方案来适合所有的项目.因此,目前这些项目只提供有限的描述性信息,包括项目标签、作者、题目、日期、链接地址、文件格式、文件大小、权限,以及一些附加信息,包括语言、学科分类、关键词、标签、评论和描述.所有项目可以自由选择编码、存储和分享上述信息的方法.本文通过大量的例证介绍了项目的描述方法,其中还包括工作流程和所作出的尝试.我们将考虑所选择的工具(资源库、Web2.0应用、虚拟学习环境)与标准选择的关系,以及本地需求和更广泛社区需求之间的关系.我们会考虑这些选择对资源传播和发现的影响,例如,资源描述对大量开放教育资源的发现服务的影响.     

Curriculum,pedagogy and assessment: three message systems of schooling and dimensions of quality physical education

This paper identifies ‘quality’ as an internationally relevant concept to be problematised in contemporary debates about physical education (PE). Drawing on the conceptualisation of curriculum by B. Bernstein in 1977, pedagogy and assessment as three inter-related message systems of schooling, the paper presents and explores curriculum, pedagogy and assessment as three fundamental dimensions of ‘quality PE’. Discussion addresses what quality in each dimension may mean in PE, and demand in practice. Contemporary initiatives in Australia and New Zealand provide a reference point for exploring the prospective application of quality conceptualised in terms of the three inter-related dimensions. Attention is drawn to frameworks in mainstream education that may be utilised in endeavours to critically review current practices, and inform developments directed towards achieving quality in PE. It is argued that achieving quality in PE requires that quality is pursued and demonstrated within and across curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, and that meanings of quality always need to be contextualised in cultural, social and institutional terms.     

Chinese number‐naming advantages? Analyses of Chinese pre‐schoolers' computational strategies and errors

Simplicity in number naming in a language (e.g. ‘ten‐two’ in Chinese is simpler than the irregular ‘twelve’ in English) has been used to explain cross‐cultural disparities in children's computational competence. In contrast to previous research focusing only on whether children can provide the correct answers, in this study (N?=?117 and 92) we examined Chinese pre‐schoolers' computational strategies in depth and individually so as to examine their understanding of the base‐10 system and place value. The results showed that despite the fact that many can give the correct answers, there is strong evidence that Chinese pre‐schoolers do not have adequate understanding of the base‐10 number system and place value, suggesting that the advantages of the simpler number‐naming system are limited.     

Assessing the effects of school‐wide Second Step implementation in a predominately English language learner,low SES,Latino sample

Because school violence is widespread, social and emotional competence must be targeted. Second Step is a social and emotional violence‐prevention curriculum that teaches prosocial skills and reduces aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Second Step implementation on students (N = 403) in preschool through fourth grade who were predominately Latino, English language learners, and from families with low socioeconomic status. The data of 165 out of the 403 students were included in the present study. Analyses consisted of paired‐samples t‐tests to identify changes in social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk. Results showed that there was a significant increase in both social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk following the implementation of Second Step. These results are discussed with regard to previous and future research, limitations, and implications for school practice.     

School district triggers for reconstructing professional knowledge

In a recent publication, Senge (All systems go: the change imperative for whole system reform. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2010, x) stated ??at no time in history has there been a more powerful need for a new vision of the purpose of education.?? Increasingly citizens, academics and practitioners are calling for radical changes to educational practices to meet the needs of a knowledge-based society in the twenty-first century (Dede in 21st Century skills: rethinking how students learn. Solution Tree Press, Bloomington, 2010; Hargreaves and Shirley in The fourth way: the inspiring future for educational change. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2009). Accomplishing such substantive educational change requires that individual educators collectively reshape their personal professional knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin in Teachers as curriculum planners: narratives of experiences. OISE Press, Toronto, 1988; Elbaz in Curriculum Inq 11(1):43?C71, 1981) and adapt their personal mental models (Duffy in J Staff Dev 24(1):30?C36, 2003). In 2000, we began a longitudinal study on the role of a school district in facilitating significant educational reform which required adaptations to individual and collective mental models of professional practice. Annually we conducted intensive interviews with a large sample of teachers, school and system administrators in this large Ontario, Canada school district. Recently, we conducted a retrospective analysis of these data collected in order to identify the conditions necessary for a large organization to support knowledge-creation and dissemination. In this paper, we identify three school district actions that triggered individual educators to challenge and reconstruct their professional personal practical mental models of the teaching and learning. First, improved student learning became the central focus of the school district. Second, the school district stressed and created opportunities for educators to collectively engage in professional dialogue about their practice. Third, the school district emphasized the importance of educators individually and collectively using evidence to assess whether their actions improved student learning.     

Reference Sources and Research Methods

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Gene V. Glass, ed. Evaluation Studies: Review Annual Volume I, 1976 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1976---$29.95)

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