Interventions for reading difficulties: a comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers

This article explores whether struggling readers from different primary language backgrounds differ in response to phonologically based remediation. Following random assignment to one of three reading interventions or to a special education reading control program, reading and reading-related outcomes of 166 struggling readers were assessed before, during, and following 105 intervention hours. Struggling readers met criteria for reading disability, were below average in oral language and verbal skills, and varied in English as a first language (EFL) versus English-language learner (ELL) status. The research-based interventions proved superior to the special education control on both reading outcomes and rate of growth. No differences were revealed for children of EFL or ELL status in intervention outcomes or growth during intervention. Oral language abilities at entry were highly predictive of final outcomes and of reading growth during intervention, with greater language impairment being associated with greater growth.     

The economic returns to investment in women's education

The paper discusses the problems of measuring the rate of return to women's education, and evidence is presented for nine countries which shows that the returns to secondary and higher education are on average two percentage points lower for women than for men, but in some countries they are actually higher. Education increases the earning capacity of women, and also increases their propensity to remain in the labour market. But some allowance must be made for the value of women's non-market work, for indirect benefits of education, and for psychic income. Various methods are suggested for measuring the non-monetary benefits of education, such as the intergeneration effect of a mother's education on the future achievement of her children, or the non-pecuniary benefits of employment for women in the labour force. The effects of discrimination on women's earnings and job prospects are discussed, and it is shown that a large part of the observed differential between male and female earnings is due to the concentration of women in low-income occupations. The paper concludes that the difference between the returns to education for men and women is less than is often suggested, particularly if some attempt is made to measure nonmonetary benefits. But the returns to women's education would be increased if there were a change in traditional attitudes leading to a more equal occupational distribution and better utilisation of women in the labour force.     

The corporatizing and privatizing of schooling: A call for grounded critical praxis

Our review of Henry Giroux's Stealing Innocence , Alex Molnar's Giving Kids the Business , and Kenneth Saltman's Collateral Damage describes how these authors assess the problems posed by contemporary corporate influences on public schools and considers the solutions they offer to counter those influences. We also examine Henry Levin's edited collection Privatizing Education , in which various authors address research on privatization in schooling. In our analysis of this book, we highlight the underlying themes of the wide-ranging chapters. Next, we critique all four books, focusing primarily on the books by Giroux, Molnar, and Saltman. We suggest that these three authors provide a somewhat totalized and ahistorical portrait of contemporary corporate influences on schooling and offer a solution that depends on teachers acting as democratic revolutionaries, though there is no realistic possibility that teachers today would take on this role. In contrast, we call for a critical theory and practice that is grounded both in a more complex understanding of the current historical context and also in a dialogical engagement with students, teachers, parents, and other community members.     

Lifelong learning and the reform of the teaching practicum in Australia

This paper reports the findings of a project—‘Lifelong learning and teacher education’—undertaken by the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Australian Catholic University, under the auspices of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. The study was designed to investigate the operationalization of lifelong learning in Australian teacher education. The study revealed that there is a range of existing, innovative practices regarding partnerships between schools and higher and further education that are in keeping with emerging ideas about lifelong learning. Moreover, some of these take the form of collaborative action research projects focused on improving the learning occurring in the partnership schools. This paper describes some current approaches in Australia to collaborative action research by teacher educators' and their partnership schools and shows how they contribute to lifelong learning. The approaches are then analyzed to suggest ways of advancing lifelong learning within Australian Education Faculties thus helping to make lifelong learning more of a reality for all.     

Science curriculum development in New Zealand a historical account

Summary Science education in New Zealand continues to have a strong research base and now development work has begun that is modelled on a view of how people learn and which is supported by the curriculum development of the wider Ministerial Review.     

UK data from 197 undergraduates for the Nelson Denny Reading Test

The Nelson Denny Reading Test (Brown, Fishco & Hanna, 1993) provides measures of comprehension, reading rate and vocabulary. It is widely used in research studies with high school and undergraduate students and for assessment purposes in the USA. No widely used test of this kind exists for adults in the UK. The present paper reports data from 197 undergraduates from the University of Essex on the Nelson Denny test. Analyses were carried out of the data in terms of degree type and year of study. The scores obtained with the present sample were higher than those reported in the manual of the Nelson Denny test for a subset of the standardisation sample. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. Overall, the results suggest that the Nelson Denny test is suitable for use with UK undergraduate students.     

An experimental comparison of urban children with suburban children on eight tasks of basic skills

About 1500 children from an inner city school district and a suburban school district were asked to perform eight tasks of basic skills. There were differences in the performances of the children. The differences depended upon the socio-economic background of the children. On many of the skills, third grade urban children were similar to first grade suburban children. It is for this reason that the inner city children in this study were considered disadvantaged and a program of skill development has begun. Inner city children must have experiences that will help them acquire the skills that suburban children have acquired before entering school.