Learning Together: A Family-Centered Literacy Program

ABSTRACT

Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina serves a rapidly growing Hispanic population through its Family-Centered Literacy Program. The Hispanic population in the region has been increasing at a staggering rate of 50% per year, most of which is in-migration. These newcomers frequently face challenges adjusting to their jobs, schools, and living environment. The Family-Centered Literacy Program is teaching new skills to new residents to minimize the “culture shock”, and to make community immersion a less difficult process. The program offers evening classes 2 nights a week for parents and their children. Parents attend classes in basic and conversational English and General Education Development (GED) preparation; school-age children receive tutoring and help with homework; and preschool children learn from fluency-building games and activities. The college also provides Spanish instruction for school personnel who want to better communicate with Hispanic students and their parents. The program currently operates in 5 elementary schools. Each school has taken on the role of “community center” for Hispanic families.     

Promoting Evidence-based Education Practice and Better Student Outcomes through Improved Consumer Reporting

The past two decades have seen an increased need for better consumer reporting in education. This has resulted in part from a variety of education initiatives sponsored by the US Department of Education (ED) and others. The initiatives have increased the number of school improvement options available to educators and encouraged—or sometimes required—that choices be guided by “scientifically-based research.”     

What We Know,What We Still Need to Know: Teaching Adolescents to Write

The purpose of this study was to uncover any differences in the early reading and spelling processes of children learning to read in a first language (L1) and children learning to read in a second language (L2). The reading and spelling development of native Dutch-speaking children and minority children in the first two grades of elementary school were compared. The children were given a number of tasks to test their vocabulary knowledge and the efficiency of their word decoding (including grapheme knowledge and word blending), word spelling (including cipher knowledge and phonemic segmentation), and reading comprehension processes. Analyses of variance were used to test for differences between the L1 and L2 learners. LISREL analyses were used to explore the components underlying the reading and spelling processes in the 2 groups of children. The results showed that the minority children kept up with the native Dutch-speaking children on word blending and word decoding tasks. On word spelling and reading comprehension, however, the minority children were found to be less efficient than their monolingual Dutch peers. The structural models for word decoding and word spelling were highly comparable for the 2 groups. For reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge was found to have more of an impact on the L2 learners than on the L1 learners. This finding suggests that children learning to read in an L2 should be helped to build their lexical knowledge and that reading instruction should be matched to this knowledge.     

The Virtual Classroom Experience: Viewpoints from Computing and Humanities

In this article we first describe the past and current status of educational technology at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) (http://www.njit.edu). We then discuss the main points of deliberation for students, faculty and administrators involving learning via the World Wide Web and other information technologies, such as the Virtual Classroom TM (http://www.vc.njit.edu). Implementation and expansion of Web-based instructional activities at NJIT is occurring in all colleges of the university. In the Computer and Information Science (CIS) and Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) departments, there is an ongoing and concerted effort to find practical applications of technology that meet educational ends. Such productive mergers highlight the complex issues that exist among instructional staff, administrative concerns and distance learning technologies. We conclude with a suggestion as to how such activity, in concert with a more developed communications tec hnology infrastructure, can serve to enhance the educational experience and outcomes of NJIT students.     

Kindergarten Children's Executive Functions Predict Their Second-Grade Academic Achievement and Behavior

Whether and to what extent kindergarten children's executive functions (EF) constitute promising targets of early intervention is currently unclear. This study examined whether kindergarten children's EF predicted their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. This was done using (a) a longitudinal and nationally representative sample (N = 8,920, M_age = 97.6 months), (b) multiple measures of EF, academic achievement, and behavior, and (c) extensive statistical control including for domain-specific and domain-general lagged dependent variables. All three measures of EF—working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control—positively and significantly predicted reading, mathematics, and science achievement. In addition, inhibitory control negatively predicted both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Children's EF constitute promising targets of experimentally evaluated interventions for increasing academic and behavioral functioning.     

Approaches to the storage of low use and last copy research materials

This paper draws together the issues regarding the retention of print collections for academic libraries in a digital environment. The discussion focuses on a fundamental mission of academic libraries – ensuring ongoing access to older research material; leaving the discussion of the other key mission, providing current and relevant publications, to be discussed in other forums.The paper incorporates a review of approaches from the literature and from the authors' own experiences. Issues discussed include selecting material, development and management of print repositories, pros and cons of institutional or cooperative facilities and economic aspects. Although the focus is international particular references are made to the Australian experience.The authors suggest that a network of national, and ideally international, print repositories will provide the most reliable and cost-effective solution.     

文化遗产旅游吸引物的意境空间研究——为文化遗产旅游者创造适宜的旅游环境

近来,各种公众媒体的版面充斥着对世界各地著名遗产旅游景点更新改造的报道。文化遗产旅游目的地管理者也承认良好的外部环境在提升旅游者总体满意程度方面发挥着重要作用。阐明了遗产吸引物的自然环境在决定旅游者对景点的态度和未来再次购买意向方面有重要作用．同时影响着他们对亲朋好友的传播意愿。研究表明环境因素在面对顾客塑造永久性的独特品牌形象时可被作为一种差异化工具,并以此创造一种竞争优势。     

社会认识论:知识政策的理论与实践(下)

本文的后半部分展现社会认识论的实践层面.在这里笔者认为,有组织的探究,即维基词典中广义的"科学",仅仅在一种宏观经济学的框架内才能被证明是一种富有献身精神的追求.这个论点紧跟着这样的需要,即需要福利国家或市场社会主义来确保公共产品的稳定产生.即使我们假定(这个假定是有争议的)个体非常了解自身的利益所在,也不能由此断定他们足够充分地了解他人的利益,以至于确信他们将会协力生产出合适的知识,使得他们所有人都能够达到其目的.