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BONUS
RESOURCES FOR CLOSING THE READING GAP
- Early
Literacy Corner
This teacher resource website at the Center on English Learning &
Achievement (SUNY-Albany) offers useful information about helping young
children (3-6) to develop the skills they need to begin to read and
write. Activities include comprehension, phonemic awareness, descriptive
language, vocabulary building and more.
- Are
We Overlooking the Struggling Adolescent Reader?
Find out education leaders in Worchester MA are improving literacy skills
among the city’s middle and high school students with initiatives
like a ninth grade “academic literacy” course. This link
leads to the beginning of a story in the Harvard Education Letter (Sept/Oct
2004). You’ll need to subscribe to obtain the entire issue. The
full text of this story may appear online at the HEL website in November
2004.
- Mastering
Reading & Mathematics in the Early Grades
What will it take to close achievement gaps in reading and math?
Assuring that students achieve early literacy in these two content areas
is one critical success factor, says this 2004 report from the Southern
Regional Education Board. The report analyzes results from the National
Assessment of Educational Progress in Alabama and 15 other SREB states
and critiques the level of rigor in each state’s academic standards.
- Find
Out More about the Reading First Program
In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act established the national Reading
First grant initiative. Reading First builds on the findings of years
of scientific research compiled by the National Reading Panel. Federal
grants help states and local school districts establish high-quality,
comprehensive reading instruction in kindergarten through grade 3. The
program requires participating states to select, implement, and provide
professional development for teachers using scientifically based reading
programs, and to ensure accountability through ongoing, valid and reliable
screening, diagnostic, and classroom-based assessment.
- Supporting
Early Literacy Through Teachers’ Professional Communities
Ladson-Billings and Mary Louise Gomez describe their work with a
group of primary-level teachers attempting to improve the early literacy
abilities of children at risk of school failure through a model of professional
collaboration and focused professional development. (Phi Delta KAPPAN,
May 2001)
WTE
JOURNAL RESOURCES FOR CLOSING THE READING GAP
- What Research
Says About Reading
For a variety of points of view about research-based reading instruction,
peruse this issue of Educational Leadership (March 2004). Some articles
are available online to any visitor. To access other articles, you’ll
need to be a member of ASCD or locate a print copy of the magazine.
- Reading Experts
Sound Off About Phonics
Wendy Cheyney and Judith Cohen are reading experts who share their
practical approach to teaching phonics, phonemic awareness and the alphabetic
principle with K-12 classroom teachers across the nation. In this Education
World e-interview, they talk about current research in the teaching
of reading and answer the questions they are most often asked by classroom
teachers.
- Lessons
from High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools
Many principals and school improvement teams in Alabama’s
high-poverty schools have become “believers” in the possibilities
of high performance after reading this study of 21 “No Excuses”
schools. Author Samuel Casey Carter defines seven common traits of high-poverty
schools that helping all students excel. Download a free copy of the
report at this webpage.
- Family Literacy
Educators are well aware that factors outside the school influence
their students' success in learning to read. In this “Research
Link” article from Educational Leadership, John H. Holloway describes
some of the factors identified by researchers and some actions schools
and communities are taking to develop comprehensive family literacy
programs.
- Alabama Accountability
FAQs
Find out more about Alabama’s new public education accountability
system by downloading this PDF file from the State Department of Education
website. This Frequently Asked Questions memo (August 2004) describes
the latest developments in Alabama’s evolving accountability system
and outlines future requirements.
- Check School and
District Test Performance
This accountability search engine at the ALSDE website allows any
visitor to examine school and district performance on an array of state
accountability tests, including the Alabama Reading and Mathematics
Tests, the Stanford-10 Achievement Tests, the High School Graduation
Exam, and the Direct Assessment of Writing Exam. The software produces
easy-to-print reports that can be tailored by various accountability
subgroups, including gender, race, poverty and special education.
- Deciphering
DIBELS
DIBELS assessments are now used by teachers and schools across Alabama
to take a quick measure of student progress in developing various pre-reading
and early reading skills. If you’re hearing the word “DIBELS”
a lot and would like to learn more about the “Dynamic Indicators
of Basic Early Literacy Skills,” visit the DIBELS website and
browse the helpful (and colorful!) explanations.
- Focus on
the Middle Grades
A new report from the Southern Regional Education Board, Getting
the Mission Right in the Middle Grades, analyzes the performance of
eighth-graders in a group of southern states, including Alabama, on
the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Based on the analysis,
SREB’s middle grades experts recommend steps that policymakers
and schools can take to get middle schoolers ready for high school.
- Energize Your
School Improvement!
Energy is a keystone of school improvement, says organizational
expert Jane Dutton. But in many schools today “the energy seems
to be generated by external pressure.” The core premise of Dutton’s
new book Energize Your Workplace is that “every organization already
has available within it a renewable wellspring of energy that flows
from how people treat each other in their daily interactions.”
Found how how to Dutton’s ideas can help build collaboration and
drive school change in this interview from the Journal of Staff Development
(Summer 2004).
- Group Work
Has Its Dangers
Ready to push ahead with teacher collobration as a key competent
of your school’s quest for higher achievement? While group work
is critical to schoolwide improvement, says collaboration expert Robert
Garmston, it has its dangers. In his popular I column (Summer 2004),
Garmston offers describes the skills, structures, and protocols required
for educators to work collaboratively toward common goals.
- Principals
and Reading
G. Reid Lyon shares recent reading research “that principals
need to know” in this article from Principal magazine, a publication
of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. This article
is available to the public. Members of NAESP can access more than 40
articles about elementary and middle school reading at http://snipurl.com/NAESPindex
- Creating a Culture
Shift
Read about a high-poverty school in Harlem where “Everything
the teachers and administration do is based on results, not programs.”
The article is one of a dozen (scroll to botoom) stories profiling successful
data-driven schools at Douglas Reeves’ Center for Performance
Assessment website.
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