Research Archive 2005

California
California scores up, but still far short of goals. (2005, Oct. 28). San Francisco Chronicle.
While 68% of the 6800 California schools that posted results met short-term targets on the Academic Per-formance Index, only 28% achieved long-term goals. Scores of minority, low-income and English-learning students rose but still trailed those of the overall population by hundreds of points.
Changing schools hurt math scores. (2005, Sept. 17). Los Angeles Times.
California students who stayed in the same school for fifth and sixth grade dropped 1% in their math score proficiency grades this year, while those who moved to middle school for sixth grade dipped 7%, the Los Angeles Times found. In explaining the middle school slump, some experts say it's tough for students in the throes of puberty to contend with multiple teachers, an unfamiliar campus and tougher coursework all at the same time

Constantino, R. (2005, Feb.). Print environments between high and low socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Teacher Librarian, 32(3), 22-25.
This study examined access of books by students ages 7 to 12, among six communities in greater Los An-geles. A significant difference existed between low and high SES status and home, classroom, and school library books (higher having more access); there was no significant difference relative to public libraries. Schools do not make up the difference for children in low SES communities

The economics of investing in universal preschool education in California. (2005). Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
A recent Rand study found that very dollar spent on universal preschool in California would result in $2.62 in benefits, such as reducing the number of children in special education and stemming juvenile arrests. The report also said a universal preschool model would bolster the state's work force and promote economic growth.

Jepsen, C., & de Alth, S. (2005, Apr.). English learners in California schools. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.
The study found that Spanish- and Hmong-speaking students take longer to master English than children from some other groups, most likely because many lack qualified teachers and affluent parents.

Krashen, S. (2004, Dec.). Proposition 227 and skyrocketing test scores: an urban legend from California. Educational Leadership, 62(4), 37-39. Test scores went up in California, but dropping bilingual education had nothing to do with the increase. Test score increases appear to be a result of the usual "test score inflation" that occurs when new tests are intro-duced; there were no clear differences in gains between districts that kept bilingual education and those that dropped or reduced their bilingual programs. Missing from nearly all discussions of the effectiveness of bilingual education is the consistent finding that controlled studies show that bilingual education works.

Fuller, D. (2005). A digital library for California K-12 public schools: The power of providing online databases to all schools. http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/faculty/fuller/CADigitalLibWP4.pdf All but three states have digital K-12 libraries; California is one of the holdouts. Subscription online da-tabases is the core component of a digital library. Fuller points to four key lessons when building K-12 statewide digital libraries: age and grade appropriate portals, strong tie to state curriculum standards, resources provided in the context of information literacy, and marketing..

Teachers in schools with poor, minority students paid less. (2005). Oakland: Education Trust-West.
Within California's largest school districts, teachers who work with poor and minority students have lower salaries than do counterparts at schools serving more affluent and white students, finds a new study by The Education Trust-West advocacy group. The findings, which some district officials questioned, say the disparity in results is due in part from union agreements that give veteran teachers choice over where they work.

Libraries
Chapin Hall Center for Children. (2005). New on the shelf: Teens in the library. Chicago: University of Chicago.
http://www.chapinhall.org In this four-year study exploring the role of public libraries in youth development, youth increasingly see public libraries as safe, comfortable and affordable places to do homework, use computers and socialize after school. Communities and policy-makers also see public libraries as part of a support network for youth, especially as a low-income community resource. Teens comprise 25% of public library patrons but get proportionally fewer resources and services than other age groups.

Fisher, D., Lapp, D., & Flood, J. (2001). The effects of access to print through the use of community libraries on the reading performance of elementary students. Reading Improvement, 38(4), 175-182. Researchers compared the difference in a variety of scholastic metrics between students in grades one through six who made weekly visits to the public library with their class and students who made weekly visits to the school library with their class. Students who visited the public library showed a 21% increase in the number of stu-dents performing “at or above grade level” on the standardized test for their school system, while the students who visited the school library showed only a 4% increase in the number of students performing “at or above grade level” on the standardized test. Students in the groups visiting the public library also increased their recognition of chil-dren’s book titles and children’s authors. The results of this study suggest that the public library as a resource for school aged children significantly improves their general scholastic performance.

Sutton, L. (2005, Oct.). School library filters too often block valid research sites. Presentation at AASL conference, Pittsburgh.
Internet filters used by school libraries are likely to block legitimate education content, thereby frustrating students trying to do assigned research, according to a study presented to the American Association of School Li-brarians last week. Researcher Lynn Sutton said teachers need to work with students and technology staff to devise different filter settings so appropriate material can get through.

Reading
Adolescents Read. Lessons from New York Life Revitalizing High School Libraries Initiative 2003-2005. (2005, Nov.). Washington, DC: Public Education Network.
http://www.publiceducation.org/pdf/publications/high_school/Adolescents_Read.pdf This article explains how a private-public partnership improved high school libraries such that they im-pacted adolescent literacy.

Coiro, J. (2005, Oct.). Making sense of Internet content. Educational Leadership.
Reading on the Internet is a part of daily life, but many students do not have the proper skills to use on-line texts meaningfully. It's crucial for teachers to supplement the regular reading curriculum with additional lessons in four areas: search strategies, web navigation, critical evaluation of content, information synthesis.
Crowded schedule leaves little time for pleasure reading. (2005, May 24). Washington Post.
Teachers under pressure to raise test scores and complete fast-paced lesson plans are finding it difficult to give students time for pleasurable reading. Even though studies show reading skills are boosted when students can choose the books they read, many high schools require students to tackle difficult classics that, some experts say, fail to engage them.

Elbaum, B., Vaughn, S., Hughes, M. T., Moody, S. W. (2000). How effective are one-to-one tutoring programs in reading for elementary students at risk for reading failure? A meta-analysis of the intervention research. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(4), 605–619.
One-on-one reading tutoring, led by trained adults, can have a significant positive effect on student reading, particularly for younger students. It should be noted that only a few studies were used in this meta-analysis.

Federation of Children’s Book Groups. (2005). Potter works wonders for kids’ literacy. Leeds, England: FCBG. http://news.scotsman.com/print.cfm?id=765922005 The Harry Potter series has made a major impact on literacy and reading habits in the U.K. Almost 3/5 children think the books helped them improve their reading skills and 2/3 think it has turned non-readers into read-ers.

Fourth-grade students reading aloud: NAEP 2002 special study of oral reading. (2005). Washington, DC: NCES. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/studies/2006469.asp Three separate components of oral reading ability (accuracy, rate, and fluency) are very much related to each other and to reading comprehension. "Fluent" readers in this study were likely to read higher percentages of words accurately, to read the passage at a faster rate, and to have scored higher, on average, on the NAEP reading assessment than "nonfluent" readers. More than one-half of the students read the study passage fluently, with a fairly high degree of accuracy, and at a rate of at least 105 words per minute. However, a group of students whose average scale score and labored oral reading performance suggested they were struggling also demonstrated, on av-erage, the lowest performance on measures of accuracy, rate, and fluency.

Ivey, G., & Fisher, D. (2005). Learning from what doesn’t work. Educational Leadership, 63(2), 8-15.
This article criticizes standard school practices that discourage adolescent students’ individual inclina-tions in reading. The authors instead encourage sustained silent-reading periods, giving kids a wide range of books to choose from, and injecting personal reflections into discussions of books.

Kamil, M., & Chou, H. (2005). Reading in a digital age. Eye on Research.
http://www.ciconline.org/NR/rdonlyres/elb74xzpcaicbkdnre3bwigqhhlyfxccevq34q2p3bed6q3fjburrntaayv4gibnhzzg2f5twwfpxp/THFall05EyeonResearch2.pdf Hypertext offers different reading experiences and different learning supports. Hypertext offers more options, which can help or distract readers; students need explicit instruction on using these digital texts.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy. (2005). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/naal/
One in 20 U.S. adults lack basic English skills. From 1992 to 2003, adults (age 16+) made no progress in their functional literacy. Their competency dropped or was flat across every level of education, from people with graduate degrees to those who dropped out of high school.

Reading next: A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy. (2005). Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/ A panel of education researchers assembled by the Carnegie Corporation and the Alliance for Excellent Education identified 15 key elements to help adolescents move beyond word recognition to more purposeful read-ing. The items strictly related to classroom instruction include intensively teaching comprehension strategies; mak-ing texts available that encompass a wide range of topics and reading levels; holding small-group student discus-sions of texts; allowing for independent reading and student-selected materials; and focusing on writing.

Torgesen, J.K. The urgency and the challenge of teaching all children to read: Lessons from research. (2005). Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University. Experts believe it's possible to ease the crisis in adolescent literacy, but only if schools demonstrate the willingness and commitment to make reading the "cornerstone of learning." Focusing on literacy in the K-2 years is more effective than trying to play catch up in middle school and high school.

For a PDF of the entire Research Archive 2005, click here.