Research Update Dec. 2005

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 impacted 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 online 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.

Fourth-grade students reading aloud: NAEP 2002 special study of oral reading. (2005). Washing-ton, 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" read-ers. 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 average, the lowest performance on measures of accuracy, rate, and fluency.

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. Hyper-text 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.

Student Achievement
Bruni, O. (2006, Jan.) Sleep disturbances and teacher ratings of school achievement and tem-perament in children. Sleep Medicine, 7(1), 43-48.
In a Brown Medical College study of sleep deprivation, teachers reported that children aged 6 to 12 who had eight hours or less of rest a night forgot more, had more problems learning new material and found it harder to pay attention than did peers who got adequate sleep. Experts say young elementary-aged students need 10 to 11 hours of sleep a night, while teenagers need 8.5 hours. .

Research-proven tips to boost students' brainpower. (2005, Nov. 4). Johns Hopkins News-Letter.
Students can ensure they're in top mental form, researchers say, through activities that include eating high-protein breakfasts and scheduling specific times for e-mailing, instant mes-saging and making phone calls.

School Issues
Center on Education Policy. (2005). From the Capitol to the classroom: Year three of the No Child Left Behind Act. Washington, DC: EP. http://www.cep-dc.org/nclb/NCLBPolicy-Briefs2005/
The Center on Education Policy has developed a series of policy briefs highlighting ma-jor findings from its 2005 annual report. The first brief examines why urban schools are being identified for improvement at a disproportionate rate than suburban or rural schools. Other briefs address: "Middle Schools are Increasingly Targeted for Improvement"; "Is NCLB Narrowing the Curriculum?"; and "What School Districts Are Doing to Improve Teacher Quality in High-Need Schools."

Dearth of school nurses puts children in harm's way. (2005, Dec. 14). USA Today.
Nearly half the nation's schools fall short of the recommended ratio of one full-time nurse for every 750 students. Low pay, compared with that of other nursing jobs, and NCLB pressures, which make schools reluctant to free up funds by slashing teaching positions, are fueling the shortage.

Technology
Brumfield, R. (2005, Nov.). States must do more to embrace eTexts. eSchool News, 14.
A recent survey by the Software and Information Industry Association found that most states adopt technology-based media, but only a third have updated their selection process to ad-just to these formats. Several barriers exist: state contracts and budgets, payment schedules, licensing agreements, distribution methods, lack of depository requirements, lack of expertise by reviewers, lack of equipment, and restrictions on linkages.

Chinn, M., & Fairlie, R. (2004). The determinants of the global digital divide. Santa Cruz: Uni-versity of California.http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:edmQDioni5gJ: reposito-ries.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Facle%3D1020%26context%3Ducscecon+University+of+ California,+Santa+Cruz.+Fairlie+digital+divide+&hl=en
Teenagers with home computers are more likely to complete high school than those without the devices, but black and Hispanic students are much less apt to have a computer or Internet access at home. The digital divide in America is "large and persistent," with serious implications for education and economic inequity.

Fulton, K., Glenn, A., & Valdez, G. (2004). Teacher education and technology planning guide. Naperville, IL: NCREL. http://www.ncrel.org/tech/planguide/
This guide provides a framework of eight key categories for assessing the readiness lev-els of teacher education programs to ensure that their students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and predispositions for teaching effectively with technology in any setting. The eight cate-gories are vision; leadership; faculty use of technology; teacher candidates' use of technology; funding for technology resources, training, and support; collaboration with arts and sciences; PK–12 partnerships; and meeting external mandates.

Garten, C. (2005, Fall). Assessment, communication, and intervention. Curriculum*Technology Quarterly, 15(1). http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.e479bd0773dc1fecdeb3ffdb62108a0c/
The use of online testing, which if linked to the standards, can enhance analysis of the results and assist educators in tailoring timely interventions to bridge students' gaps in knowl-edge and meet individual academic needs. Teacher training and parent communication are key.

Hanson, K., & Carlson, B. (2005). Effective access: Using digital libraries to enhance high school teaching in STEM. Newton, MA: Education Development Center. http://www2.edc.org/GDI/publications_SR/EffectiveAccessReport.pdf
A study of high school teachers explores the barriers teachers face when they seek to use digital libraries and other electronic resources in the teaching of science, technology engineering and mathematics. The survey's 236 respondents complained most about hardware shortfalls, poor training, a lack of support and a lack of time.

Rainie, L. (2005, Nov. 20). Search engine use shoots up in the past year and edges towards email as the primary Internet application. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://207.21.232.103/PPF/r/167/report_display.asp
Searching the Internet has established itself as the second most popular Web activity after using e-mail. The study found that use of search engines increased to 63% of adult Web surfers, easily besting third place news sites, which were frequented by 46% of users.

Teen content creators and consumers. (2005). Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Content_Creation.pdf
Half of all teenagers have their own blog or have contributed photos, text or artwork to a blog or other Web site. Additionally, the Pew survey finds that more than half of the population of teens online report downloading music and three-fourths of online teens suggest it is "unreal-istic to expect people not to" download copyright protected material without paying.

U. S. Department of Education. (2005). Toward a new golden age in American education--how the Internet, the law and today's students are revolutionizing expectations. Washington, DC: U. S. Dept. of Education. http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/index.html
This is the Department's 2004 National Education Technology Plan. The report found that students often are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy. It also found that in gen-eral schools lag behind many other parts of society in the use of technology, despite recent ad-vances.

Upwardly mobile superintendents must understand technology. (2005, April 29). eSchool News.
Superintendent search committees say strong candidates display an appreciation for how technology interfaces with learning. While they note such technological know-how is not usually the primary skill boards seek in their prospective schools bosses, it's becoming increasingly im-portant, as school software and hardware needs grow in sophistication.