Literacy and reading performance in the United States, from 1880 to the present
TL;DR: The authors reviewed literacy and reading achievement trends over the past century and place current debates in a historical perspective, and suggested that students' reading performance at a given age remained stable until the 1970s and much of it can be explained by the changing demographics of test-takers.
Abstract: THE AUTHORS review literacy and reading achievement trends over the past century and place current debates in a historical perspective. Although then-and-now studies are methodologically weak, they suggest that students' reading performance at a given age remained stable until the 1970s. The test score decline that then occurred was not as great as many educators think, and much of it can be explained by the changing demographics of test-takers. The decline pales when compared to the tremendous increase in the population's educational attainment over the past 40 years. However, the strategy of ever-increasing schooling to meet ever-increasing literacy demands may have run its course. High school dropout rates are increasing, and educational attainment has leveled off. Researchers have identified substantial mismatches between workers' skills and job demands, and between job and school literacy skills. In spite of their flaws, functional literacy tests suggest that 20 percent of the adult population, or 30 million people, have serious difficulties with common reading tasks. Upgrading literacy skills now requires new initiatives by coalitions of educators, community groups, employers, and government agencies.
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37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review of large-scale phoneme awareness training studies reveals an array of activities that can be used by the classroom teacher or clinician to help children learn to read.
Abstract: As educators continue to debate the value of phonic versus meaning-based approaches to reading, a significant number of children continue to fail to learn to read. One of the fundamental tasks facing the beginning reader is to develop the realization that speech can be segmented and that these segmented units can be represented by printed forms. A review of some of the large-scale phoneme awareness training studies reveals an array of activities that can be used by the classroom teacher or clinician. Three studies by the author investigated these issues. The first study, involving 90 kindergarten children in inner-city schools, concluded Lhat ic is the combination of phoneme awareness training and learning to connect the sound segments to letters that makes a difference. In the second and third studies, for low-income children from inner-city schools who had limited knowledge about the alphabet prior to their kindergarten participation in the study, an early emphasis on phonological awareness, followed by a code-emphasis approach to reading in first grade, resulted in significant reading achievement gains. An early emphasis on phonological awareness puts children in a better position to take advantage of reading and spelling instruction. Contains 62 references. (SR) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************
33 citations
Cites background from "Literacy and reading performance in..."
...Even as adults, it is estimated that 20% of the population continue to have severe problems with the most common reading activities (Stedman and Kaestle 1987)....
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TL;DR: The authors argue that history is a marginalized research genre among literacy professionals, consigned to the fringes of inquiry and share a conversation about why this is so, and why it should not be.
Abstract: The authors assert that history is a marginalized research genre among literacy professionals, consigned to the fringes of inquiry. They share a conversation about why this is so, and why it should not be.
32 citations
01 Sep 1993
TL;DR: The authors analyzes why the dichotomy between low literacy and reading disability may not be as useful as it once was and considers what is to be gained (or risked) by understanding low literacy from a reading disability perspective.
Abstract: Although both the adult learning disability community and adult literacy community deal with adults whose limited reading skills interfere with daily living, the pedagogical approaches of the two communities have differed markedly in terms of traditional assumptions, target population, and treatment. This report analyzes why the dichotomy between low literacy and reading disability may not be as useful as it once was and considers what is to be gained (or risked) by understanding low literacy from a reading disability perspective. Specifically addressed is how recent research on the causes, diagnoses, and treatment of reading disability in both children and adults may be applicable to detecting and working with low-literate adults who may or may not be reading disabled.
31 citations
01 Mar 2009
TL;DR: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been widely used as a measure of student achievement and equity in the United States as discussed by the authors, and has been used in evaluations of NCLB and the minority-majority achievement gap.
Abstract: During the past 25 years, the country witnessed a dramatic transformation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Actions by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Congress, and the National Assessment Governing Board fundamentally changed NAEP's role in federal educational policy and the nation's schools. Developed in the 1960s through a privately funded initiative, NAEP began as a voluntary program run by a state consortium with financial support from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It later became a congressionally legislated program administered by one of the country's premier testing organizations and overseen by a federally mandated public board. 1 Over time, NAEP's focus and scope changed substantially, expanding to grade and state testing, reporting by achievement levels, and, as part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), requiring participation to receive Title 1 funds. NAEP was no longer a program whose results were reported in passing, but had become central to monitoring the nation's progress in achievement and equity. One major change was splitting NAEP into two separate programs: 1) the main assessment that tested students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in diverse subjects and 2) the long-term trend assessment that tracked performance in reading, writing, math, and science at ages 9, 13, and 17 as NAEP had done since 1969. This paper describes how NAEP's trend assessment changed, its use in national educational discussions, and its major findings. From the earliest days, NAEP trends have figured prominently in debates over the decline of excellence, and extra attention is devoted to that issue. The paper also discusses the way in which NAEP trends have been used in evaluations of NCLB and the minority-majority achievement gap. A final section addresses the future of the long-term trend assessment. Its utility has been sufficiently questioned that the Board has considered eliminating it. While this paper focuses on the long-term trend assessment, by necessity, a discussion of its history must begin with the original NAEP program. For its first 20 years, there was only one program and a central part of its mission was to monitor trends. Its architects planned to regularly test nationally representative samples in 10 learning areas covering literacy, math and science, social studies, fine arts, and workplace skills. NAEP was the brainchild of three major 2 From the outset, NAEP was to be a different type of program that uses innovative formats, item reporting, and measurement of national …
30 citations
Cites background from "Literacy and reading performance in..."
...The state data were too sketchy, however, to have produced any firm conclusions about national trends (Stedman and Kaestle, 1987)....
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...The best estimate was that students of similar background performed at about the same level throughout the 20th century (Stedman and Kaestle, 1987; Stedman, 2003)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jul 1983TL;DR: In this article, the piedmont: textile mills and times of change, and the teaching of how to talk in Trackton and Roadville, are discussed, as well as the teachers as learners and the townspeople.
Abstract: Photographs, maps, figures, tables, texts Acknowledgments Prologue Note on transcriptions Part I. Ethnographer Learning: 1. The piedmont: textile mills and times of change 2. 'Gettin' on' in two communities 3. Learning how to talk in Trackton 4. Teaching how to talk in Roadville 5. Oral traditions 6. Literate traditions 7. The townspeople Part II. Ethnographer Doing: 8. Teachers as learners 9. Learners as ethnographers Epilogue Epilogue - 1996 Notes Bibliography Index.
4,564 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the piedmont: textile mills and times of change, and the teaching of how to talk in Trackton and Roadville, are discussed, as well as the teachers as learners and the townspeople.
Abstract: Photographs, maps, figures, tables, texts Acknowledgments Prologue Note on transcriptions Part I. Ethnographer Learning: 1. The piedmont: textile mills and times of change 2. 'Gettin' on' in two communities 3. Learning how to talk in Trackton 4. Teaching how to talk in Roadville 5. Oral traditions 6. Literate traditions 7. The townspeople Part II. Ethnographer Doing: 8. Teachers as learners 9. Learners as ethnographers Epilogue Epilogue - 1996 Notes Bibliography Index.
4,208 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The Mismeasure of man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits, and yet the idea of innate limits-of biology as destiny-dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined by Stephen Jay Gould.
Abstract: When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits. And yet the idea of innate limits-of biology as destiny-dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined by Stephen Jay Gould. In this edition Dr. Gould has written a substantial new introduction telling how and why he wrote the book and tracing the subsequent history of the controversy on innateness right through The Bell Curve. Further, he has added five essays on questions of The Bell Curve in particular and on race, racism, and biological determinism in general. These additions strengthen the book's claim to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton University has said, "a major contribution toward deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our present social woes."
3,879 citations
Book•
16 Nov 1972
TL;DR: Most Americans say they believe in equality. But when pressed to explain what they mean by this, their definitions are usually full of contradictions as mentioned in this paper. But most Americans also believe that some people are more competent than others, and that this will always be so, no matter how much we reform society.
Abstract: Most Americans say they believe in equality. But when pressed to explain what they mean by this, their definitions are usually full of contradictions. Many will say, like the Founding Fathers, that “all men are created equal.” Many will also say that all men are equal “before God,” and that they are, or at least ought to be, equal in the eyes of the law. But most Americans also believe that some people are more competent than others, and that this will always be so, no matter how much we reform society. Many also believe that competence should be rewarded by success, while incompetence should be punished by failure. They have no commitment to ensuring that everyone’s job is equally desirable, that everyone exercises the same amount of political power, or that everyone receives the same income.
2,315 citations