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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01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-modelling framework that automates the very labor-intensive and therefore time-heavy and expensive process of learning by automating the very human interaction between text and media.
Abstract: CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNING: PLAY AS A SCAFFOLD FOR FORMAT BASED INFORMATIONAL TEXT FEATURES
4 citations
Cites background from "Literacy and reading performance in..."
...From a quantitative perspective, the number of years of schooling or percentages correct on summative evaluations is 4 a sufficient standard by which to judge literacy (Roberts, 1995; Stedman & Kaestle, 1987)....
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2017
4 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present determinadas actuaciones educativas that al implementarse permiten erigir una escuela eficiente y eficaz, and en consecuencia, a escuelas deseable for las familias donde se aprende.
Abstract: Objeto: El elevado fracaso escolar existente en Espana exige preguntarnos sobre sus causas pero tambien por las alternativas. En ocasiones se senala al propio alumnado como responsable de este, especialmente aquellos grupos vulnerables como el migrante, la comunidad gitana o clases sociales desfavorecidas, entre otros. En lugar de hablar de fracaso escolar deberiamos referirnos a escuelas que fracasan, es decir, aquellas que no garantizan para todo el alumnado los aprendizajes necesarios para participar en la actual sociedad. El articulo centrara por tanto la atencion sobre esta relacion entre exito escolar e inclusion social. Diseno/metodologia: Partiendo de los resultados del proyecto Includ-ed (VI Programa Marco de la Comision Europea), existen determinadas actuaciones educativas que al implementarse permiten erigir una escuela eficiente y eficaz, y en consecuencia una escuela deseable para las familias donde se aprende. Se analizaran los resultados del proyecto que permiten identificar como dichas actuaciones refuerzan la dimension instrumental del aprendizaje y como ademas la dimension instrumental del aprendizaje se convierte en una apuesta para la inclusion social. Aportaciones y resultados: Las comunidades de aprendizaje aplican estas actuaciones de exito demostrando como incluso en situaciones donde se concentran los factores de exclusion, las escuelas gueto, logran transformarse en escuelas deseadas al ofrecer las mismas oportunidades educativas y sociales a todo el alumnado con independencia de la procedencia social o cultural de este. Valor anadido: Los resultados nos muestran como la innovacion educativa reside en garantizar la igualdad de oportunidades real para todo el alumnado. Ello supone una decisiva contribucion a la construccion de una sociedad mas cohesionada, al combate de la pobreza y la exclusion, y en definitiva se orienta hacia la consecucion de los objetivos de la estrategia 2020 de la Comision Europea.
4 citations
Cites background from "Literacy and reading performance in..."
...Especialmente es a aquel alumnado procedente de barrios desfavorecidos sobre el que no se prioriza en su aprendizaje el esfuerzo ni la adquisición de los conocimientos básicos (Bhopal, 2011; Stedman & Kaestle, 1987; Valls & Kyriakides, 2013)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a sample of 217 students enrolled in two Mississippi junior colleges' ABE or GED classes were administered a questionnaire to examine their reading habits, and the most salient conclusion was that as a group, they were by no means non-readers, though their time spent reading is less than the general population.
Abstract: A sample of 217 students enrolled in two Mississippi junior colleges’ ABE or GED classes were administered a questionnaire to examine their reading habits. The sample was studied as a whole and by the demographic variables of race, gender, age (14–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–67), and reading level based on their TABE scores (≤5.0, 5.1–7.9, ≥ 8.0). The most salient conclusion was that as a group, they were by no means non‐readers, though their time spent reading is less than the general population. Most reading was “educational” (including news), and least was “job related” and “recreational.” Though most have read a book (or part of a book such as a Bible) in the last six months, they are generally not book owners though most do subscribe to or buy regularly a newspaper or magazine. A plurality (44%) felt they were “good” readers. Responses to several questionnaire items varied by race, age, and TABE score.
4 citations
01 Jan 1992
TL;DR: The National Workplace Literacy Program (NWLP) as mentioned in this paper is a program of the U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education (Office of ED), Washington, DC.
Abstract: Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), Washington, DC. National Workplace Literacy Program.
4 citations
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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