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The is article discusses what some think would be a better model for reading than presented in the No Child Left Behind Act. This new model combines three former reading models (cognitive model, stage model, and the Pracek Model) to help teachers with developing readers. This model is supposedly superior despite its complexity because of its broad reach and practical purposes. This article does not really define what it wrong with the No Child Left Behind Act, but instead presents a model that might be more beneficial to children learning how to read.

Using a nationally representative sample of 13,609 kindergarten children in 2,690 classrooms and 788 schools from the base year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, along with three-level hierarchical linear models, this study investigates the impact of early literacy instruction on kindergarten children's learning, as measured by direct cognitive test scores, indirect teacher ratings of children's achievement in language and literacy, and indirect teacher ratings of children's approaches to learning. Two composite measures of phonics and integrated language arts are constructed from teachers' reports of their instructional practices. Findings show that classroom mean outcomes were significantly higher when classroom teachers reported using both integrated language arts and phonics more often. However, children with low initial performance benefited less from integrated language arts instruction, as measured by direct measures of achievement; such differential effects of instruction were not observed for teacher ratings of children's achievement and learning style. Policy implications of the findings are discussed. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

Whether it be leaping, resisting, or being gently shoved, the field of early childhood education continues moving into the age of accountability. Young children are expected to exhibit many requisite skills prior to kindergarten. Thus, the advancement of pre-reading and writing skills development become one of the many areas of focus for early childhood teachers. This study focused on the advancement of young children's emergent literacy and letter recognition skills through developmentally appropriate instruction and need based adapted activities using the Early Literacy and Learning Model (ELLM) curriculum. The results suggest that mindfully adapting activities to children's needs advances children's emergent literacy development.

This is an article in the Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges that argues the point that the majority of students possess basic computing skills, e.g., WWW, email, search engines (Google), instant messaging, etc., but this knowledge is not founded upon the technology itself; rather, students are mere consumers who learn to use such technologies only because they possess meaningful functionality.