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Health literacy is basic reading and numerical skills that allow a person to function in the health care environment. Even though most adults read at an eighth-grade level, and 20 percent of the population reads at or below a fifth-grade level, most health care materials are written at a 10th-grade level. Older patients are particularly affected because their reading and comprehension abilities are influenced by their cognition and their vision and hearing status. Inadequate health literacy can result in difficulty accessing health care, following instructions from a physician, and taking medication properly. Patients with inadequate health literacy are more likely to be hospitalized than patients with adequate skills. Patients understand medical information better when spoken to slowly, simple words are used, and a restricted amount of information is presented. For optimal comprehension and compliance, patient education material should be written at a sixth-grade or lower reading level, preferably including pictures and illustrations. All patients prefer reading medical information written in clear and concise language. Physicians should be alert to this problem because most patients are unwilling to admit that they have literacy problems. (Am Fam Physician 2005;72:463-8. Copyright© 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

This article discusses the great impact that self-concepts have on students' grades and performance, mainly in English and mathematics. These authors found different results than have previously been found in tests; they found that "there were significant positive paths from math self-concepts to subsequent math outcomes but not to subsequent English outcomes." Also, they found that girls had higher English and math grades but lower math self-concepts then boys, these results differ from previous test which claimed that the gender difference was diminishing. These results were interesting due to their difference in regards to other tests conducted.

Parents and students in a growing number of schools can track fluctuations in a grade-point average from the nearest computer in real time, a ritual that can become as addictive as watching political polls or a stock-market index.

The author here realizes an important problem. He believes that students that live in poverty need to change their live styles and when they reach 4th and 5th grades, that is the ear things need to change. This is the place in a childs life that determins how they percieve school for the rest of thir lives. Th author says that teachers need to understand that these students were born into poverty and do not have much direction. Teachers need to understand and be able to help the students when they need it.

This entry is about how bullying affects children at a young age. Since i am doing my study on discourse communities it is interesting to look this over and keep in mind some of the things it brings up. This is especially true since in my example of my own roomates, bullying doies happen quite a bit. The only problem is that this talks about your students 4-5th grade, but i still find info pertaining to college level kids as well.

In this prospective study home literacy is considered a multifaceted phenomenon consisting of a frequency or exposure facet (opportunity), an instruction quality facet, a parent-child cooperation facet, and a social-emotional quality facet. In a multiethnic, partly bilingual sample of 89 families with 4-year-old children, living in inner-city areas in the Netherlands, measures of home literacy were taken by means of interviews with the parents and observations of parent-child book reading interactions when the target children were ages 4, 5, and 6 years. At age 7, by the end of Grade 1, after nearly 1 year of formal reading instruction, vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were assessed using standard tests. Vocabulary at age 4 and an index of the predominant language used at home were also measured in order to be used as covariates. Correlational and multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesis that home literacy is multifaceted. Home literacy facets together predicted more variance in language and achievement measures at age 7 than each of them separately. Structural equations analysis also supported two additional hypotheses of the present research. First, the effects of background factors (SES, ethnicity, parents' own literacy practices) on language development and reading achievement in school were fully mediated by home literacy, home language, and early vocabulary. Second, even after controlling for the effects of early vocabulary and predominant home language, there remained statistically significant effects of home literacy, in particular, opportunity, instruction quality, and cooperation quality. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

This article is about a study conducted to determine the connection between a student's Biblical literacy and their grades in the classroom.

This article from the Harvard school of medicine talks about the rise of marijuana use among college students. They explain that from 1993 to 2000 the number has increased from 12.9 to 15.7 percent. This is a issue and many students have shown that this does not affect their grades. This survey was put out to show the rise in use among college students. Also there are many factors that imply the rise in use among college students. With this information it shows the rise in marijuana use among college students. Many students are turning to marijuana use rather than alcohol use during the weeks. This is a good alternative because it gives some input on how and why some students would choose marijuana over alcohol. This is solid back up information because it shows the increase in marijuana use and gives some statistical information to back it all up. This give some good numbers to support my research paper.

Current emphasis in curricular design for FLES programs dedicates little time to the development of second language literacy in foreign language learners in the elementary school. A focus on developing these literacy skills is essential, if communicative competence is to be the goal in a fully articulated K-12 curriculum for Spanish. The vehicle necessary for developing these skills lies in curricular objectives that emphasize literacy and in teacher development programs that foster the growth of this instructional skill in FLES teachers. In light of a theoretical discussion of the need for group reading instruction, an instructional unit serves as a model for developing the first and second language literacy of early elementary language learners. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

A survey conducted in 2004 by bankrate.com shows that the average United States citizen scored just 66 percent on a financial literacy test. The test was based upon twelve basic financial topics that were considered fundamental knowledge that all people in a capitalistic society should know. Individuals, who were not determined to be financially literate, stated that they were aware of their problem but never sought help. Individuals who were determined as most financially literate and most financially illiterate showed common characteristics, none which included any connection to gender.

In 2007, the Oklahoma Legistalure passed a law called "The Passport to Financial Literacy Act" that requires students, beginning in the 7th grade, to demonstarate "financial proficiency in 14 areas" to acheive a high school diploma. Other schools with the help of the National Endowment Fund for Financial Education have incorporated programs to increase the levels of financial literacy among students. Critics of this program state that these prgrams are not helping the overall financial literacy levels of high school students upon completion. It is not plausable to state that these financial programs are useless, because these programs need to work in correcpendence of parents teaching their children good financial habits within their own homes.

There are ways for students to gain financial literacy and this article is mentions plans for student programs to help do this. The article talks about how some finance classes don't help a students understanding of finances, and mentions to have financial literacy it might have to begin in a person's childhood.

Currently many states are slashing budgets which is forcing families to face higher college costs. College 529 plans come in a variety of configurations based on a childs age, and investment style. This article examined several 529 plans to determine the best and the worst. The best offered conservative plans for a child between the ages of 15-17 and earned around 2.7% while some other plans lost money