Group items tagged

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.

We sought to determine whether literacy mediates the relationship between education and glycemic control among diabetes patients. Methods: We measured educational attainment, literacy using the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (s-TOFHLA), and glycemic control (HbA1c) in 395 diabetes patients at a U.S. public hospital. We performed path analysis to compare two competing models to explain glycemic control. The direct effects model estimated how education was related to HbA1c; the mediational model estimated the strength of the direct relationship when the additional pathway from education to literacy to HbA1c was added. Results: Both the model with a direct effect of education on HbA1c and the model with literacy as a mediator were supported by good fit to observed data. The mediational model, however, was a significant improvement, with the additional path from literacy to HbA1c reducing the discrepancy from observed data (p<0.01). After including this path, the direct relationship between education and HbA1c fell to a non-significant threshold. Conclusions: In a low-income population with diabetes, literacy mediated the relationship between education and glycemic control. This finding has important implications for both education and health policy. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

This article is about the program No Child Left behind designed to kill illiteracy in young people. The article is also about the new movement Merged Model which is more than the NCLB program. It also talks about the new models they are trying to use to improve literacy in children.

This article discusses the thinking processes in college and university students. Donald goes through different disciplines and discusses the thinking process that is behind each one. Also, a working model was created to discuss the thinking processes. This article provided some very interesting information and would be helpful when doing field research.

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 article explains how graphing calculators can be used in calculus to benefit students, and also how graphing calculators are changing the way that calculus is being taught. One issue that sets this article apart from the other articles is its assessment of how students are required by most schools to purchase their own calculators. This article analyzes the effect this can have on how the class should be taught, and how calculators put students at advantages and disadvantages depending on how they are used, and how students with more computing power excelled or failed compared to those with the less powerful model of calculator.

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.)

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.)

This study represents a grounded theory investigation of how motivation and self-perceptions influence students' emotions, cognitions, and behaviors by focusing on student-athletes, individuals who may experience conflicting sets of motivation and self issues. From observing and interviewing nine student-athletes at a Research 1 university, we developed a process model relating themes to the students' experiences.

Stereotyping, low pay, lack of role models. Why the number of men teaching in schools is at a 40-year low.

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.

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.