 |
|
|
|
by Karena O'Riordan
"For most children, learning to read is akin to riding a bicycle or tying their shoes; practice pays off and mastery is linear," explains Dr. John Schacter of the Milken Family Foundation. "But there are significant numbers of children for whom learning how to read is as difficult a task as understanding Arabic when they've spoken only Spanish their whole lives -- it can be very daunting."
Results from last year's National Assessment of Educational Progress (U.S. Dept. of Education) show that increasing numbers of students are having difficulty learning to read — 38 percent of this nation's fourth graders could not read at a basic level.
In efforts to address the needs of students who encounter such challenges though offering advice on good teaching practices, the Milken Exchange on Education Technology presented a review of current, effective school reading programs at a meeting held in Miami, Florida on October 14th.
The goal of the meeting, titled "Symposium For Technology And Learning Strategies In Language Arts" was to discuss how technology can help or enhance the process of learning. Dr. Schacter concentrated on reading programs, and set out to identify those which research showed were effective in improving student achievement. The resulting report, titled Reading Programs That Work: A Review of Programs from Pre-Kindergarten to 4th Grade" includes 35 such programs.
The reading report includes evaluations of 14 technology programs, nine school-wide curricular programs, seven tutoring programs and five early childhood programs. Results were based on answers to four main questions:
- Which school-wide reading programs increase young students' reading achievement?
- Which technologies are effective in teaching essential reading acquisition and comprehension skills?
- Which reading-tutoring programs are effective and when should they be implemented?
- What early literacy curricula -- including preschool, daycare centers, and parenting programs -- are effective in increasing reading readiness skills and reading achievement in later grades?
"The success of any endeavor depends upon the input of key people who are committed to raising achievement levels," says Kirk Vandersall, Education Technology Specialist at the Milken Exchange on Education Technology. "We want to give teachers, administrators, policymakers and parents information about existing strategies that raise student performance in reading and language arts while using technology as a tool in the process. This report does precisely that."
|
