Second Grade is Important: Literacy Instruction and Learning of Young Children in a High-Poverty School

Abstract

Several years ago, I began a research project that had as its main purpose the description of literacy instruction and growth demonstrated by 13 children in an elementary school (kindergarten through sixth grade) considered at risk because the majority of students are minority, learning English as a new language, and financially poor. My goal for this research project was to better understand literacy learning and instruction in

Where Do Standards Come From? A Phenomenological Study of the Development of National Board Early Childhood/Generalist Standards

“…This criticism can be challenged. The research literature abounds with studies that support constructivist learning and teaching both in language arts (Barone, 2003;Clarke, 1988;Elly, 1991;Freppon, 1991;Kasten & Clarke, 1989;Manning, Manning, & Long, 1989;Ribowsky, 1985;Stice & Bertrand, 1990;Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 2000;Wharton-McDonald, Pressley, & Hampston, 1998) and also mathematics (Baroody, 1987;Campbell, 1996;Devries & Kohlberg, 1987;Ginsburg, 1977;Hickey, Moore, & Pellegrino, 2001;Kamii, 1985Kamii, , 1994Labinowicz, 1985;Schifter & Fosnot, 1993).…”

Relationship among Executive Functions, Vocabulary and Reading Skills in School-Aged Children with and without Poor Vocabulary

“…We chose school-aged children because some research has suggested that EF skills in children before entering elementary school may be unidimensional, and so it may be hard to observe distinct EF factors in language skills (e.g., Barata, 2011). We specifically chose children at early elementary school because during this period of time most of children were obtaining basic literacy skills, which was closely connected to later academic success (Barone, 2003;Snow & Matthews, 2016) as well as because the distinctive ability in reading (e.g., word recognition) is associated with children with poor reading ability who were at early elementary school rather than from children at higher elementary school (Kim & Pae, 2012;Van Kleeck, 2007).…”

Resistance, Engagement, and Understanding: A Profile of a Struggling Emergent Reader Responding to Read-Alouds in a Kindergarten Classroom

“…Strickland & Walker, 2004). Explicit instruction in reading strategies, such as understanding story structure or using context clues to identify unknown words, has been shown to increase students' reading abilities and comprehension (Stevens, Van Meter, & Warcholak, 2010), yet a decontextualized emphasis on skills has shown to be ineffective and detrimental (Barone, 2003;Henson & Gilles, 2003;Triplett, 2007). In a large-scale study examining the effects of different instructional approaches on elementary students' comprehension level, Block, Parris, Reed, Whiteley, and Cleveland (2009) found that workbook practice and basal readers produced the lowest levels of reading achievement, whereas a transactional approach in which students read text with discussions guided by teachers had the most positive effects.…”

“…Moreover, what if we examined this evidence in concert with the aforementioned evidence that Blacks lose ground early in their careers ? (p. 8) The way in which students respond to reading instruction can reflect larger issues such as what it means to be a reader and what meanings of literature are accepted within the school setting; both are reflected in classroom contexts as well as in teacher and student expectations (Barone, 2003;Primeaux, 2000). Unfortunately, many practices in urban schools with predominantly minority populations rely on deficit-based approaches rather than build on the literacies that children possess.…”