Expectations of Students in Kindergarten

This paper compares kindergarten classrooms between 1998 and 2010 using two large nationally-representative datasets. We show substantial changes in each of the five dimensions considered: kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about school readiness, time spent on academic and non-academic content, classroom organization, pedagogical approach, and use of standardized assessments. Kindergarten teachers in the later period held far higher academic expectations for children both prior to kindergarten entry and during the kindergarten year. They devote more time to advanced literacy and math content, teacher-directed instruction and assessment, and substantially less time to art, music, science and child-selected activities. Changes were most pronounced for schools serving high proportions of low-income and non-white children.

Bassok, D., Latham, S., & Rorem, A. (2016). Is kindergarten the new first grade?: The changing nature of kindergarten in the age of accountability. AERA Open, 1(4), 1-31, http://dx.doi.org/.1177/2332858415616358.

Early Literacy Programs for Preschoolers

The purposes of the present research were to provide empirical evidence of the ways in which preschool literacy programs in Ontario public libraries (1) facilitate participating children’s early literacy development and school readiness, and (2) influence family interactions supporting children’s literacy learning.

Key findings include:

-       The early literacy library programs have been particularly strong in meeting parents’/caregivers’ goals of fostering children’s school readiness and their motivation to read.

-       Participating children demonstrated many early literacy behaviors and understandings considered by leading early literacy researchers and experts to be foundational to later literacy success: vocabulary development; awareness of rhymes and sounds of language; and an understanding of books that were read by library staff.

-       In addition to supporting these foundational underpinnings of children’s later literacy and school achievement, library staff served as excellent literacy models for the parents/caregivers, enabling them to make reading with their children more engaging and more productive in terms of learning early literacy skills and understandings.

Recommendations:

-       Developing children’s print awareness is a recommended topic for professional development of library staff.

-       Eight of the 10 library staff members expressed a desire for workshops and resources to help them plan their preschool library programs.

Peterson, S. S., & Jang, E. (2012). Preschool early literacy programs in Ontario public libraries. Toronto, ON: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. http://fopl.ca/media/2013/11/OISE-Report-FINAL-29June2012.pdf

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Student Preparation for Work and College

This report examines English literacy and mathematics required for success in the first year of community college. A discussion is conducted regarding the results of the study and its implications for community college reform, school reform, teacher education, the common core state standards, and vocational education in the workplace. We offer these research reports in the hope that our findings will enable our schools to make the changes in school curriculum and instruction needed to enable our students to be much more successful in college and in the careers they choose for themselves.

NCEE (2013). What does it really mean to be college and work ready?: The mathematics and English literacy required of first year community college students. Washington, D.C.: National Center on Education and the Economy. http://www.ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/NCEE_ExecutiveSummary_May2013.pdf