Digital technology and writing study

A recent national study determined the pros and cons of using digital technology in classrooms. According to the survey, the majority of middle- and high-school teachers believe digital tools increase student collaboration with apps like Google Docs and help them share their work through social media. At the same time, these teachers give their students modest marks for formal writing and low marks in “navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition” and “reading and digesting long or complicated texts.”
Kristen Purcell, Judy Buchanan, Linda Friedrich. (2013).The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. 
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teachers-technology-and-writing.aspx

Internet trends

Now 2.4 billion Internet users exist around the world, an average of 8% increase in a year (3% in the U.S.) The amount of global digital information created and shared give ninefold between 2006 and 2011, to total 2 zettabytes (2 trillion gigabytes). More than 500 million photos are uploaded and shared daily. 100 hours of videos are uploaded onto YouTube each minute.
Meeker, J., & Wu, L. (2013). 2013 Internet trends. Kleiner Perkins Canfield & Byers.
http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends

Foreign language teaching research

Effective strategies are those that make input more comprehensible and that help us use writing to solve problems. It may be useful to teach some strategies directly, but some strategies may be innate, and others could develop as a result of comprehensible input. Individuals acquire language subconsciously by understanding aural and written messages, that is, from " “comprehensible input,”and that subconsciously acquired language is far more important in language comprehension and production than consciously learned language. Discussion of strategies in the second language acquisition field has largely been independent of the acquisition-learning distinction. In fact, many of the strategies proposed and investigated in second language education relate to conscious learning (e.g. ways of reviewing for a grammar test or memorizing vocabulary).
Krashen, S. 2013. Should we teach strategies? Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 10(1): 35-39.

Families, libraries and reading study

The vast majority of parents of minor children — children younger than 18 — feel libraries are very important for their children. That attachment carries over into parents’ own higher-than-average use of a wide range of library services. Parents (especially mothers) are also more likely than other adults in expanding library services, including tech-related services. Furthermore, lower income parents are more likely to view library services as very important. These conclusions reinforce the importance of families and libraries in children's reading habits.
Miller, et al. (2013). Parents, children, libraries, and reading. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/05/01/parents-children-libraries-and-reading/

Workplace skills and knowledge report

This scholarly report addresses many questions educators are asking about teaching to make sure students get the college and career readiness skills they need to prosper in the 21st century. The report has a comprehensive index that educators will find useful for research on particular topics of interest as they implement Career Technical Education, Common Core, the Next Generation Science Standards and STEM programs and initiatives. The report describes  key skills that increase deeper learning, college and career readiness, student-centered learning, and higher order thinking. These labels include both cognitive and non-cognitive skills- such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, effective communication, motivation, persistence, and learning to learn. 21st century skills also include creativity, innovation, and ethics that are important to later success and may be developed in formal or informal learning environments. This report also describes how these skills relate to each other and to more traditional academic skills and content in the key disciplines of reading, mathematics, and science.In addition, features related to learning these skills are identified, which include teacher professional development, curriculum, assessment, after-school and out-of-school programs, and informal learning centers such as exhibits and museums.
Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century. (2013). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13398

College readiness survey

This survey revealed a disconnect on the crucial question of college readiness. Eighty-nine percent of high school teachers surveyed said students who finished their classes were well or very well prepared for college work in those subjects. But 26 percent of college instructors say incoming students are well or very well prepared for first-year courses, the survey found. The results echoed previous findings in 2009, even though there has been intensive focus on college readiness in recent years.
ACT National Curriculum Survey. 2013.
http://www.act.org/research-policy/national-curriculum-survey/

School library audiobooks and reading study

A study was conducted to determine the impact of the use of audiobooks with struggling readers in a school library audiobook club. The participants met weekly in the school library with the school librarian and researchers to discuss audiobooks and make reading recommendations to their peers. Standardized test data as well as pre- and post- study interviews and surveys, teacher questionnaires, parent questionnaires, and student interviews were analyzed. The findings indicated that struggling readers’ use of audiobooks had a positive impact on reading skills and attitudes toward reading. These findings are significant given the dearth of research directly related to the impact of audiobooks, despite the prevalent usage of audiobooks.

Whittingham, Jeff; Huffman, Stephanie; Christensen, Rob; and McAlister, Tracy. “Use of Audiobooks in a School Library and Positive Effects of Struggling Readers’ Participation in a Library-Sponsored Audiobook Club.” School Library Research, 16.
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol16/SLR_Use_of_Audiobooks_V16.pdf