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• Brain size, not gender, may be key to reading ability

  6/26/2008 9:15:57 AM

  Karla Young, a reading specialist in Murrieta, California, believes she has proof that girls are better readers. Most of her clients coming for help are boys. "Males and females are absolutely different in the way they process reading," she said. Wrong, according to a three-year study that disputes the popular stereotype that women have superior language skills. Instead, a research team at the University of California Riverside (UCR) and the University of Florida, Gainesville, discovered that the key is greater individual rather than sex differences, most likely based on brain size. Read more in The Press-Enterprise online.

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  Research

• Iowa deals with flood-damaged libraries

  6/26/2008 8:55:40 AM

  Most libraries in Iowa escaped the flooding that recently ravaged the state, and in many cases are serving as important information hubs where residents can go online and apply for aid, send e-mails, or use maps to figure out how to get around closed roads. Thats the good news, according to an article by Megan Hawkins in the Des Moines Register. The bad news is that a few libraries, including the Cedar Rapids library and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in that same city, sustained significant damage. Furthermore, because Cedar Rapids suffered such widespread damage, library repair is low on the priority list. At the Cedar Rapids library, the rare collection of original childrens book illustrations gathered over the years by Evelyn Zerzanek (featured on page 32 of the April/May 2008 issue of Reading Today) was moved to the second floor and later evacuated. For further information, read the full story.

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  Libraries

• "Perfect storm" of budget woes looms for schools across U.S.

  6/26/2008 8:53:35 AM

  The Fallon elementary school is a joyous place. But last week, some parents, students, and staff felt as blue as the hallway walls. On Friday, the small school in Lynn, Massachusetts, shut its doors—not just for the summer, but for good. In districts across the United States, budget shortfalls are resulting in locked-up schools, flurries of pink slips, and empty shelves where new books and computers should be. In cities from Los Angeles to Detroit, and in rural towns from Louisiana to New Hampshire, schools, like other sectors, are caught between skyrocketing prices and dried-up funding streams. "You have the perfect storm forming," says Chuck Essigs, director of government relations for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials. "You have costs going up ... for energy and fuel and health insurance ... and a loss of revenue from the state. [That is] creating certainly a lot more of a challenge than school districts have faced in many, many years." Twenty-nine states are facing a total of about $48 billion in overall shortfalls for fiscal year 2009, nearly a 10% drop, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, and education will bear some of the burden. Read more of this gloomy news in The Christian Science Monitor online.

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  Issues in the News

• Senate panel votes to kill Reading First funding

  6/25/2008 9:36:28 AM

  As did a House panel last week, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee voted on June 24 to eleminate all funding for the Reading First program, according to an article by Alyson Klein for Education Week online. The decision came as part of a fiscal 2009 spending bill that would provide modest increases for other education programs. In the article, IRA Director of Government Relations Richard Long is quoted as calling the actions by the House and Senate panels "unfortunate." Long added, "We hope this doesnt mean that the emphasis on reading improvement and professional development is dropped." Meanwhile, a federal advisory panel is urging Congress not to eliminate funding for Reading First, according to a separate article posted on Education Week online by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo. The panels members believe the recent evaluation of the Reading First program has caused misperceptions about the programs effectiveness. For further information, visit the Education Week website.

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  Issues in the News

• National Braille Challenge tests reading, grammar skills

  6/25/2008 9:19:25 AM

  Jordan Lynch, an 18-year-old Ararat, North Carolina, resident, beat 460 competitors for the chance to travel to Los Angeles, California, on June 28, 2008, to compete in a national competition against the top 60 children and youths ranging from grades one through 12. The competitors will participate in three or four of five offered events based on reading and grammar skills. The catch is that Lynch, like the other participants, is blind or visually impaired and will be reading and typing in Braille. The National Braille Challenge is in its eighth year and has grown from a regional competition based solely in Southern California to a national event attracting participants from the United States and Canada. Competition categories, with each session lasting about 50 minutes, include Braille Speed and Accuracy in which participants listen to a taped story and then transcribe it into Braille. They are judged based on the number of correct words and punctuation. Read more in The Mount Airy News online.

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  Special Needs

• Use social networking sites in classroom, study says

  6/25/2008 9:08:47 AM

  The popularity of social networking websites should be exploited by teachers in the United Kingdom (UK) to develop childrens ability to communicate and improve their technological skills, a new study says. Most schools and colleges in the UK currently block access to many sites, even though they can be employed in many subjects taught to different groups, said the study funded by Becta, the governments educational technology agency. The report by Childnet, an organization promoting Internet safety, said it was "clear that young people regard social networking services as just another part of their social and often school-related activities." Read more in The Telegraph online.

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  Literacy and Technology

• $10,000 bonus to be offered as merit pay for teachers

  6/25/2008 9:02:14 AM

  One of the most ambitious pay-for-performance initiatives in Washington, D.C., area schools is drawing strong teacher interest and local union support even though many national labor leaders have long asserted that it is unfair to link teachers paychecks directly to their students test scores. Prince Georges County plans to offer bonuses of up to $10,000 in the coming school year to exceptional teachers from 12 schools who participate in the incentive pilot program. That kind of money turns heads, especially among beginning teachers, the most difficult to retain: It is equal to a pay increase of more than 20% for a typical teacher with a starting salary of about $43,500. National unions have tended to criticize merit pay in part because they support raises for all teachers and in part because the concept is often considered a threat to labor solidarity. In recent years, however, unions have shown willingness to tinker with traditional pay systems. Read more in The Washington Post online.

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  Policy

• House panel would eliminate Reading First funding

  6/24/2008 10:52:41 AM

  The controversial federal Reading First program would be eliminated under a fiscal spending measure approved unanimously last week by a House Appropriations subcommittee, according to an article by Alyson Klein appearing on Education Week online. Representative David Obey (D-WI), chair of the House Appropriations Committee explained the decision by citing the results of a preliminary federal evaluation of Reading First, released last month, which found the program had not had an impact on students reading comprehension. He also cited concerns about mismanagement and conflicts of interest, as noted in previous reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education Inspector Generals office. For further information, read the full article at the Education Week website.

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  Issues in the News

• New York test results: great—but are they valid?

  6/24/2008 9:06:34 AM

  Kids in New York City and across the state posted jaw-dropping improvements on math and reading exams this year, prompting critics to question the validity of the tests. The results of standardized state exams released Monday show average student scores improving in every tested grade in the city, from third to eighth, in math and reading. Average scores in some grades made astonishing double-digit leaps over last year. Read more in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, or The Buffalo News, among many news organizations reporting this story.

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  Methodology

• New report assesses narrowing of achievement gap

  6/24/2008 8:54:15 AM

  Student scores on state tests of reading and mathematics have risen since 2002, and achievement gaps between various groups of students have narrowed more often than they have widened, according to the most comprehensive and rigorous recent analysis of state test scores. These improvements have occurred during a period when the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), state education reforms, and local school improvement efforts have focused on raising test scores and narrowing achievement gaps. The report, Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002?: State Test Score Trends Through 2006-07, was released today, June 24, 2008, by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy (CEP). It analyzes state test data from all 50 states as well as trends through 2007 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only federally administered assessment of reading and math achievement. While expanding on a similar report from last year, this study continues the focus on two main questions: whether reading and math achievement has increased since 2002 and whether achievement gaps between subgroups of students have narrowed. Read the press release and/or the report at the CEP website.

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  Research

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