Preschool not too early to measure literacy
(School Psychology Review, Volume 36, Number 3, 2007, pp. 433-452)

Preschool isn't too early to test literacy skills, according to a recent study in School Psychology Review. Early literacy testing results for preschool children were moderately correlated with measures of alphabetic principle and phonological awareness in kindergarten and significantly predictive of later outcomes in oral reading fluency both at the end of first grade and at the end of kindergarten, report the team of researchers.

The Early Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (EL-IGDIs) were used to measure early literacy skills in a sample of preschool children. The test includes picture naming rhyming and alliteration. Longitudinal data were available for 143 of the children in kindergarten and for 116 through the end of 1st grade.

"The diagnostic utility of these measures was found to be strong," write the researchers who wanted to link these measures with literacy measures used in primary schools.

This study is just the beginning of a line of inquiry that is needed on preschool literacy assessment and intervention, they add.

National teacher survey on spelling instruction
(Reading Psychology, Volume 28, 2007, pp. 301-330.)

A national survey of teachers on spelling found that spelling is as frustrating for teachers as it is for students. Top concerns for teachers are the poor carryover of spelling to students' writing and students' lack of concern for correctly spelled words and their lack of proofreading.

"They are poorly motivated to take the necessary care and time to look up unfamiliar words so they can spell them correctly," wrote one teacher.

Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with spelling programs, materials and instruction methods but confusion about how to be more effective in teaching spelling. Many wondered if spelling is not an innate ability that cannot easily be taught.

A total of 355 teachers from 50 states (16%) completed and returned surveys to the researchers; the teachers taught grades 1-5. The survey results point to a big disparity between how teachers are teaching spelling and their beliefs, the researchers report. While 77% of teachers assign one list to the whole class, only 49% agree that that is an effective way to teach spelling. 64% agree that a standard should be set at each grade level to designate which spelling words students should master, the researchers report.

Many teachers were critical of allowing students to use invented spelling, although many respondents agreed that it was reflective of children's developmental stage. One teacher wrote, "Research tells us that if a child misspells a word 5 times--he/she owns it. Could invented spelling be a mistake?"

New tool for evaluating language proficiency
(Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Volume 50, August 2007, pp.940-967)

Self-reports of language proficiency are notoriously unreliable. A new questionnaire, the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), takes a history of language use to more accurately evaluate language proficiency, reports a new study in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research.

The LEAP-Q collects information about age of language acquisition, modes of language acquisition, prior language exposure, current language use as well what language preference is, the study says. The LEAP-Q assesses exposure to a language in 4 different environments (a) in a country, (b) at school, (c) at work, and (d) at home. In addition to prior exposure, ongoing language use has been shown to predict performance. Bilinguals who use a language more often have better pronunciation and better use of syntax, the researchers report.

The target population for the LEAP-Q are adult and adolescent bilinguals and multilinguals and the intended use and purpose are for evaluating language proficiency of research subjects, the authors note.

Self-concept as readers motivates voluntary reading
(Reading Improvement, Fall 2007, pp. 111-130.)

Students who feel competent and successful as readers are more likely to engage in voluntary reading outside of class, according to a study in Reading Improvement. The survey of 199 5th-grade students from two elementary schools who read at or above grade level found that readers who have more positive self-concepts as readers were more likely to engage in out-of-school voluntary reading.

Only students reading at or above grade level were included in the study so that reading disabilities would not be a factor in voluntary reading, the author writes. The survey included questions about students' self-perceived competence in reading and self-perceived performance relative to peers. Students also answered questions about the value they placed on reading and how frequently they engaged in reading-related and other activities.

Student interviews, student achievement measures as well as activity logs, reflexive journals and demographic information were analyzed as part of the study. Two other factors were found to be significantly correlated with voluntary reading, the author reports: amount of television viewing and organized activities.

The 5th-grade students in this study read for an average of 17 minutes per day outside of school. However, avid readers voluntarily read an average of 46 minutes a day whereas reluctant readers read voluntarily only an average of three minutes per day outside of school.

Girls' bias awareness didn't boost interest in science careers
(Psychology of Women Quarterly Volume 31, 2007, pp. 262-269)

To test whether learning about gender discrimination would increase girls' interest in science careers, researchers randomly assigned 158 middle-school girls to two intervention programs aimed at increasing girls' interest in science; the sample was racially diverse. All girls attended a four-hour conference that featured sessions by female scientists and hands-on activities.The experimental condition included a one-hour session on gender discrimination, the other did not.

Contrary to expectations, girls who attended the conference showed a decrease in the egalitarian attitudes toward women in science, the researchers report. However, girls who received the gender discrimination information showed no change. Girls who received information about gender discrimination may have showed increased self-efficacy because it led them to reinterpret the past negative feedback they received, the researchers say. The experimental condition also increased the girls' beliefs that science is a worthwhile subject of study, the researchers write.

Daily Behavior Report Cards
(Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Winter 2007, pp. 30-37)

"Daily Behavior Report Cards (DBRCs) have been widely accepted and used across a variety of situations to intervene with challenging behaviors and document change in those behaviors," write the researchers. In this study, the teacher and an observer each completed a DBRC and another observer performed a systematic direct observation.  At baseline, the ratings of the two observers were more similar to each other than they were to the teacher's ratings. The teacher and observer ratings were in greater agreement after the positive reinfrocement intervention. As a group though, of the 34 total rating sessions, 30 of the DBRC ratings fell within one point of each other, the researchers say.

The advantages of teacher DBRC ratings is that they involve a better use of resources and the results are not affected by the presence of an observer in the classroom. "Future research should continue investigation into the strengths and weaknesses of using teacher-completed DBRCs as a way to obtain information about student behavior."