The Core Knowledge Foundation released results from their study comparing the reading abilities of elementary students in New York City. The study found students learning to read using the Core Knowledge curriculum, which emphasizes the use of nonfiction texts, outperformed students learning by other methods.

Education theorist E.D. Hirsch Jr. designed the Core Knowledge curriculum in order to deepen students’ abilities to comprehend texts by building background knowledge alongside teaching the mechanics of reading. As a guest writer for the Washington Post blog The Answer Sheet, Robert Pondiscio explains Core Knowledge does include more nonfiction texts than is typically taught in early grades, but fiction and poetry are equally represented.

The study’s findings are particularly relevant as most states transition to the Common Core State Standards, which also emphasize the use of nonfiction texts. Many English/Language Arts teachers have expressed concern that the Common Core will phase out fiction and literature, and the Core Knowledge study has reignited discussions around what the right balance of texts should be.

“Finding the right balance between fiction and nonfiction texts will create students who truly understand what they read,” comments LTF President Dave Saba. But using a variety of texts does not mean having to switch between different teaching strategies.

LTF lessons are designed to teach students to read closely for a variety of purposes. Using LTF lessons, teachers guide students to interact with a text—whether fiction or nonfiction—by annotating, using questioning strategies, and journaling.

“From its inception, one of the purposes of LTF Training has been to enable teachers to prepare students for both the AP English Literature Exam, which focuses on imaginative literature, and the AP English Language Exam, which focuses on nonfiction and persuasive texts,” adds LTF English Director Doris Rutherford.

Related Stories:

• Reading and Language Growth: What it Really Takes
• Nonfiction Curriculum Enhanced Reading Skills, Study Finds
• Core Knowledge Kids Learn More in NYC Pilot

The new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test launched today replacing the TAKS test. This morning, high school freshmen completed the writing portion of the English I end-of-course assessment, and they will tackle the reading section tomorrow.

The new exam is touted as being far more rigorous than the previous TAKS test. For instance, STAAR contains more open-ended questions, additional types of essays required, and a time limit.

Since it is in its first year, STAAR will not count toward school ratings and will not determine whether or not a fifth- or eighth-grade student will be promoted. Next year the end of course exams will count for 15 percent of the student’s grade; however, districts can apply for a waiver from the grading requirement for this year. The Austin-American Statesman reports that as of Friday “about 487 of the state's 1,215 districts or charter schools had requested waivers.”

The Austin-American Statesman offers a concise agenda for the rest of the week:

STAAR This Week

Today — Ninth-graders in English I classes will tackle the new writing test. Though it isn't being used this year to determine school ratings or course grades, students will have to pass the exam to graduate.

Tuesday — Ninth-graders will take the English I reading exam, and students in grades four and seven will take the writing test. Students in grades five and eight take the math exam.

Wednesday — More writing tests are in store for fourth- and seventh-graders and reading tests for fifth- and eighth-graders.

Students in 10th and 11th grades will take tests as well, but they will be taking the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, which is being phased out.

Here is some first-day feedback from LTF Math Forum Facilitator and Math Trainer Melissa Parma:

My 9th graders took the STAAR English 1 Writing exam this morning. The fastest finished in 1 hour, 20 minutes. Three of my 21 students worked past the 3.5 hour mark, and one finished with just 10 minutes to spare. All students consulted their dictionaries and/or thesauri at least once, and about half of them consulted them regularly throughout the test. I had the high achievers; they are all enrolled in Pre-AP Geometry or Pre-AP Algebra 2 as freshmen. I asked them when it was over if it had been easier than, harder than, or about what they expected, and these students universally reported that it was easier.

We'd like to hear from other teachers too. How did your first day of STAAR testing go?

This post was written by Jared Brueckner, VP of Business Development.

As I sat there waiting for my flight in the Chicago O’Hare airport I glanced over to see a young lady, around ten years old, using a smart phone. Watching how fast she used the phone and watching her use the phone for nearly everything made me think about students and mobile and where things are going. We all know mobile is here to stay. How it stays is the real focal point. 

Recently, Business Insider put out this great slide show of its research on mobile. Seeing this report, coupled with my experience from traveling around the country and asking districts what they’re doing with mobile, shows us more about the future mobile technology has in schools. Three things stick out to me: rate of adoption, accessibility, and collaboration.

The rate of adoption for tools in mobile is staggering. There is nothing to compare it to, no technique, no product, no idea…nothing. Taking directly from the report: It took Draw Something nine days to reach one million users. It took AOL nine years to reach one million users. I’ve seen this to be true in education over and over. Once a teacher has validated something (app, technology, method) works in mobile for their course, it spreads like wildfire throughout the entire district and commonly spills over into other districts within weeks.

The concept is even holding true for the adoption of mobile itself. In Florida, a large school district near Tampa took a stand last year and bought iPads for its students and declared that they were going “mobile.” Their adoption of the technology almost pushed other surrounding districts into buying the technology out of peer pressure. In Georgia, now we’re seeing the same type of thing. One district will buy into it, and many other districts then buy soon after. When I ask them about their design for use and implementation, they don’t have many answers, and most even ask questions about what I’ve seen in other places as if they are searching to find what they will use them for. Mobile is spreading and being adopted much faster than anyone anticipated in K-12 education. It’s coming to you—ready or not!

Accessibility of connecting to each other and to content has always been very appealing in education. Looking at the numbers, there are more people accessing high-speed Internet through mobile networks than through cable networks. Students having access to the Internet and being able to connect with their teacher is always an issue of technology, and one that appears to be working itself out by accessing the Internet through mobile networks.

The rapid adoption of tools and the accessibility of the Internet through mobile devices means that collaboration happens at the speed of thought. Students can find content (answers, assignments, homework, articles, etc.) within seconds of having the question pop into their head, then connect to other students, or their teacher, and begin to collaborate on things much faster than ever before. Moving so quickly from textbook to Internet to coursework to collaborative environments gives students more flexibility to learn as they want to than could have been imagined a few years ago.

With all of this capability how do we harness it for good? What are you doing in your classroom? What will come next?

This post was written by Jared Brueckner, VP of Business Development.

Often we have too many things coming at us to even think about tomorrow or even this afternoon. Let’s break for a moment and talk about one looming dark cloud that is on the horizon for all of us parents, teachers, and administrators. The recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education put a big spotlight on one of the more significant problems our students will soon be facing: the college bottleneck for students.

California is leading the way right now with financial problems as a state and school system. Their woes are ahead of the rest of the country and are terrifying to say the least. While it isn’t fun to be California the rest of us can use their problems as a way to see what’s ahead for most of us in the next couple of years. Their constant budget problems include massive shortfalls for everything, including textbooks, materials, and paying staff. They’ve had to stretch every penny to the maximum while cutting valuable teachers and other resources. During my time at Pearson Education I worked mostly in higher education and spent a lot of time with colleges in California.

The article shows the impact of the problems created by these budgets. The most significant problem for all of us in K-12 education is the bottleneck for our students. There is a significant impact for districts that are not preparing students for college, especially through rigorous programs like AP. The problems that California is experiencing are ahead of other states, but many others are on their heels with the depth of financial problems which will create a similar bottleneck in their state college systems.

In short, if students are prepared and qualified to enter college on time and without remediation they will avoid the bottleneck. If districts are not preparing their students through rigorous curriculum and challenging courses (meaning they must prepare their teachers to deliver these things) their students will get caught in the bottleneck. We are in a position to make a profound difference in kids’ lives by challenging them and pushing them. How is the rigor in your school?

http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/03/21/for-the-have-nots-a-sometimes-confusing-and-difficult-road-to-a-degree/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

“The best resource to shift education paradigms and build investment is already in schools: the teacher leader,” writes Linda Yaron, a high school English teacher in Los Angeles. We couldn’t agree more.

When our videographer, Elliot, and I were out in Ruston High School and Pasadena ISD talking with teachers and administrators for our case studies, one theme kept resurfacing. All meaningful change occurred because strong administrator support was in place to encourage teachers to find what worked for them.

Teachers who were exposed to LTF strategies passed their success stories on to their colleagues who then also attended LTF training. As the cycle repeated, eventually some highly qualified teachers from within district applied to become LTF Trainers, who today are leading LTF professional development sessions.

By empowering current teachers to lead professional development sessions, the LTF trainer model gives workshop participants the value of a master teacher’s experience and gives the district the advantage of a teacher mentor for its staff. Not to mention, identifying teacher leaders and empowering them to train others on best practices will, “shift the traditional paradigm that reform is done to schools and teachers, rather than with them,” writes Yaron.

Read Yaron’s full article here.