Center news
Center on Instruction Releases New Products
on Adolescent Literacy Instruction
PORTSMOUTH, NH: The Center on Instruction has made available a suite of materials on effective literacy instruction for adolescents. The suite comprises a meta-analysis, a practice brief, and a professional development module.
The meta-analysis of adolescent literacy research, Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta-Analysis with Implications for Practice, summarizes and synthesizes research findings to determine the relative effectiveness of interventions, and outlines the implications of these findings for practice. It focuses on interventions designed to improve students' use of reading comprehension strategies, reading vocabulary, accurate decoding of unfamiliar words in text, and increased reading fluency.
Drawing on the meta-analysis, Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Practice Brief, takes the meta-analysis a step further and focuses on the implications of this research for educators and decision-makers working in the field. It addresses the five reading components of adolescent literacy (word study, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation), compares successful and struggling readers' behaviors, and describes effective school-based instructional practices.
Finally, a professional development module includes a PowerPoint presentation and Facilitator's Guide with options for delivering the module in a one-day (for teachers, administrators, and district or state staff with advanced knowledge of reading in the upper grades) or two-day format (for those with some or little knowledge of effective reading instruction for adolescents and limited exposure to research in the field), individually or in collaboration with other facilitators.
California Produces Special Education, RTI Podcasts
ROHNERT PARK, CA: California Services for Technical Assistance and Training, a special project of the California Department of Education, has made a series of podcasts on Special Education issues, Special EDge, available. The 19 titles include conversations with experts on Response to Intervention (RTI), differentiated instruction, communities of practice, and professional learning communities.
Council of Chief State School Officers Publishes Study of Math
and Science Teacher Professional Development
LINCOLN, IL: Does Teacher Professional Development Have Effects on Teaching and Learning? Evaluation Findings from Programs in 14 States is based on a study, Improving Evaluation of Professional Development, of 25 teacher professional development programs in math and science conducted by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and funded by the National Science Foundation. Some key findings from the study were:
- Seven programs reported measurable effects on subsequent student outcomes. Ten programs reported measurable effects on increasing teacher content knowledge, and four reported measurable effects on teachers' instructional practices.
- The review showed significant effects when programs focus on math and science content and include training and follow-up pedagogical content knowledge. Total time in professional development for the studies with significant effects was 50 hours or more.
- School-based (rather than teacher-based) professional development appears to facilitate the use of student assessment scores and tracking change over time.
NECC Staffer Describes New Hampshire Work in New Handbook
PORTSMOUTH, NH: "Working Sma-tah, Not Ha-dah in New Hampshire" highlights the New England Comprehensive Center's work with the New Hampshire Department of Education to strengthen its statewide system of support. Written by Adam Tanney, a Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation and NECC staff member, the story appears as a chapter in the Center on Innovation and Improvement's Handbook for Statewide Systems of Support.
Read full story >
NECC Calls for Concerted Regional Effort
PORTSMOUTH, NH: "Talking About a Revolution: Looking to the Past to Save Our Future" by Charles Desmond, a collaborator on the NECC's work on Advancing Student Literacy and Numeracy, and NECC staffer Elizabeth Goldman appears in the Spring 2008 issue of The New England Journal of Higher Education. In the article, Desmond and Goldman call on New England's land-grant universities to lead the region in reinventing education for a diverse student body in a globally competitive world.
Download the full NEJHE article >
[provided with permission from The New England Journal of Higher Education]
Download the white paper that the article draws on >
Learn more about the Advancing Student Literacy and Numeracy initiative >
Principals' Network to Create Research-Based Literacy Tools for School Improvement
PORTSMOUTH, NH: In one of the first such ventures of its kind, the NECC's Principals' Literacy Leadership Network is engaging principals and state and district education leaders in creating a tool that will allow secondary school principals to design
and evaluate literacy programs in their schools.
Read full story >
REL Northeast and Islands Releases First Report
NEWTON, MA: The REL Northeast and Islands has released the first of its "Fast Response" studies funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences. The Impact of Benchmark Assessments Aligned to State Standards on Student Achievement was undertaken by this Regional Educational Laboratory in response to strong regional interest in benchmark and formative assessments and the lack of independent studies of their effect.
Read full story >
National Center on Response to Intervention Opens
WASHINGTON, DC: The newly created National Center on Response to Intervention provides technical assistance and dissemination about proven and promising models for Response to Intervention (RTI) and Early Intervening Services (EIS) to state and local educators, families, and others. Funded by a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education office of special education programs, the Center's work encompasses knowledge production through independent, technical review of RTI models and components; implementation supports through training and follow-up support; information dissemination through communities of practice; and formative assessment through evaluations of the quality, implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of the services offered.
To learn more, visit www.rti4success.org >
State news
Connecticut www.state.ct.us/sde/
Massachusetts www.doe.mass.edu/news.asp
Maine www.maine.gov/education/news.htm
New Hampshire www.ed.state.nh.us/education/news.htm
Rhode Island http://www.ride.ri.gov/Headlines.aspx
Vermont www.state.vt.us/educ/new/html/mainnew.html
NCLB news
New and archived NCLB news from the U.S. Department of Education
www.ed.gov/nclb/
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