Canadian organizations invest heavily in occupational health and safety training and new equipment to protect employees, yet they spend little on upgrading the basic skills and literacy of their workers, according to a new Conference Board report examining literacy's impact on workplace health and safety.
Conference Board survey data has shown that employers spent 10 per cent of their training budgets on occupational health and safety training. But respondents said they spent just two per cent of the budget for organizational training, learning and development on literacy and basic skills upgrading.
"Low literacy skills in the workplace do more than just threaten an organization's productivity and competitiveness - they also put workers' health and safety at risk," said Alison Campbell, Senior Research Associate, Organizational Effectiveness and Learning.
"If workers can't understand health and safety regulations provided to them, or if they can't understand their rights to a safe workplace, there is an increased risk of incidents and injury."
International survey results show that more than four in 10 Canadians in the working-age population do not have the literacy skills needed to perform most jobs well.
The Conference Board's survey research also reveals an inverse relationship between industries requiring a high level of health and safety and investment in literacy skills. With the exception of the wholesale and retail industries, the primary and construction industries spend the least amount per employee on developing literacy and basic skills. Transportation and utility sector spending on literacy and basic skills training ($4 per employee in 2006) is also a fraction of that spent in industries such as information and communications technology ($32 per employee) and financial services ($13 per employee).
Some sectors are trying to raise literacy levels - the Construction Sector Council, Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council and the Wood Manufacturing Council have initiated programs to ensure that workers thoroughly understand common job hazards and basic safety practices.
This report, All Signs Point to Yes: Literacy's Impact on Workplace Health and Safety, outlines the preliminary results of a two-year Conference Board research project, "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You", supported by Human Resources and Social Development Canada.
Website: http://www.conferenceboard.ca/
Poor literacy levels a safety hazard for Canadian workers
"From Crayons to Condoms" editors: innovative new schools spark a needed revolution
What do Latin, the study of Western civilization, Cicero and Chaucer have in common? "They are all subjects or authors ignored or mocked in many public school curriculums," observes Steve Baldwin, co-editor of From Crayons to Condoms: The Ugly Truth about America's Public Schools (WND Books, ISBN: 978-0-979267-11-6, June 2008.) And yet these same topics have been embraced by an exciting new breed of private schools such as Chesterton Academy in Minneapolis. Why?
"As the founder of this new school states, our kids are being cheated by the public schools," co-editor Karen Holgate asserts, a belief documented in From Crayons To Condoms through fast-moving anecdotes from teachers and parents. As these public school horror stories show, money, fancy facilities, and unionized teachers have very little to do with the quality of education. In fact, teachers' unions are a big part of the problem when it comes to school reform.
That's why it's exciting to see new schools like Chesterton go "back to the future" by teaching the 3,000-year old body of knowledge that is every child's heritage. As Crayons editors Baldwin and Holgate observe, "Compare this emphasis on classics and critical thinking to our public schools' obsession with explicit and obscene literature, whole language, 'new new Math,' and history re-written by those who hate this country, and it's obvious why parents would be abandoning public schools in droves if they could."
The editors of From Crayons to Condoms agree that if the teacher unions would quit blocking education reforms such as vouchers, then innovative schools like this would blossom all over America. As it currently stands, only the well-to-do can afford this kind of quality education, and that's a tragedy for both our children and our nation.
Website:
http://www.wnd.com/
Reading Test Scores on the Rise for Kids Nationwide
With the most recent U.S. Department of Education's "Nation's Report Card" recording the highest reading scores for fourth graders in 15 years, school districts around the country are crediting the top selling Scott Foresman Reading Street curriculum with their students' dramatic improvements. This research-based program, published by the education company Pearson, and built on the standards set by the National Reading Panel, is now the foundation for reading instruction for five million students in more than 10,000 schools and districts across the country.
After just one year with Scott Foresman Reading Street, Garfield Elementary School in Revere, Massachusetts saw a 37 percent increase on its students' state reading assessment scores, a particularly significant achievement for a school where nearly half of the students come from homes where English is not the first language.
Garfield School Principal Salvatore Cammarata said, "Comprehension and vocabulary are really the keys to being successful in all areas of reading. Our students are now equipped with those skills and strategies and tools so that they can successfully apply them not only to reading, but in all other curriculum areas -- math, science, and social studies." He added, "And the proof is in the dramatic improvement in our scores."
Independent research of the Reading Street program supports the gains experienced by Garfield School, with improvements ranging from 30-50 percent.
The nation's number one reading program last year, Reading Street is designed to help teachers develop readers through motivating and engaging literature, scientifically research-based instruction, and a wealth of reliable teaching tools. Dean Brown, Pearson's Senior Vice President for Reading, said, "The program takes the guesswork out of differentiating instruction with a strong emphasis on ongoing progress monitoring and an explicit plan for managing small groups of students. In addition, Reading Street prioritizes skill instruction at each grade level so teachers can be assured they will focus on the right skill, at the right time, for every student."
Enthusiasm for Scott Foresman Reading Street continues to build in school districts around the country. More than 75 percent of elementary schools in Alabama have now adopted the reading curriculum, which was ranked number one of nine programs evaluated by the Alabama Reading Initiative in its "Expert Review of Core Reading Programs."
Marilyn Howell, Elementary Education Supervisor for Curriculum and Instruction for Alabama's Mobile County schools, described the decision-making process, "Our team conducted an extensive study of four reading series for potential adoption. This study included delving deeply into each of the series, searching for that which most closely aligned with the Alabama Course of Study, our K-5 Reading Curriculum, and high stakes testing." She added, "We were also looking for a program that made the most effective provision for all types and levels of learners, possessed an array of assessments, was most user friendly for teachers, and provided motivating and appealing literature. After close scrutiny, it was the consensus of the textbook committee that Reading Street and its companion intervention program My Sidewalks most completely met the criteria."
In Chicago more than 100 of the city's elementary schools have chosen Scott Foresman Reading Street to ensure that their students are building the literacy skills that they need for success in school and in life.
Chicago's Armour Elementary School faces its share of the challenges of urban education while working to ensure that its nearly 500 students who come largely from socio-economically disadvantaged homes achieve at the highest level. Yet, with a dedicated team of teachers, a committed administrator and the new Scott Foresman Reading Street curriculum, the number of students meeting or exceeding standards on the Illinois state assessment has increased 35 percent since 2006 and the number of students scoring proficient for reading has doubled.
Principal Shelley Cordova said, "Our teachers especially liked the award winning literature in Reading Street, the vocabulary activities, the phonics, and the English Language Learner component." She added, "We want any curriculum we use to be fun, energetic, interactive and something teachers can strongly believe in. Our teachers chose Reading Street because it had all of those features and would meet the needs of all of our students."
With the story chart and "Amazing Words" in the Reading Street curriculum, Chicago kindergarten teacher Donna Smith saw her students make great strides. "I had a lot of bilingual children in my class this year. A few of them even came to school not speaking any English," she said. "I used Reading Street to move them from learning letters to linking the amazing words in Reading Street to the pictures in the story charts. Now they are speaking English and beginning to read."
For more information, go to http://www.pearson.com/ and http://www.pearsonschool.com/.
New Pearson Prize for Young Adult Literature
Learning for a Cause founder and teacher Michael Ernest Sweet was disappointed when he began teaching and saw how barren Canadian classrooms tend to be - no books!
In an effort to bring books - hundreds of books - into his classroom for his students, who are often celebrated for the books they write through the Learning for a Cause Project, Sweet founded the Pearson Prize for Young Adult Literature.
"It is a win win situation for everyone" explained Sweet, "students get books sent to them to read and authors and publishers, especially the little guys, get to enter their books, free of charge, in an contest with meaning." Sweet claims the contest has immense credibility because the books are being judged by real high school students, actual young readers.
Mrs. Landon Pearson, a former Canadian senator, was on hand at the school for the launch. Mrs. Pearson also spoke to more than 250 of the students there about Children's Rights as part of the Learning for a Cause Citizenship Conference. The Hon. Mrs. Pearson was last at the school in 1976 when she opened the building bearing her father-in-laws name.
The prize will be awarded annually and consists of a trophy and books seals as well as a publicity package. "The major win will be the entitlement to claim the title of the prize. A gold seal bearing the Pearson Prize will mean that more than 100 high school students chose this book because they liked it. There is no politics here. It doesn't matter who you are, what you have written before or who you know. What matters is if kids like your book" said Sweet.
The Pearson Prize is open to any book appealing to an audience between 12-18 and published in English. Any country can enter. There are no fees you merely have to send two copies of your book along with the entry form available at the prize website http://www.pearsonprize.org/
Tackling Reading Fluency Issues
A National Reading Panel report that identified fluency as "a critical component of skilled reading," has inspired teachers across the country to make reading fluency a critical part of teaching and assessing students. Many teachers have turned to Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., a nationally known educational consultant, researcher, and trainer, for the best advice on how to improve their students' fluency.
Dr. Hasbrouck defined fluency as the ability to read with appropriate speed, accuracy, and good expression. "Fluency is now understood to be a unique and fundamental component of skilled, proficient reading because of its close link to comprehension and motivation," she said. "Elementary students who struggle with fluency will most likely have difficulty understanding what they have read. These students will also be much less likely to read for pleasure and enjoyment."
An expert in differentiated instruction and assessment as well as fluency, Dr. Hasbrouck is an author of California Treasures, a new research-based elementary reading and language arts program meeting all California state standards for Grades K-6.
Dr. Hasbrouck's contributions to the program include methods for assessing a student's reading ability. She has successfully identified three different roles for fluency assessments: screening, diagnosis, and progress monitoring.
Screening assessments determine which students may need further assistance with reading by comparing their oral reading fluency score to a benchmark. "Listening to a student read out loud for one minute from an unpracticed grade-level text can tell a teacher a lot about the student's ability," she says.
Dr. Hasbrouck advises teachers that, once they have determined that a student is likely having problems with reading, it is important to determine what is causing the problem. She recommends diagnostic assessments to determine a student's strengths and weaknesses in phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
"For example, if a Grade 5 student is reading at a Grade 3 level, we could assess their fluency using unpracticed passages of Grade 3 text," she says. "That score can then be compared to benchmark scores of other Grade 3 students to determine if the student's fluency is on track for that student's level of skill development."
Once differentiated instruction has been implemented, Dr. Hasbrouck recommends weekly or bi-monthly one-minute assessments of oral reading fluency using unpracticed passages at a student's instructional level to help the teacher evaluate the effectiveness of instruction.
Dr. Hasbrouck will delve further into this topic when she presents "Reading Fluency: Put This Key Skill In Perspective" at the California Reading Association's annual conference in October. She will address research findings on the role of fluency in reading and how it fits into a comprehensive reading program.
California Treasures is a comprehensive reading and language arts program that includes differentiated instruction, an English language development program, writing support, and classroom management resources.
Source: http://www.macmillanmh.com/
Creativity and Technology Transform Georgia Students' Writing Skills
When Denise Lewis' language arts students at Woodstock Middle School in Georgia were struggling with writing, she addressed the problem with creativity and a new Web-based learning tool. Within weeks, improvements in her eighth graders' writing skills were so compelling that they wrote a proposal for a technology grant that reaped a $1,000 award for their school. By the spring, nearly all of Lewis' students had passed the state writing assessment.
The transformation followed Lewis' adoption of Pearson's award-winning Web-based writing and reading comprehension learning tool, WriteToLearn ™, and the purchase of laptop computers for her classroom by technology-forward Cherokee County School District.
"The difference was like night and day," she said. "The kids were running to my classroom to get on WriteToLearn."
With WriteToLearn, students practice essay writing and summarization skills, and their efforts are measured by Pearson's state-of-the-art Knowledge Analysis Technologies™ (KAT) engine. The KAT engine is a unique automated assessment technology that evaluates the meaning of text by examining whole passages, not just for grammatical correctness or spelling.
With WriteToLearn, Lewis guides her students in developing writing strategies, which they immediately apply with WriteToLearn.
"They can actually see that what I'm teaching them will work, which is otherwise difficult to do, especially with the struggling writers," Lewis said.
With every WriteToLearn assignment, students are eager to see the feedback they receive and are more engaged in what they're learning, she continued. "They work and work to get the best possible feedback, and they're very competitive."
For the grant-writing project, the students conducted research, created surveys, interviewed each other and even made a movie that showed them using WriteToLearn. "They learned that they have the power to write for a purpose," she said.
This year, Lewis is teaching seventh graders at all skill levels, and is finding that WriteToLearn is effective at differentiating instruction to make it more personalized for each student. "It works for everyone - from our writers who need extra help to our high-achieving and gifted students."
At another Cherokee County school, F. D. Johnston Elementary School, sixth-grade language arts teacher Jeff Pence doesn't hesitate to acknowledge that using WriteToLearn has changed his life.
"I spend my time teaching writing instead of drudging through papers," he said. "WriteToLearn changes the attitudes of teachers because grading papers was killing us."
With teaching six classes a day of approximately 25 students per class, Pence was previously only able to assign and grade about three writing prompts during the entire school year. Now, he assigns as many as two writing prompts per week, "and by Friday afternoon, they are both in the gradebook for all my classes," he said. "My students get so much practice with WriteToLearn - something I never could have given them on my own."
Pence points out that the best part of WriteToLearn is how it motivates his students. "My students absolutely eat it up," he said. "Wow - it's a great time to be teaching."
Pat Kearns, Ph.D., the district's director of academic standards, professional development and career pathways, said, "Cherokee County School District boasts a team of creative, talented teachers who have found ways to use technology, such as WriteToLearn, to ensure that all of their students achieve at the highest level. When I visit classrooms around the district, I am amazed at the new enthusiasm for writing that I see when students are practicing with WriteToLearn."
More information about WriteToLearn is available at http://www.writetolearn.net/.
AT&T Awards $730,000 in Grants to Address High School Dropout Crisis in Los Angeles Area
AT&T Inc. is awarding more than $730,000 in AT&T Foundation grants to eight Los Angeles-area educational institutions to support high school retention programs for at-risk students
The grants are part of the company's signature initiative, AT&T Aspire, which was announced earlier this year to help address high school success and workforce readiness. AT&T has committed $100 million in philanthropy through 2011 to schools and nonprofit organizations that are focused on high school retention and better preparing students for college and the workforce.
As part of the Aspire initiative, the AT&T Foundation has committed $29 million in High School success grants to more than 170 schools and nonprofit organizations. Statewide, AT&T is awarding 35 grants totaling more than $3.5 million.
America's Promise Alliance, the nation's largest multi-sector collaborative dedicated to the well-being of children and youth, has noted that nearly one-third of U.S. high school students drop out before graduating -- with about 7,000 students dropping out every school day, or one every 26 seconds.
"High school dropout rates are a serious issue affecting more than 1 million students in this country each year," said Denita Willoughby, vice president, AT&T External Affairs - Los Angeles. "We're committed to supporting the great work our educators are already doing in our local communities to help kids succeed by preparing them for a global economy. We are lending a hand to build and expand these programs, and we are gratified by the response to the program and look forward to working with these groups to build a brighter future for our youth."
Local recipients of these grants are:
Los Angeles Urban League -- $100,000 to support the Algebra 1 Summer Institute for at-risk 9th graders and a rigorous Mathematical Thinking professional development program for 9th grade Algebra I teachers at Crenshaw High School within Los Angeles Unified School District.
UNITE-LA, Inc. -- $215,000 over 3 years to support Los Angeles Unified School District's College and Career Success Schools that are designed to provide sustained support to at-risk 9th and 10th grade students.
Alameda Unified School District -- $85,000 to support Island High School serving credit deficient students who have not been successful in a traditional high school.
Los Angeles City College Foundation -- $50,000 to support 30 at-risk 9th and 10th graders from Los Angeles Unified School District throughout the school year covering core subjects and computer skills, and to support a six week 9th grade summer bridge program that reinforces skills critical when transitioning in high school.
Los Angeles Unified School District -- $85,000 to support Belmont High School's Juvenile Intervention and Prevention program, which targets at-risk 9th and 10th grade students, and is designed to improve academic skills, reduce truancy, build strong family systems, and develop civic responsibility.
Pasadena Educational Foundation -- $90,000 to support expansion of the Pasadena Unified School District's Secondary Literacy Initiative, targeting at-risk 9th and 10th graders, by providing intensive supplementary instruction for students more than two years below grade level in reading.
University of Southern California -- $70,000 to provide a rigorous course of study, including Saturday academies for 9th and 10th grade at-risk students, to ensure they graduate with the skills and competencies necessary to progress through high school and college.
Hispanic College Fund -- $35,000 to support planning efforts to expand the Fund's Hispanic Youth Symposium and associated year-round programming targeting Hispanic 9th graders at two underserved Los Angeles Unified School District high schools.
As one of the largest-ever corporate commitments to high school retention and workforce readiness, the $100 million AT&T Aspire program will support organizations with strong track records that promote educational success, from the classroom to the workplace. The recipient programs of this year's High School Success grants provide a range of support for students, including academic intervention, mentoring and tutoring services.
In addition to the retention program grants, AT&T Aspire will award funding in three other key areas:
-- A student job shadowing initiative involving 400,000 AT&T employee hours that will give 100,000 students a firsthand look at the skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century workforce.
-- The underwriting of national research that will explore the practitioner perspective (teachers, principals, superintendents, school counselors and school board members) on the high school dropout issue.
-- Support for 100 state and community dropout prevention summits, announced earlier this year by America's Promise Alliance.
For more information about the AT&T Aspire initiative, please visit http://www.att.com/education-news.
