Introduction: As they care for patients, physicians raise questions, but they pursue only a portion of them. Without the best information and evidence, care and patient safety may be compromised. Understanding when and why problems prompt physicians to look for information and integrate results into their knowledge base is critical and shapes one…

The growing interest in assessing the quality of education outcomes can be seen in the ever-increasing frequency of use of international and national surveys (e.g., Program for International Student Assessment [PISA], the Progress in Reading and Literacy Study [PIRLS], or the Third International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS]). These…

In this paper, we take up and advance the project of rethinking "scientific literacy" by Eisenhart, Finkel, and Marion (American Educational Research Journal, 1996, 33, 261-295). As part of a project of rethinking science education, we advance three propositions. First, because society is built on division of labor, not everybody needs to know the…

A faculty member and a librarian collaborated on an information competence workshop designed to enhance the skills necessary to complete a specific class project. Twenty-five students participated in the workshop and reported their skill level and comfort with researching for information at three times: before the workshop, the class session after…

To improve achievement for struggling readers in particular, secondary schools must design programs and curricula to address students' lack of background knowledge, delayed English language development, and limited success in reading. In this article, the author presents a systems approach that offers intensive care for the most at-risk students…

Recent scientific advances in early literacy assessment have provided schools with access to critical information about students' foundational beginning reading skills. In this article, we describe how assessment of early literacy skills can help school psychologists promote beginning reading success for all children. First, we identify key skills…

Emergent literacy can be viewed as skills that are precursors to later reading and writing (Sulzby & Teale, 1991) or can be more broadly conceptualized as literacy acquisition that occurs along a developmental continuum. Because children with disabilities, such as visual impairments, can be at risk for later reading difficulties, it is critical…

This exploratory study examined the relations among characteristics of children's home environments and two school readiness skills: their oral language and social functioning. Low SES Latino mothers of 122 (65 girls; 57 boys) preschoolers (39-49 months (M=45.00; S.D.=5.40) completed questionnaires about their family demography, their home…

A multiple case study is reported aiming at identifying the degree of taking part and of being engaged in classroom activities for children with and without reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia. The aim was also to investigate the accordance between "effective literacy teaching" and children's expressed interest and observed taking…

This article reports data from children aged about 5 years in their 1st year of schooling. Scores on tests of both literacy and numeracy at the start and end of the year were used to derive value-added measures of progress using both residual gain analysis and multilevel (ML) modelling. Results indicated that the school was more effective in…

PURPOSE: This research determined the psychometric quality of a criterion-referenced measure that was thought to measure preschoolers' print-concept knowledge (PCK). METHOD: This measure, titled the Preschool Word and Print Awareness (PWPA), was examined using the partial credit model (PCM) to determine its suitability for use by clinicians,…

In the past two decades, substantial changes in pedagogy, advances in technology, and new emphases on critical reading, writing, and thinking across the curriculum have swept the educational landscape of the United States. Although "many students are familiar with some technological elements (notably e-mail and Web browsing), few demonstrate the…

In a voluntary tutor-based training program, socially disadvantaged adolescents acquired basic computer skills. Two training groups were compared: one group was instructed by adolescents, the other by adults. Both groups achieved comparable results in a final test. The tutees' learning results did not differ with respect to their initial…

This paper is based on a research project that explored a UK Government initiative to improve the quality of teaching adults, numeracy, literacy and English as a second other language. The findings will be of interest to teacher educators generally and also to those involved in teaching adults, language, literacy and numeracy. The paper reports on…

Paul F-Brandwein was a visionary who looked at education broadly. He left us with an insightful view of the ecology of education in which he identified three ecological systems: school-family-community, postsecondary, and cultural. The first part of this lecture, by Dean B. Bennett, examines Brandwein's ideas related to environmental education and…