Do you know the numbers? By 2003 roughly 88 percent of eight-grade public school students were using a computer at home. Source: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Reading Assessment, 2003 nces.ed.gov By 2005, on average, there was only one computer with internet access for every four public school students. Only 10% of public schools in the country could lend laptop computers to students. Source: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Internet Access in US Public Schools, Fall 2005,” “Two of every three new jobs today — and 90 percent of the jobs in the fastestgrowing high-tech fields — require education beyond high school. Yet we can’t even get nearly one-third of our kids through high school. Our national graduation rate is only 70 percent, and it’s much lower in urban systems like Cleveland’s, where barely half of the students graduate. Compare that to Denmark’s 96-percent graduation rate and to Japan’s 93-percent graduation rate. And in Poland, a developing economy, the high-school graduation rate is 92 percent. Only 34 percent of our adults aged 18 to 34 enrolled in college. In South Korea, that rate is 53 percent. That country, which is the size of Ohio, is churning out more college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math than all 50 of our states combined.” – Education: A Moral Imperative …

Zoo-phonics | www.Zoo-PhonicsAtHome.com | Charlene Wrighton, co-Founder of Zoo-phonics, talks about the challenges of traditional methods and how Zoo-phonics helps children be and feel so good, so successful, and so accomplished.

Teachers explore aspects of fluent reading, including the importance of phrased reading for young literacy learners.

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) measures students’ progress towards reading. EGRA gauges early literacy skills through a 15-minute individual oral assessment of five fundamental reading skills. RTI worked with education experts to develop the EGRA in 2006, and it has been piloted and implemented in more than 40 countries. This volume aims to take stock of the substantial amount of information and experience generated through the use of EGRA, and to share this knowledge with practitioners, policymakers, and international donors. Chapters cover not only particular applications of the instrument but also put EGRA in the context of broader issues and developments in literacy and education.

Dr. Andrew Johnson, www.OPDT-Johnson.com

Dr. Andrew Johnson, www.OPDT-Johnson.com

www.literacycanada.com | Lani Donaldson, founder of Beacon Literacy talks about assessing your child for reading difficulties, reasons for struggling in school, and how to handle it. Free Assessments at http www.literacycanada.com

Assessing students’ reading fluency and comprehension during a one-on-one meeting provides meaningful information about each student’s reading development. See full lesson plans and additional videos at www.LitDiet.org.

This video was created as a part of our Reading Assessment class at Arizona State. It was modeled after a video entitled “A Vision of K-12 STUDENTS today” and is a response to Graves’ book entitled “Testing is Not Teaching.”