renate valtin, humboldt university, berlin childrens rights to literacy: how well are they realized...
TRANSCRIPT
Renate Valtin, Humboldt University, Berlin
Children’s rights to literacy: How well are they realized in the
United States?
Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the
International Reading Association, May , 2008
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The perspective of children
• 1762 Rousseau „Emile or on Education“
“Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling that are proper to it” and need to be respected.
The recognition of children‘s rights
1924 Geneva Declaration of the
rights of the child
1989 United Nations: Convention on the
rights of the child
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IRA: Children have a right to…
1. appropriate early reading instruction based on their individual needs.
2. reading instruction that builds both the skill and the desire to read increasingly complex materials.
3. well-prepared teachers who keep their skills up to date through effective professional development.
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IRA: Children have a right to…
4. access a wide variety of books and other reading material in classroom, school, and community libraries.
5. reading assessment that identifies their strengths as well as their needs and involves them in making decisions about their own learning.
6. Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading.
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IRA: Children have a right to…
7. reading instruction that involves parents and communities in their academic lives
8. reading instruction that makes skilled use of their first language skills.
9. equal access to the technology used for the improvement of reading instruction.
10. classrooms that optimize learning opportunities.
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Aims and topics of this presentation
• Defining children’s rights to literacy on the basis of the “4 pillars of education for the 21st century“ (UNESCO)
• Looking for empirical evidence if children’s rights to literacy education are upheld -
using indicators from the data bases of PISA and PIRLS for country comparisons
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Nine rights of children referring to the pillars of “education for the 21st century”
“learning to know and learning to do”
Children have a right to favourable learning conditions at home and in school so that they are encouraged and supported to learning to know and to do.
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“learning to live together”
Children have a right to favourable conditions in school to learn to live together in peace and harmony.
“learning to be”
Children have a right to favourable conditions in school fostering a full and harmonious development of their personality.
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PIRLS – Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2001 / 2006
• 9-year-old students from 35/45 countries
• Assessed reading comprehension for two major reading purposes – literary & informational
• One-hour, paper-and-pencil literacy test
• Student questionnaire - individual, home & school factors
• Parent questionnaire – support & literary resources
• Teacher questionnaire – individual factors, instruction & materials
• School principal questionnaire - organization of teaching & learning
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PIRLS –
Best performing countries
PIRLS 2001:
Sweden (561), Netherlands (554) England (553)
(significantly better than the United States, 542)
PIRLS 2006:
Russ. Federation (565), Hong Kong (554),
Canada, Alberta (560)
(significantly better than the United States, 540)
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Programme for International Student AssessmentPISA 2000 – focus on reading,
2003 focus on mathematics
• 15-year-old students from
• 32 (41) participating countries
• Compared in their abilities to use literacy knowledge
• Two-hour, paper-and-pencil literacy test
• Student questionnaire - individual, home & school factors
• School principal questionnaire - organization of teaching & learning
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PISA –Best performing countries
PISA 2000:
• Finland (546), Canada (534), New Zealand (529).
These countries were significantly better than the United States (504)
PISA 2003:
• Finland (543), Korea (534), Canada (528).
Nine countries were significantly better than the United States (495)
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Procedure
• Looking for indicators in the data bases
• Identifying „top 2“ countries, comparing with score for USA
Comparing PIRLS and PISA
- different countries
- different data base
- different measures
Caution: Self reports
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1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Importance of parents
• fostering early language and literacy activities
• providing literacy role models
• providing literacy and cultural resources and activities
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1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Results from PIRLS 2001 (% of students)
• High level of home educational resources
United States (37), Norway (33), England (27), intern. avg. 13
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1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Indicators in PISA 2000
• cultural possessions in the home
• participation in cultural activities
• communication on aspects of culture
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1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Results from PISA 2000
• cultural possessions:
• participation in cultural activities:
• communication on aspects of culture:
Iceland 0.67, Latvia 0.55US -0.12, OECD average 0.00
Hungary 0.71, Czech Republic 0.60 US 0.20, OECD average 0.00
Italy 0.41, Hungary 0.33 United States 0.22, OECD average 0.00
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2) Children have the right to attend preschools or kindergartens
PIRLS 2006: Average reading achievement was lowest among students not attending preschool and highest among those who attended for 3 years and more.
Countries with high amount of children attending preschool for at least 3 years:
Hungary (85%), Belgium/F (85%),Denmark (78%), internat. average 45%United States??
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3) Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school
Indicators in PIRLS
• Students using a library at least weekly (teacher report)
• Availability of computers for instructional purposes for fewer than 5 students
• Principals’ view of the availability of school resources
Indicator in PISA
• Principals’ view on the quality of educational resources at school
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3) Children have a right to favourable educational
resources at school
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• Students using a library at least once or twice a week:
• Availability of computers for instructional purposes for fewer than 5 students:
Canada, AL 93, Iceland, New Zealand (both 90),
United States 83, international avg. 50
Canada, AL 100, Denmark 97, United States 84 ( s.), international avg. 53
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3) Children have a right to favourable educational
resources at school
PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• High level of availability of school resources:
Netherlands 93, Scotland 88 United States 81 ( n.s.), international avg. 52
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3) Children have a right to favourable educational
resources at school
Results from PISA 2000
• Index of the quality of schools’ educational resources:
Switzerland 0.51, Hungary 0.50United States 0.40, OECD average 0.00
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4) Children have a right to appropriate instruction based on their individual needs
Due to the absence of observational data this is difficult to judge.
PIRLS assessed a wide range of teaching variables.
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4) Children have a right to appropriate instruction based on their individual needs
Indicators in PIRLS
Teacher report about instructional materials, strategies and activities
– Cognitive stimulation: direct instruction, teaching strategies
– Variety of methods and reading materials
– Individual support
Results of a latent class analysis (Lankes)
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LCA-Lösung
hier Datum eintragen (Ansicht/Master/Folienmaster)
Cognitive stimulation
Variety of methods
Individual support
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• Type 1: Teacher directed instruction in the whole class without individual support (30 %)
• Type 2 : Individualized child-centred instruction, seldom whole class instruction (22 %)
• Type 3: Whole class instruction with little cognitive stimulation and little variety in methods, without individual support (20%)
• Type 4: Variety of methods with high individual support (16%)
• Type 5: Highly stimulating whole class instruction with didactic materials (13%)
28Distribution of types of reading instruction
)
Type 1: Teacher directed instruction in the whole class without individual support (30%)
Type 2: Individualized child-centred instruction, seldom whole class instruction (22 %)
Type 3: Whole class instruction, little cognitive stimulation and little variety in methods, without individual support (20 %)
Type 4: Variety of methods with high individual support (16 %)
Type 5: Highly stimulating whole class instruction with didactic materials (13%)
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5) Children have a right to be supported by teachers
PISA 2000: Perceived teacher support: teachers show an interest in every student’s learning, give students an opportunity to express opinions, help students with their work and continue to teach until students understand.
Countries with the highest index of perceived teacher support:
United Kingdom 0.50, Portugal 0.47,United States 0.34, OECD average 0.00
306) Children who are struggling with
reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from
professionals specifically prepared to teach reading
Indicators from PIRLS 2006
Teachers report about
• availability of experts
• amount of students having reading difficulties receiving remedial instruction
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6) Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from
professionals specifically prepared to teach reading
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• Availability of specialists:
• Students receiving remedial instruction when needed:
Denmark 97, Iceland 95 United States 92, intern. avg. 59
Indonesia 86, Poland 83 United States 75, intern. avg. 71
7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class, gender and nationality
7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of gender, social class, and nationality
Indicators:
• Difference between good and poor
readers (equality)
• Gender gap
• Social gap
• Gap between students with and
without migration background
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7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity
(PIRLS 2006)
• Low gap between students from the 5th to the 95th percentile:
Netherlands 175, Belgium 186,
United States 246, international 341
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7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity
(PISA 2003)
• Low gap between students from the 5th to the 95th percentile:
Finland 266, Korea 267,
United States 332, OECD average 341
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7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of gender
low gender inequality, difference females – males:
• PIRLS 2006
• PISA 2003
Luxemburg 3, Spain 4,United States 10, international 17
Netherlands, Korea, Mexico (all 21), United States 32, OECD average 34
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7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of
social class
• PIRLS 2001: low performance gap between children from families with more vs. less than 100 books:
• low performance gap between children in schools with low vs. high numbers of students from economically deprived homes:
Hong Kong 7, Cypress 11, United States 32, international 32
Romania 6, Kuwait 3, United States 73, international 40
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7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of
social class
• PISA:slope of socio-economic gradient:
• effect of schools’ socio-economic background on reading performance:
Japan, Korea (both 21), United States 48, OECD average 41
Iceland 5, Finland 8, United States 28, OECD average 32
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Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of
nationality
• For the United States it was found in PIRLS and PISA that adolescents and children with and without a background of migration differed in their reading performance
– but in the range of the OECD average.
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“learning to live together”
8) Children have a right to favourable conditions in school to learn to live
together in peace and harmony
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“learning to live together”
Indicators from PIRLS 2006
• Index of Student Safety in School
• Principals‘ perception of school safety
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“learning to live together”
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• High level of Index of Student Safety in School
• High level of principals’ perception of school safety:
Norway 72, Sweden 70, United States 48, intern. avg. 47
England 90, Hong Kong 88, United States 77, intern. avg. 60
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“learning to live together”
Indicators from PISA
• Sense of belonging in school
• Principals‘ report of student-related factors affecting school climate
• Students feeling positive about learning in co-operative situations
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“learning to live together”
Results from PISA 2000
• level of students’ sense of belonging in school:
• level of principals’ report of school climate:
• students feeling positive about learning in co-operative situations:
Sweden 527, Austria 526 United States 490, OECD average 500
Korea 0.92, Denmark 0.73 United States –0.23, OECD average 0.00
Denmark 2.99. Portugal 2.98 United States 2.99, OECD average 2.70
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“learning to be”
9) Children have a right to learning environments that help them to
develop positive self-related beliefs and confidence in their own learning
abilities
46 “learning to be”
9) Children have a right to learning environments that help them to develop
positive self-related beliefs and confidence in their own learning abilities
Indicators from PIRLS and PISA
• self-concepts of reading
• reading for pleasure outside school daily
Indicators from PISA
• self-efficacy
• perception of students of how well school gave them confidence
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“learning to be”
Index of students’ reading self concepts
• PIRLS 2006 (% of students with high level)
• PISA
Israel 63, Sweden, Austria (both 62), United States 51, intern. average 49
Denmark 3.18, Italy 3.11,United States 3.08, OECD average 2.92
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“learning to be”
Reading for fun outside school (% of students)
• PIRLS 2006: every day or almost every day
• PISA: daily for at least one hour
Russian Federation 58, Germany 53 United States 35 n.s. intern. avg. 40
Russian Federation 30, Greece 29United States 12, OECD avg. 15
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“learning to be”
PISA 2000
• Self-efficacy
• “School helped give me confidence to make decisions” (% of students who agreed)
Brazil 2.78, Mexico 2.76United States 2.56, OECD avg. 2.56
Indonesia 95, Thailand 95,
United States 79, OECD 72
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Childrens` rights to literacy-how well are they realized?
United States belong to the top quarter in the country rankings regarding
● Home resources
● School contexts
Problem: lack of provisions for the 3- to 5-year-olds from low income families
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Childrens` rights to literacy-how well are they realized?
Problems:
• Motivation to read: attitude towards reading and reading for fun outside school should be fostered
• School climate – safety in school
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Problem: Students’ Attitudes Toward Reading
Index based on students’ agreement with the following statements:
- I read only if I have to (reverse code)
- I like talking about books with other people
- I would be happy if someone gave me a book as a
present
- I think reading is boring (reverse coded)
- I enjoy reading
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Results for Students’ Attitudes Toward Reading• PIRLS 2001 (2006)
High index
- internationally 51 (49) % of students
- United states 42 (40) % of students
• PISA 2000
- OECD average 0.00
- United States -0.13
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Activities outside school PIRLS 2006
• 31% (40% in PISA) of the students reported that they never or almost never read for fun outside of school (18 % internationally)
• 18% of students watching TV or videos 5 hours and more (12% internationally)
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Problems: achievement gaps
• Drop in achievement from elementary to secondary school
• Big achievement gap regarding the difference between 5th and 95th percentile (bigger in PISA than in PIRLS)
• Inequality of achievement between different socio-economic groups
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UNESCO – Education for the 21st century
“Education is also an expression of affection for children and young people, whom we need to welcome into society, unreservedly offering them the place that is theirs by right therein” (Delors, 1998).
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Thank you for your attention!
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The power point tool of the PISA Task Force of IRA
National Reading Achievement: Using PISA/PIRLS Data for Informed Discussion
www.reading.org/resources/issues/
reports/pisa.html. Members of the Task Force are Renate Valtin, Germany
(chair), William Brozo, US, Maria Lourdes Dionisio, Portugal, Keith Topping, Scotland, Cathy Roller, IRA, Ann-Sofie Selin, Finland, Shlomo Alon, Israel, Lydia Dachkova, Bulgaria.