Elementary Grades

In the 1990s, EDC’s Center for Educational Resources and Outreach (ERO) developed an interdisciplinary curriculum for elementary and middle school students, for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The curriculum activities are a key part of SAE’s A World In Motion® (AWIM) curriculum that joins together teachers, students, and industry volunteers in an exploration of physical science while addressing essential mathematic and scientific concepts and skills.

An estimated 20 percent of our nation’s children experience significant difficulty learning how to read, and another 20 percent do not read fluently enough to read for pleasure. Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that 37 percent of 4th graders are considered to be below a basic level. However, there are schools that boast empirical evidence of the effectiveness of their reading program for all children, even those children at risk of reading failure.

EDC is developing a series of model online workshops in math, English Language Arts and science for the eight state E-Learning for Educators collaboration funded by a five year U.S. Department of Education Ready to Teach grant. These workshops will offered throughout the eight state consortium (Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) and will be used in large-scale experimental research on the impact of online professional development which involves elementary and middle school teachers in each of the states.

CCT is conducting a formative evaluation of the Reading Companion, a Web-based literacy initiative that uses voice recognition technology to help children and adults learn how to read. Developed by IBM researchers working in partnership with schools and not-for-profit organizations, Reading Companion assists individuals as they learn to read by ‘listening’ and providing feedback, enabling emerging readers to practice reading and their English pronunciation as they acquire fundamental reading skills.

This project is developing two products for the National Institute for Literacy. The products will be used by schools and other organizations and groups to engage parents with low literacy skills in supporting their children’s (kindergarten through third grade) literacy development through fun, at-home activities. The products include a facilitators manual and parent activity guide. EDC project stasff are working with national literacy experts on the development of the products.

The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) and developmental psychologist Herbert Ginsburg have collaborated on a project that uses video to help teachers look clinically at their early childhood students’ individual learning needs, particularly in mathematics. Through the project, Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning (VITAL), CCNMTL and Dr.

This project reviewed Parametric Technology Corporation’s (PTC) 3-D solid modeling lesson plans and aligned the activities to U.S. national science, mathematics, technology, and career standards. Partners in Virginia public schools and the British School of Washington are developing design-based science and technology education lessons that illustrate the use of PTC software (Pro/DESKTOP and Pro/ENGINEER) within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) “Material World Modules” Program.

E-Learning for Educators, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready to Teach program, seeks to establish successful, sustainable, statewide online professional development programs that address teacher quality and student achievement goals. Through its EdTech Leaders® Online program, EDC supports this initiative by establishing a cadre of online professional development instructors and course developers within each state.

The purpose of this study is to gather data about struggling readers with learning disabilities from mid-sized urban school districts in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The project answers the following questions: (1) What diagnostic assessments are administered to students with identified learning disabilities who are struggling readers (e.g., fall below the Basic level on standardized tests) to determine their strengths and needs with respect to foundation skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, knowledge of high frequency sight words, and decoding ability)?