Literacy

CC&F/EDC integrated distance-learning technologies into a research-based professional development intervention to enhance the program and disseminate it more widely. Using a control group design, CC&F/EDC, with partners from Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina and the Center for Applied Linguistics, examined the implications of distance learning on discourse patterns and the design of professional development programs.

In collaboration with community-based organizations, EDC improves the education and employment of Latina women and their families, and supports economic and community development in Waltham, Mass. Participants take courses in English, GED preparation, and computers, while developing life skills in the areas of child care, family advocacy, and community activism. They also explore career opportunities, moving into first-time jobs or improving their career prospects.

CC&F/EDC examined the impact of the Literacy Environment Enrichment Program (LEEP), a credit-bearing professional development program for early childhood teachers and their supervisors designed to improve teacher practice and learning outcomes in the areas of early language and literacy. Building on promising early findings, CC&F/EDC used a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of LEEP on teacher practices and child outcomes. Findings indicate that LEEP participation is a strong predictor of positive child outcomes.

This project field-tested an innovative software tool, Draft:Builder, designed to help students with disabilities develop information-gathering and analysis skills within the middle grades curriculum. The project incorporated key principles of universal design to ensure accessibility to students with cognitive, sensory, and physical disabilities. Draft:Builder, designed as a prototype in a previous project, is published by Don Johnston, Inc., in collaboration with EDC.

CC&F/EDC provided intensive on-site technical assistance to more than 100 Head Start and Early Head Start programs. As part of a national initiative, CC&F/EDC helped these programs establish early literacy mentor-coaching systems and devise and implement continuous improvement efforts. CC&F/EDC guided the programs in developing effective approaches to management, organizational and community development, early education, health, and family support and involvement.

This project built on speech recognition work from a previous project. We worked with a software publisher and speech recognition companies to produce a speech recognition product that meets the needs of individuals with disabilities. This product maintains desirable features of existing products and takes advantage of advances in speech recognition technology, while also integrating other critical adaptive technologies.

Literacy Matters is a comprehensive online professional development environment focusing on what matters most in adolescent literacy development (e.g., making the most of adolescent literacy, improving reading and writing in the content areas, and enhancing literacy and supporting mastery of technology).

Young people in grades five through eight face increasing literacy needs and heightened pressures to engage in high-risk behaviors. Read for Health was a curriculum development and dissemination effort that integrated adolescent literacy with healthy development skills. Project staff created student materials and a facilitator’s guide for use in classroom and community settings, an interactive student game for use in the classroom and at home, and a video for parents and teachers to help them facilitate discussions of sensitive issues with early adolescents.

EDC is providing technical assistance to the National Center for Literacy through the development and implementation of a comprehensive dissemination plan for its early childhood literacy products and program materials. By bringing to bear our knowledge of diverse and complex early childhood education systems and their staff development and parent education efforts, we will reach thousands of stakeholders across the nation and provide them with essential information that they can use to advance early childhood education literacy policies and practices.

CC&F/EDC is collaborating with EDC’s Center for Online Professional Education to develop online reading and language arts professional development modules for PBS. The modules will improve teacher practices so that all children receive high-quality, effective literacy instruction. Topics include how students become readers and writers, reading/language arts content, and effective instructional strategies that are grounded in scientifically-based reading research.