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The perspective of children

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. The perspective of children. 1762 Rousseau „Emile or on Education“

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The perspective of children

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  1. Renate Valtin, Humboldt University, BerlinChildren’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

  2. 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.

  3. 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

  4. IRA: Children have a right to… • appropriate early reading instruction based on their individual needs. • reading instruction that builds both the skill and the desire to read increasingly complex materials. • well-prepared teachers who keep their skills up to date through effective professionaldevelopment.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. 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.

  9. “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.

  10. 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

  11. 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)

  12. 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

  13. 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 UnitedStates (495)

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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 0.55 US -0.12,OECD average 0.00 Hungary 0.71, Czech Republic 0.60 US 0.20,OECD average 0.00 Italy 0.41, Hungary0.33 United States 0.22,OECD average0.00

  19. 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??

  20. 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

  21. 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 States83, international avg. 50 Canada, AL100, Denmark 97, United States84 ( s.), international avg. 53

  22. 3)Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school PIRLS 2006 (% of students) • High level of availability of school resources: Netherlands93, Scotland 88 United States81 ( n.s.), international avg. 52

  23. 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 0.50 United States 0.40, OECD average 0.00

  24. 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.

  25. 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)

  26. LCA-Lösung Cognitive stimulation Variety of methods Individual support hier Datum eintragen (Ansicht/Master/Folienmaster)

  27. 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%)

  28. Distribution 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 4: Variety of methods with high individual support (16 %) Type 3: Whole class instruction, little cognitive stimulation and little variety in methods, without individual support(20 %) Type 5: Highly stimulating whole class instruction with didactic materials (13%) )

  29. 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 States0.34, OECD average 0.00

  30. 6) Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading Indicators from PIRLS2006 Teachers report about • availability of experts • amount of students having reading difficulties receiving remedial instruction

  31. 6) Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading Results from PIRLS2006 (% 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 States75, intern. avg. 71

  32. 7)Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class, gender and nationality

  33. 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

  34. 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 States246,international 341

  35. 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 States332,OECD average 341

  36. 7)Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of genderlow gender inequality, difference females – males: • PIRLS 2006 • PISA 2003 Luxemburg 3, Spain 4, United States10, international 17 Netherlands, Korea, Mexico (all 21), United States 32, OECD average 34

  37. 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 States32, international 32 Romania 6, Kuwait 3, United States73,international 40

  38. 7)Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class Japan, Korea (both 21), United States48, OECD average 41 • PISA:slope of socio-economic gradient: • effect of schools’ socio-economic background on reading performance: Iceland 5, Finland 8, United States28, OECD average 32

  39. 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.

  40. “learning to live together”8)Children have a right to favourable conditions in school to learn to live together in peace and harmony

  41. “learning to live together” Indicators from PIRLS 2006 • Index of Student Safety in School • Principals‘ perception of school safety

  42. “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 States48, intern. avg. 47 England 90, Hong Kong 88, United States77, intern. avg. 60

  43. “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

  44. “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

  45. “learning to be”9) Children have a right tolearning 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 tolearning 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

  47. “learning to be” Index of students’ reading self concepts • PIRLS 2006 (% of students with high level) • PISA Israel 63, Sweden, Austria (both 62), United States51, intern. average49 Denmark 3.18, Italy 3.11, United States 3.08, OECD average 2.92

  48. “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 29 United States 12, OECD avg. 15

  49. “learning to be” PISA 2000 • Self-efficacy • “School helped give me confidence to make decisions” (% of students who agreed) Brazil 2.78, Mexico 2.76 United States 2.56, OECD avg. 2.56 Indonesia 95, Thailand 95, United States 79, OECD 72

  50. 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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