Salt Lake Tribune | 1999-05-26 | Page 8

The Salt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD Wednesday, May26, 1999 Spelling Out the ABCs of Education Modest Results From School Literacyexperts produce a step-by-step plan to increase reading,writingskills LOS ANGELES TIMES Reflecting a growing consensuson the needto link classroom instruction to academic standards. lead ing litera esdayunveileda collection of grade-by hat children should masterto become proficient readers and writers. Authorsof the newguidelines say theyareintend. ed tofill a void in primary gradeclassrooms. Although somestates have adopted languagearts standards for all students, most states have focused on selected grades, such as fourth, eighth and 10th. Many instructors in kindergarten through third grade havebeenleft largely without guidancede- spite having to teach the most fundamental skillsof literacy peer groups and with their teachers, comparing worksby different authors and talking about recur s. They also shouldbe able to introduce ntheir writing as well as use details about settings and motives. @ Third-graders should be able to discuss the plot andsetting of books, and grasp the meaningoffigu- rative languagesuchas similes and metaphors. They also should be able to write short stories, songs and poetry Awarethat such standards often amount to ab- stract expectations for classroom teachers, the au- thors of the standards have included concrete exam- What youhave in this document are expec ations of what children should be doing,” said Barbara Foorman, a researcher at the University of Texas ples of student work that meets thegoals. CD-ROMvideo footage, for example, shows stu- dents reading aloud as they blend soundsto create “It gives states that words. Dozens of writing samples are provided to don’t have standards something they can useso they don't have to reinvent the wheel match sroom work ‘Teacherscanget avisceral idea of what it means to meet the standards,” said Mare Tucker, co-director of the project. “It’s very important for teachers whohelped draft the guidelines. The standards were developed jointly by the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburghand the National Center on Education and the Economy in Washington Theorganizations assembled produce reading experts to standards from a broad swath of research on earlyreadinginstruction W@ Kindergartners should beable to name letters. distinguish sounds in words, andblend those sounds as they readsimple words. They also should beable to retell stories that have been read to them and write rudimentary poems andstories, even if the piecesconsist ofscribbling or letters strung together with pictures @ First-graders should beable to use the cues of punctuation juding commas, periods, question marksand quotations — to draw meaning from what they read. Theyalso should be able to read simple stories they haven't seen before and usedialogue to understand the developmental progression of a student as they go throughthe variousstages of mas- tering reading and writing.” er and other officials released the standards y. Fewstate or school officials had seen the new guidelines, which cost $45 for the age, but those who did called themuseful tools for training teachers and improving classroominstruction. “This work represents the best knowledge that’s out there on howtoeffectively teach reading and writing,” said Christopher Cross, president of the Council for Basic Education, a Washington organization that worksto raise standards nationwide. “Teachers don't feel terribly well unlormes about what represents good work, particularlyin reading Theyarealways looking for good examplesof practice India Launches Strikes LOS ANGELES TIMES cials at all levels increasingly em- Although the best school-based drug-prevention programs are worth thecost, they produce only modest results and are hardly a silver bullet” in the govern- ment’s war on drugs, a new Rand Corp. study concludes The study, which focused on cocaine use, mates that the best of the anti-drug efforts will curtail a student's use of the substancebyan averageof 8 percent over his or her lifetime —a result that, dollar for dollar, compares favorably with government ef- forts to shrink demand by de- stroying cocoa leaves overseas or bypatrolling the border. But the 194-page report released Tuesdayby the Santa Monica, Calif -based policy think tank cautions against expecting too much from prevention programs. the full effects of which, it says, can take up to 40 years to kick in. “The bad news for prevention enthusiasts is that prevention doesnot appearto be the hopedfor silver bullet,” the study con- phasize school-based prevention programsas part of the $40 bil- lion war on drugs. It's been an uphill battle. After hitting a trough in the early 1990s, drug use among students is rising, federal figures show. The number of 12th-gradersusing cocaine has nearly doubled, from 1.3 percent in 1992 to 2.4 percent in 1998. The federal government has tried to stem the tide by funding many anti-drug education pro- gramsinschools, but recentscien. tifie research shows that many aren't effective, the study says. However, it focuses on two pro- gramsconsidered to work — Project ALERT and Life Skills — both of which teach sevenththrough ninth-graders the social skills to resist peer pressure. The programs have reduced the use of marijuana, which implies an impact on cocaine consump- tion as well. Cocaineusetypically starts after high school and leads te more deaths, arrests and lost cludes. “It is not likely that with workertime than other drugs. can play a decisive role in eradicating our current drug prob- The study also attempts to establish, for the first time, a costbenefit ratio that compares the current technology prevention lem. Thereport, titled An Ounce of Prevention, A Pound of Uncertainty, comes as government offi- prevention programs — at $67.12 a student — with other government enforcement efforts to cur- tail cocaine use Le. SEEING IS BELIEVING! In Disputed Territory “We Guarantee . . * The World's Only NON-SURGICAL,Natural Hairline! 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