Literacy after the early years: a longitudinal study.

Literacy after the early years: a longitudinal study. Literacy after the early years: a longitudinal study longitudinal studya chronological study in epidemiology which attempts to establish a relationship between an antecedent cause and a subsequent effect. See also cohort study. Internationally, children living in low socio-economiccircumstances are statistically more likely to perform at a lower levelon standardised measures of literacy than more affluent children.However, some children `beat the odds' and do better than expected.As an educational community we know relatively little about the everydayschool lives of primary school-aged children attending schools in lowsocio-economic communities; about the literacies they are taught; thosethey engage with, and those they take up and use as their own. We knownext to nothing about children's school trajectories from ages8-12; yet we do know that this is a crucial period where children areestablishing their personal, social and academic identities, where theyare thinking about who they are and who they can be. This articlesummarises a research study that aimed to contribute new knowledge inthis area. (1) The study, we believe, has relevance for primary school teachers ina variety of contexts. In all schools there are children whose familiesexperience socio-economic disadvantage. In all schools there arestudents with a great range of literate repertoires and capabilities andchildren with diverse linguistic and cultural heritages. Everywherethere are children growing up into a differently literate world thanthat which we inhabited as children and as adults; where differentproficiencies count (searching the Internet or making a web page); andwhere the possibilities for representing meanings are vast andever-expanding. We hope, too, that teachers of students of all ages mayfind it rewarding to reflect on what constitutes literacy in theirclassrooms and what kinds of instruction are working for their students. Purposes of the project While there has been considerable attention lately to outcomeslevels and benchmarks, there is a dearth of recent studies that closelyconsider the `what' of literacy. In this study, our overridingpurpose was to consider the actual nature of the literate repertoireschildren assemble in the middle years at primary schools situated inpoor communities. Specific aims were to: * find out which literate practices children in thesesocio-economically disadvantaged schools were given access to andpractice in * analyse what individual children took from the classroom literacycurricula * document and analyse assessment information from sources available in the system, including teachers, students, national and stateliteracy tests * better theorise Verb 1. theorise - to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps"hypothesise, hypothesize, speculate, conjecture, theorize, hypothecate, suppose the relationship between the development ofstudent literacies, the provision of literacy curriculum, and theassessment of literacy outcomes. The project is important for two main reasons. Firstly, littleethnographic eth��nog��ra��phy?n.The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.eth��nog longitudinal research has been done in Australia to lookclosely at the school lives and literacy achievement of children growingup in schools serving low socio-economic communities (see Freebody etal. 1995). Secondly, relatively few studies have considered eitherliteracy curricula or literacy development in the middle years ofprimary school (Allington & Johnston 2000, Gee 2000, Snow et al.1991, Snow et al. 1998). Yet a number of educators have suggested thatthe gap between the literacy performance of students living in lowsocio-economic circumstances increases, rather than decreases as wemight expect, after the early years of schooling (see for example Badger badger,name for several related members of the weasel family. Most badgers are large, nocturnal, burrowing animals, with broad, heavy bodies, long snouts, large, sharp claws, and long, grizzled fur. et al. 1993, Hill et al. 1998). Further, some educators now speak of a`fourth-grade slump' (Gee 2000, Education Queensland 2000, Snow etal. 1998), which suggests that there may be unexplained unexplainedAdjectivestrange or unclear because the reason for it is not knownAdj. 1. unexplained - not explained; "accomplished by some unexplained process" changes inschool literacy tasks which impact differentially on children'sdevelopment at this point. Given these gaps in the professional literature, we aimed toproduce: * a series of longitudinal case studies of literacy developmentamong primary-aged students in three socio-economically disadvantagedschool communities * an analysis of students' literacy development,teachers' literacy pedagogies, and the local application ofcurriculum reforms in socio economically disadvantaged schools * professional resources designed to extend teachers'knowledge about children's literacy development and to improveteaching practice. Project design It was our intention to look at what was going on from ananthropological perspective. That is, we wanted to see what counted asliteracy for specific children and their teachers, in particularclassrooms, in particular schools, at this particular time. By using alongitudinal design and focussing on middle primary schooling, we soughtto make an original contribution to the field of literacy studies inAustralia, and beyond. The project was designed to produce detailedlongitudinal case studies of the literacy experiences of individualstudents in three schools receiving funds under the DisadvantagedSchools Component of the Commonwealth Literacy Program (formerly theCommonwealth Disadvantaged Schools Program). Such schools all servecommunities that are disadvantaged by low socio-economic conditions, andsometimes also by distance, language, race and cultural differences.However, disadvantaged schools are not all of a piece. They differconsiderably in terms of their population, size, structure, history,ethos, location and so on. The three schools attended by the case studychildren exemplify ex��em��pli��fy?tr.v. ex��em��pli��fied, ex��em��pli��fy��ing, ex��em��pli��fies1. a. To illustrate by example: exemplify an argument.b. these differences. Students were selected on the basis of membership in categories ofstudents statistically known to underachieve (e.g. students in poverty,Aboriginal students, students using English as their second language,and students in isolated areas). As the project was financed in part byfunds marked for DETE's equity agenda, it was important that thecase studies included children in the target categories whereverpossible. Unfortunately, none of the Year Three cohorts in the threeschools included Aboriginal children, even though each school had ahigher than average enrolment of Aboriginal students. The originalcohort of 21 included 10 boys and 11 girls, (including six children whowere the focus studies of an earlier research trial). In selecting casestudy children, the researchers consulted with teachers and endeavouredto work with children who were School Card holders, (2) whilst acceptingthat their status might change across the project. Our object in this work was to explore what each particular childtook from the literacy curriculum on offer in each class and to describethe literacies they were acquiring at school. Thus, our goal was not tocompare children on a pre-developed grid of competencies, but rather toinductively in��duc��tive?adj.1. Of, relating to, or using logical induction: inductive reasoning.2. Electricity Of or arising from inductance: inductive reactance. analyse the kinds of literacies they were learning; thefactors shaping their uptake; and each child's way of doingliteracy in the school. On this basis, we hoped to be able to draw someconclusions about children's pathways to literacy in and for themiddle years of primary. The research employed ethnographic and interpretive in��ter��pre��tive? also in��ter��pre��ta��tiveadj.Relating to or marked by interpretation; explanatory.in��terpre��tive��ly adv. researchmethodologies. We also drew upon critical and feminist research and onprinciples of participatory research. In practice, this meant that theteam was committed to: * the importance of extended and intensive observation andinterviews * respect for teachers' and students' standpoints andperspectives * the need to understand institutional locations * the need to consider the local in the context of the national andglobal. In this project literacy is understood as being sociallyconstructed in everyday institutional and discursive dis��cur��sive?adj.1. Covering a wide field of subjects; rambling.2. Proceeding to a conclusion through reason rather than intuition. practices. Thus itis in day-to-day living that student differences (such as socio-economicstatus, race, bilingualism, gender, location) can impact on how literacyis learned, taught and assessed. From this perspective, literacy is notseen as a unitary unitarypertaining to a single object or individual. skill on a single developmental scale, but asrepertoires of practice that are learnt in use over time with assistancefrom teachers, parents and peers. Three main methods of generating data were employed: gathering ofclassroom and school artefacts; participant interviews with case studystudents and teachers; and classroom observation. The data comprised theordinary, everyday practices of teachers and students, including (a)units of work extending over several weeks, (b) individual studentactivity, and (c) whole-class assessment practices. The different datasets produced a rich picture of the curriculum that was offered, howstudents engaged with it, what they produced through it, and howteachers assessed students' performances. The writing of case studies was guided by three key researchquestions: * Which literate practices are these children given access to andpractice in? * What do these children take up from what is on offer? * What changes in literacy development are evident over time? In addition, other school, classroom and assessment data wasanalysed. For instance, teacher-written student reports were subjectedto critical discourse analytic approaches in order to identify howliteracy progress was constituted in these documents (Comber comb��er?n.1. One, such as a machine or a worker, that combs something, such as wool.2. A long wave that has reached its peak or broken into foam; a breaker. 1996,1997b). Analysis of the literacy curricula was informed by criticalframeworks for understanding literacy as social and cultural practices(Freebody & Luke 1990, Durrant & Green 1998, 2001, Green, 1988).Such frameworks emphasise that literacy requires more than mastery ofthe operational aspects of cracking the code, which is a necessary butinsufficient resource for participating in contemporary schooling andcommunity life. It also requires an understanding of how to use languagein particular situations and how to analyse the effects of particulartextual practices. Research findings In this section of the paper we attempt to distil dis��tillalso dis��til ?v. dis��tilled also dis��tilled, dis��till��ing also dis��til��ling, dis��tills also dis��tilsv.tr.1. To subject (a substance) to distillation.2. some of the keyfindings that may inform policy, school and classroom practice, teachereducation and further research. These were formulated by reading acrossthe case study and school data over time. The findings are grouped underthree specific focuses: * Socio-economically disadvantaged children--what did the casestudy students bring to school? * The literacy curriculum on offer in the middle primaryyears--what did the case study children make of that? * Literacy teaching and learning in the project schools--what isneeded to make it work? Socio-economically disadvantaged children--what did the case studystudents bring to school? Children in middle primary classrooms had acquired a vast andvaried array of literate practices from family and community life andearly schooling. To put it simply, there was a very great range in whatthese children could do with words. Some children had extremelysophisticated practices; some children were still getting started withprint. Some children were literate in more than one language; some werelearning English as an additional language. The range of competencieschildren differentially had under control included: * reading picture books or junior novels * writing a readable diary entry * producing reports or illustrated stories * searching the Internet for games, favourite sports and mediasites * putting literacy to work in community, school and family contextsby writing letters, guides and invitations. Children had differential linguistic, cultural capital and literateresources. Some children had resources that matched those valued by theschool and some did not. Students well positioned in this regard hadresources acquired at home that included: * family knowledge and involvement in the performative per��for��ma��tive?adj.Relating to or being an utterance that peforms an act or creates a state of affairs by the fact of its being uttered under appropriate or conventional circumstances, as a justice of the peace uttering arts whichcalled for public display such as drama, public speaking, choir and soon * knowledge of `business' practices through engagement withfamily accounts and record-keeping * expertise with personal or family libraries, diaries, calendars,and computers. Other children may have had resources which they were unable tomake use of at school because they remained invisible or disconnectedfrom the curriculum, or because they were seen as inappropriate orirrelevant for school (e.g. forms of computing, bilingualism, knowledgeof popular culture and media genres). Whether children were able to cashin on their home knowledges and practices was contingent on Adj. 1. contingent on - determined by conditions or circumstances that follow; "arms sales contingent on the approval of congress"contingent upon, dependant on, dependant upon, dependent on, dependent upon, depending on, contingent whatteachers judged as valuable or appropriate. Some children were able touse their existing repertoires of practice on a continual basis; forother children there were many fewer connections and they had to do morework to make sense of school assignments and processes. Some children, because they were not yet fluently bilingual, haddifficulty in fully engaging with the curriculum. In the early stages ofbecoming bilingual, students were not able to fully access thecurriculum on offer. This may be either because they had not yet graspedenough of the English language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. , or because they had not previouslyengaged with the cultural experiences assumed in the curriculum. If thecurriculum missed was not revisited later on, what they had missedremained a gap in their learning. We saw students who were making goodprogress in learning English, but who nevertheless tended to miss thesignificance of key points in their reading and in their teachers'presentations. Also, they were sometimes unable to engage meaningfullywith the grammar lessons on offer to the whole class, and certain phonic phon��icadj.Of, relating to, or having the nature of sound, especially speech sounds.phonicpertaining to the voice. approaches to spelling. For all of these students, even those mostfluent in English, participating in whole class discussion was limitedto occasions when their teacher nominated them to speak. Teachers couldnot assume full access to all aspects of the curriculum. The literacy curriculum on offer in the middle primary years--whatdid the case study children make of that? Middle primary school literacies frequently featured practices andways of organising curriculum that were different from the early yearsliteracies. Common practices in primary school curriculum includedresource-based learning (projects), spelling and theme-based contracts,the production of set genres (e.g. reports, procedures, recounts,narratives), sheet literacies (i.e. photocopied sheets with spelling,punctuation punctuation[Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and and vocabulary exercises), library time, and usingcomputers. These practices sometimes required students to maintain asense of the task, plot and purpose over extended time periods. Thismeant that students needed to develop understandings of the curriculumlogic or literate practices beyond the immediate literacy task. Theywere expected to listen to and understand teachers' explanations ofassignments and internalise v. 1. (Psychology) Same as internalize.Verb 1. internalise - incorporate within oneself; make subjective or personal; "internalize a belief"interiorise, interiorize, internalize consistent features of genres or workpractices so that they could apply them elsewhere. They were expected tobe independent and responsible in knowing where they were up to and howto proceed. In order to meet these expectations, students needed to havesome investment in the program, the content and in schooling. They couldrarely simply pick up on a moment-by-moment basis what they needed forthe lesson. Middle primary school academic work was contingent upon Adj. 1. contingent upon - determined by conditions or circumstances that follow; "arms sales contingent on the approval of congress"contingent on, dependant on, dependant upon, dependent on, dependent upon, depending on, contingent childrenbeing able to read and write well enough to engage in and displaylearning. A great deal of the academic curriculum from middle primaryschool onwards on��ward?adj.Moving or tending forward.adv. also on��wardsIn a direction or toward a position that is ahead in space or time; forward.Adv. 1. required that children could not only read and write, butalso that they could learn new concepts and information (and displaysuch learning) through their textual practices. For example, children inmany different classrooms were expected to learn about animal behaviour,habitats and predators. Using resource-based learning approaches,teachers assigned tasks that required extended reading of multiple textsin the hunt for answers to specific questions. Sometimes these tasksthen needed to be reassembled into extended assignments known as`contracts' or `projects'. The display of learning expected byteachers often required a combination of talk and the production ofverbal and visual hybrid texts as `published' artefacts forpermanent display or record. Doing school properly in primary school wascontingent on children having increasingly independent literatepractices. Children were expected to be able to find, locate, sort andorganise material in print and in electronic form. The curriculum waslargely organised through reading, writing and talking and it wasassumed that children could appropriate new knowledge by reading andlistening. They were assumed to be able to replicate the texts they readand to transform information for their own purposes. Middle primary school literacy expectations emphasised`communicative com��mu��ni��ca��tive?adj.1. Inclined to communicate readily; talkative.2. Of or relating to communication.com��mu depth', in terms of quantity, detail and interest.Primary teachers were not satisfied with children simply reading andwriting. There was an expectation that students would produce materialthat was inherently interesting, accurate, detailed and of sufficientquantity to display their knowledge, thoughts and understandings. Thisset of expectations was central in teachers' explicit instructionand in the feedback they gave, and featured in in-term reports. Studentswere expected to write for their readers and speak with anaudience's needs in mind. There was an increasing expectation thatstudents would be able to effectively present, perform and displaygreater `depth' of understanding and learning. Communication of the`content' of what they have learnt as well as an understanding ofwhat they have achieved in learning was expected in many classrooms weobserved. Students were also expected to engage with and produce complexand extended texts, including a range of genres in a range of media. It was clear that even within the same classrooms in the sameschools, children in middle primary classrooms were assembling differentrepertoires of literate practices. When children acquire literatepractices they become expert in the practices of their community(classroom, school, peer, home). Because new expertise is alwayscontingent upon what children already know and can do, what they haveaccess to and the extent to which they make use of what is on offer,they may finish middle primary school not only with different levels ofcompetence, but with competence in different practices. The diversity ofliterate proficiencies and practices became extremely visible at thistime of school. Children were making multiple and different kinds ofmeanings and assembling different repertoires of literate practices. Anissue for teachers is ensuring that children acquire the kinds ofliterate practices upon which school learning is contingent. A furtherissue is the extent to which children appropriate and see as valuablethe literacies on offer as relevant and useful in everyday life. Middle primary students were expected to acquire self-reflectivepractices as a key move in becoming independent. In the primary yearsthere was an expectation that not only would children be able to do thetask required, but that they would have developed or were developingmeta-awareness of their strategies for learning and solving problems.Teachers regularly articulated strategies for learning, reading,writing, spelling and so on, and encouraged children to similarlyunderstand and articulate their processes in terms of theireffectiveness and productivity. Literacy lessons played a central rolein teachers' efforts to enhance children's meta-cognitive andmeta-linguistic awareness. Literacy was seen as a tool for learning, asan object of learning and as a social practice needed for fullmembership of the school community. We saw children who were engaged superficially in school tasks, butnot connected with substantive pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. purposes, logic or academicconcepts. Some children's literate repertoires allowed them toproduce parts of tasks with continual support from peers and teachers,yet they showed no evidence of understanding the fundamental object ofthe lesson or assignment. Even though such children may have receivedexplicit teaching and ongoing scaffolding to keep them participating,they appeared not to acquire the principles, purposes, or schema for theacademic focus. The assistance they sought was often at the level of:`What do we have to do next?' Their practices featured copying frompeers and other textual resources, extensive use of erasers and pencilsharpeners, and frequent help-seeking. Their requests for help, theirquestions and their orientation to the task indicated that they wereoperating at a surface level of understanding of what was required.While they sometimes ultimately produced assignments that appearedsimilar to those of their peers, it was an illusion of parity, becausethey had not independently been able to understand the purposes of thetask, the key concepts informing it or how to proceed with it. It wasnot that no learning or achievement was being made in such cases, butthat teachers could not assume that these children were learning whatthey had intended. Students acquired school literacies via different trajectories.Some children appeared to make a relatively slow start in one or moreaspects of their literacy learning (e.g. spelling or reading or writing)and then made breakthroughs that led them to accelerate and orchestrate or��ches��trate?tr.v. or��ches��trat��ed, or��ches��trat��ing, or��ches��trates1. To compose or arrange (music) for performance by an orchestra.2. their progress across modes. Teachers, parents and these children seemedto believe not only that everything would fall into place (and, indeed,it seemed to), but that they would do well. In fact, several suchchildren became high achieving students by upper primary. For thesechildren, a crucial factor appeared to be the undoubted un��doubt��ed?adj.Accepted as beyond question; undisputed. See Synonyms at authentic.un��doubted��ly adv. `belief' intheir capacity to do well. However, other children who begun well failedto live up to their expected potential and seemed to plateau after goodearly progress (as indicated by school reports). Still other childrenwho began to acquire literate practices very slowly, at the end of thestudy still had a fragile relationship with schooling, literacy andlearning. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , there were a number of different `patterns ofdevelopment' within the slice of time of the research study. Acomplex challenge for middle school teachers is to be alert to thesedifferences and plan curricula, textual resources, and pedagogy thattake this range into account. Literacy teaching and learning in the project schools--what isneeded to make it work? Teaching literacy in low socio-economic communities requires highlyskilled and committed teachers. Since 1975, the Federal government ofAustralia This article describes the federal government of Australia. See Australian governments for other jurisdictions. For a description of politics and political institutions, see Politics of Australia. has provided extra resources to schools servingsocio-economically disadvantaged communities. From the DisadvantagedSchools Program of the last three decades to the Commonwealth LiteracyProgram, there has been the recognition of the need to differentiallyresource schools and families suffering financial hardship. This studyconfirms that the nature of teachers' work in schools in poorcommunities is highly complex and demanding. This study also confirmsthat children and their families have high expectations for theirchildren's education and outcomes. It also demonstrates the greatcommitment and considerable expertise of many teachers who have workedin low socioeconomic communities, often for the majority of theircareers. Many children and their families in these schools have sufferedfrom the effects of poverty, unemployment, moving house on numerousoccasions (and sometimes from country to country and from city tocountryside). Sometimes these effects have long-term impact, as withillness and dislocation dislocation,displacement of a body part, usually a bone. When a bone is dislocated, the ends of opposing bones are usually forced out of connection with one another. In the process, bruising of tissues and tearing of ligaments may occur. . Some children and their families also have todeal with learning English as a second language as well as racism withinthe wider community. Poverty changes the way families live and meansthat they have less economic capital to assist them in resourcing theirchildren's education. Poverty does not mean that the children cometo school with no resources. Indeed, the children in this study, andtheir families and teachers, were extremely resourceful re��source��ful?adj.Able to act effectively or imaginatively, especially in difficult situations.re��sourceful��ly adv. but they had tocontinually work at it: nothing could be taken for granted Adj. 1. taken for granted - evident without proof or argument; "an axiomatic truth"; "we hold these truths to be self-evident"axiomatic, self-evidentobvious - easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" , and nothingcame easily. This research strongly supports the need for ongoingsupplemental assistance in order that teachers can really make adifference to the educational opportunities of the young people in theirclassrooms. Teachers' pedagogies represented an amalgam of schoolpriorities and ethos, professional experience and knowledge, accumulatedwisdom and available resources. Teachers did not simply follow oneapproach or program; rather the evidence suggested that they wereconstantly assembling their pedagogical resources and know-how. Thisstudy indicates that teachers had particular principles and beliefs thatguided their practices and helped them to prioritise Verb 1. prioritise - assign a priority to; "we have too many things to do and must prioritize"prioritizegrade, rate, rank, place, range, order - assign a rank or rating to; "how would you rank these students?"; "The restaurant is rated highly in the food . Specifictechniques and curriculum were inflected in��flect?v. in��flect��ed, in��flect��ing, in��flectsv.tr.1. To alter (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate.2. Grammar To alter (a word) by inflection.3. with teachers'professional styles and the school ethos. Hence resource-based learningwas very different in different classrooms with different teachersdesigning and enacting the curriculum. A `spelling' time slot Continuously repeating interval of time or a time period in which two devices are able to interconnect. meantsomething different to different teachers. There were traces of creativewriting, process writing, and genre-based curriculum within a singleclassroom. The resources available also made a difference. For instance,access to library resources, literature, text and workbooks (e.g.spelling), computers and software, materials for writing andpublication: all made a difference to what teachers attempted. Thematerial resources for school literacies are crucial to children'slearning. These are not simply tools, but the actual representational rep��re��sen��ta��tion��al?adj.Of or relating to representation, especially to realistic graphic representation.rep materials with which children learn to make meanings. Teachers highly valued one-to-one and small group pedagogicaloccasions where intensive targeted teaching and immediate feedback couldbe provided. A number of children in the study needed considerablesupport to participate successfully in the curriculum on offer. Thissupport included intensive assistance with writing, targeted instructionin reading, close monitoring of attention and organisation andclarification of the language of tasks, concepts and procedures. Allchildren in the study needed this kind of assistance from time to time.Some children needed this support almost every lesson. Teachers reportedthat when whole school structures allowed for an extra adult in theclassroom during literacy lessons, they felt able to give the quality ofteaching that was essential to the progress of children withdifficulties. Often this was done through the support of an ESL (1) An earlier family of client/server development tools for Windows and OS/2 from Ardent Software (formerly VMARK). It was originally developed by Easel Corporation, which was acquired by VMARK. teacheror a school services http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Schools_Collection_May_2007_2.JPGSchool Services are a business unit of the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa). They provide curriculum and advisory services to support New Zealand schools. officer (SSO See single sign-on and CSO. SSO - single sign-on ). Given the very great differences instudents' proficiencies, teachers needed to adapt their teachingcontinuously so that all children could benefit from it. Literacy assessments occurred throughout classroom activities andacross the curriculum. Assessment was integral to classroom practiceand, in some cases, built into a diagnostic approach to teaching, whereteachers continuously monitored children's take-up of literatepractices, attitudes and understandings. Often this work was achievedorally, with teachers providing an almost continuous flow of feedback tothe class as a whole and targeted toward specific individuals. In onecase, the school developed an explicit written response format thatindicated to students how their writing measured up againstgenre-specific criteria. Sometimes teachers' assessments wereintended to act as a jolt to students who were judged to be performingunder their capabilities. In other cases, what might have objectivelylooked like a very poor performance, may have been assessed as good workfor a particular student. As well as ongoing classroom assessments,schools had developed their own ways of auditing students' literacyperformances. One school, for instance, made its own standards againstwhich children were assessed with the distinct purpose of deciding howresources were used and how students should be grouped. The importantfinding here was that teachers and school leaders were highly consciousof assessing at individual, class and cohort levels. They used theirassessments to work out what particular students needed as well as toconstruct their whole class literacy programs. Literacy reporting was shaped by whole-school structures forreporting more generally, and by the constructions teachers placed onliteracy. Different kinds of information about literacy were madeavailable through different reporting procedures. All of these reportingoptions constructed literacy in different and complementary ways, andthose needed to be considered together in order to understandstudents' literacy development. Portfolios of students' workand parent-teacher or three-way interviews provided opportunities forindividualised Adj. 1. individualised - made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual; "personalized luggage"; "personalized advice"individualized, personalised, personalized comments directly relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accassessment tasks and worksamples. Report cards provided opportunities for normative nor��ma��tive?adj.Of, relating to, or prescribing a norm or standard: normative grammar.nor commentsrelating to the curriculum as a whole and the individual student inrelation to the cohort. The extent to which literacy was a key focus (ornot) in report cards was shaped by the format and teacher priorities.Typically, report cards used one of two organising principles: learningareas or key competencies, backed up by comments on students'dispositions towards schooling in general. While spaces allocated toEnglish and to communication skills provided the main opportunities forreporting on literacy, teachers also reported on it across thecurriculum and under other key competencies, particularly in regard toinformation technology. Conclusion Many educational researchers paint a bleak picture of how childrenfrom low socio-economic backgrounds experience schooling and of theireducational and literacy outcomes (Guice & Brooks 1997, Haberman1991, Polakow 1993). However, this study is one of several that depict de��pict?tr.v. de��pict��ed, de��pict��ing, de��picts1. To represent in a picture or sculpture.2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. the complex and positive work that is going on in schools and is makinga difference to students' learning (Allington & Johnston 2000,Gregory & Williams 2000). A central rationale for this study was theneed to explore teacher-learner interactions and literacy lessons whichwork for students. Fortunately, we are not in the position of someresearchers who have been faced with results they would have preferrednot to report (Guice & Brooks 1997). Nevertheless, the researchreport is not entirely celebratory. Having taken the perspective ofstudents, we endeavoured to demonstrate the connections and themismatches, the breakthroughs and the confusions. We have argued that literacy development in the primary years iscontingent on a number of interrelated in��ter��re��late?tr. & intr.v. in��ter��re��lat��ed, in��ter��re��lat��ing, in��ter��re��latesTo place in or come into mutual relationship.in factors, both in the home andschool environments. A lot has been written and said about the effectsof children's home children's homen → centro de acogida para ni?oschildren's homen → foyer m d'accueil (pour enfants)children's homen lives on children's literacy learning. Webelieve that children's home lives do need to be taken intoaccount, and in particular that the possible effects of poverty beanticipated. Illness, family dislocation, unemployment and so on do makea difference in the lives of families and to children's learning.Yet it is equally important to work against deficit equations aboutpoverty and illiteracy illiteracy,inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill.Definition of IlliteracyThe exact nature of the criterion varies, so that illiteracy must be defined in each case before the term can be used in a meaningful (Comber 1997a, Freebody et al. 1995, Gregory& Williams 2000). Hence educational systems must work on at leasttwo fronts: one, to ensure that students are provided with all theresources they need to engage with and learn from the program and two,designing and delivering a program that is both culturally responsiveand futures-driven. That is, it must both work with what students bring,and offer them the new discursive resources and literate practices thatthey do not yet have. What was working for young people in literacy lessons in theseschool communities? The case studies show that children had access toand appropriated many literate practices and learning strategies thattheir teachers modelled and made important. We saw children emerging asstrategic learners with skills and dispositions that should stand themin good stead stead?n.1. The place, position, or function properly or customarily occupied by another.2. Advantage; service; purpose: "His personal relationship with the electorate stands in good stead"throughout their educational trajectories. But if we couldadd further to the complex mix that teachers provided, what might wesuggest? We have described the emphasis in these years as being on`communicative depth'. Students were engaged in the production andcomprehension of more detailed and complex texts. We saw relativelylittle analytical work around language and textual practices--what hasbeen described elsewhere as critical literacy Critical literacy is an instructional approach that advocates the adoption of critical perspectives toward text. Critical literacy encourages readers to actively analyze texts and it offers strategies for uncovering underlying messages. (Comber & Simpson2001, Lankshear 1994, Luke 2000) or critical language awareness (Janks1993). Rather, the literate practices we observed tended to emphasisethe operational and cultural dimensions Cultural dimensions are the mostly psychological dimensions, or value constructs, which can be used to describe a specific culture. These are often used in Intercultural communication-/Cross-cultural communication-based research.See also: Edward T. (Durrant & Green 2001, Green1988). Yet we observed more analytical work in the previous researchtrial when the children were in Year Three (Comber et al 2001) so weknow that these students were capable of engaging with critical andanalytic dimensions of literate practices. The lack of emphasis oncritical analysis may have coincided with competing priorities asteachers introduced children to reading and writing to learn. However,there were many opportunities for discussion about the relationshipsbetween language use, knowledge and power that were not exploited byteachers. Where such critical work did occur it was often in relation totelevision, movies, advertising and popular culture, as if those werethe areas requiring critical scrutiny. Other kinds of informationaltexts, such as encyclopedias, were treated as factual and authoritative.If we lay a grid across the curriculum on offer we can see that teacherstended to privilege particular versions of literacy during the primaryyears. Being literate in these classrooms meant becoming readers andwriters who could use literate practices to meet particularrequirements, organise themselves and work to a schedule. Accomplishingthese practices was valuable, crucial even, for children's take-upof the wider academic curriculum. We raise the issue of the diminishedrole of the critical and analytical here because we believe that this isequally central in children's ongoing learning and literacydevelopment. Many studies of effective teaching in high poverty schools reducetheir findings to lists of teacher attributes, program features orpedagogical do's and don'ts (for a useful synthesis, seeAllington & Johnston 2000). A number of such studies make it seem asthough successful teaching is all or nothing, but this is not what wefound. In our study, teaching and learning were highly complexinteractive activities that required continual negotiation andmonitoring. In terms of school-related factors that affect children'sliteracy development, the study shows the profound effects of bothschool and classroom practices. Of particular note are school structuresdesigned to facilitate one-to-one and small group interactions, andteachers' classroom discourses designed to develop particularliterate dispositions. We argue that the following factors at schoolmake a difference to what children learn: * the recognition factor (the extent to which what children can docounts and they can see that it counts) * the resources factor (the extent to which schools have the humanand material resources they need) * the curriculum factor (the quality, scope and depth of what ismade available) * the pedagogical factor (the quality of teacher instructionaltalk, teacher-student relationships and assessment practices) * the take-up factor (the extent to which children appropriateliterate practices and school authorised discourses) * the translation factor (the extent to which children can make useof and assemble repertoires of practice which they can use in newsituations). These factors indicate that it is the relationship between whatschools and teachers provide, and what students are able to do withthat, which makes a difference in the literacies children assemble atschool. (1.) The study, Socio-economically Disadvantaged Students and theDevelopment of Literacies in School: A Longitudinal Study, was acollaborative research project (no. C79804522) between the DisadvantagedSchools Component of the Commonwealth Literacy Program, in the SouthAustralian Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE DETE Department of Education, Training and Employment (South Australia)DETE Digital End To End ) andthe Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and Learning Cultures,University of South Australia South Australia,state (1991 pop. 1,236,623), 380,070 sq mi (984,381 sq km), S central Australia. It is bounded on the S by the Indian Ocean. Kangaroo Island and many smaller islands off the south coast are included in the state. between 1998 and 2000. The research wasjointly funded by a grant from DETE and the Australian Research Council(ARC) Strategic Partnership with Industry Research Partners (SPIRT)scheme. The views herein do not necessarily represent the views of DETESA. (2.) School cards are given to families whose socio-economiccircumstances are such that they are allocated health cards. It is arecognised indicator of poverty in schools. References Allington, R.L. & Johnston, P. 2000, What Do We Know AboutEffective Fourth-Grade Teachers and Their Classrooms? The NationalResearch Center on English Learning & Achievement, University atAlbany, State University of New York (body) State University of New York - (SUNY) The public university system of New York State, USA, with campuses throughout the state. , Report Series 13010,(http://cela.albany.edu/4thgrade/index.html). Badger, L., Comber, B. & Weeks, B. 1993, Literacy and LanguagePractices in the Early Years in Disadvantaged Schools: A Report on theNational Survey, Department of Education, Employment and Training,Curriculum Corporation, Carlton, Victoria Carlton is an inner city suburb to the north-east of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1851, at the beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush. . Comber, B. 1997a, `Literacy, poverty and schooling: working againstdeficit equations', English in Australia, vol. 119-120, pp. 22-34. Comber, B. 1997b, `Managerialist discourses: local effects onteachers' and students' work in literacy lessons',Discourse, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 389-407. Comber, B. 1996, The discursive construction of literacy in adisadvantaged school, PhD thesis, James Cook University Situated in the tropical gardens of the campus, the halls of residence provide students with modern social and sporting facilities as well as the opportunity to choose between catered or self-catered accommodation. , Queensland. Comber, B. & Simpson, A. (eds) 2001, Negotiating CriticalLiteracies in Classrooms, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NewJersey Mahwah is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 24,062. The name Mahwah is derived from the Lenni Lenape word "mawewi" which means "Meeting Place" or "Place Where Paths Meet". . Comber, B., Thomson, E & Wells, M. 2001, `Critical literacyfinds a "place": writing and social action in a neighborhoodschool', Elementary School Journal Published by the University of Chicago Press, The Elementary School Journal is an academic journal which has served researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners in elementary and middle school education for over one hundred years. , vol. 101, no. 4, pp. 451-464. Durrant, C., & Green, B. 1998, Literacy and New Technologies inSchool Education: Meeting the Literacy Challenge, School of CurriculumStudies, University of New England The University of New England can refer to: University of New England, Maine, in Biddeford, Maine University of New England, Australia, in New South Wales , Armidale, New South Wales New South Wales,state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. . Durrant, C. & Green, B. 2001, `Literacy and new technologies inschool education', in H. Fehring & E Green eds, A Collection ofArticles from the Australian Literacy Educators' Association,International Reading Association, Delaware. Education Queensland 2000, New Basics Project Technical Paper,(http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/newbasics/html/tnbf.html). Freebody, P., Ludwig, C., Gunn, S., Dwyer, S., Freiberg, J.,Forrest, T., Gray, S., Hellsten, M., Herchell, E, Luke, H., Rose, J.& Wheeler, J. 1995, Everyday Literacy Practices In and Out ofSchools in Low Socio-Economic Urban Communities: A Descriptive andInterpretive Research Program: Executive Summary, Curriculum Corporationand the Department of Employment, Education and Training, Carlton,Victoria. Freebody, P. & Luke, A. 1990, `"Literacies" programs:debates and demands in cultural context', Prospect: the Journal ofAdult Migrant mi��grant?n.1. One that moves from one region to another by chance, instinct, or plan.2. An itinerant worker who travels from one area to another in search of work.adj.Migratory. Education Programs, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 7-16. Gee, J.P. 2000, `New people in new worlds: networks, the newcapitalism and schools', in B. Cope & M. Kalantzis eds,Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures,Macmillan, Melbourne, Victoria. Gregory, E. & Williams, A. 2000, City Literacies: Learning toRead Across Generations and Cultures, Routledge, London & New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Green, B. 1988, `Subject-specific literacy and school learning: afocus on writing', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 32, no. 2,pp. 156-179. Guice, S. & Brooks, G.W. 1997, Access Denied: A Five-Year Studyof Literacy Instruction Provided to Poor, Urban Elementary Children,Report Series 2.30, National Research Centre on English Learning andAchievement, University at Albany, New York For other uses, see Albany.Albany is the capital of the State of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany lies 136 miles (219 km) north of New York City, and slightly to the south of the juncture of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. . Haberman, M. 1991, `The politics of poverty versus goodteaching', Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 73, no. 4, pp. 290-294. Hill, S., Comber, B., Louden, B., Reid, J. & Rivalland, J.1998, 100 Children Go To School: Connections and Disconnections inLiteracy Experience Prior to School and in the First Year of School, a 3volume report, Department for Education, Employment, Training and YouthAffairs, Canberra. Janks, H. (ed.) 1993, Critical Language Awareness Series,Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg. Polakow, V. 1993, Lives on the Edge: Single Mothers and theirChildren in the Other America, University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including , Chicago,Illinois. Snow, C., Barnes, W., Chandler, J., Goodman, I. & Hemphill, L.1991, Unfulfilled Expectations: Home and School Influences on Literacy,Harvard University Press The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. It was established on January 13, 1913. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. , Cambridge, Massachusetts This article is about the city of Cambridge in Massachusetts. For the English university town, see Cambridge, England. For other places, see Cambridge (disambiguation).Cambridge, Massachusetts is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. . Snow, C., Burns, M.S. & Griffin, P. (eds) 1998, PreventingReading Difficulties in Young Children, Committee on the Prevention ofReading Difficulties in Young Children, Commission on Behavioral andSocial Sciences and Education, National Research Council, NationalAcademy Press, Washington, DC. Barbara Comber is Associate Professor and Director of the Centrefor Studies in Literacy, Policy and learning Cultures at the Universityof South Australia. Her research interests include social justice,critical literacy, the impact of poverty on education, teacher knowledgeand the acquisition of literacies at school. Address: Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and LearningCultures, University of South Australia, Underdale, SA 5032 Email: barbara.comber@unisa.edu.au Lynne Badger is a Senior lecturer senior lecturern. Chiefly BritishA university teacher, especially one ranking next below a reader. at the University of SouthAustralia. Her main research interests relate to the acquisition ofschool literacies of students in disadvantaged schools and howstudents' literacy achievement is assessed and reported on. Address: Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and LearningCultures, University of South Australia, Underdale, SA 5032 Email: lynne.badger@unisa.edu.au Jenny Barnett is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Studies inLiteracy, Policy and Learning Cultures at the University of SouthAustralia. Her research interests include the place of language inteachers' work across the curriculum, particularly in programdevelopment, and the links between curriculum access, the constructionof literacy and learning English as an additional language. Address: Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and LearningCultures, University of South Australia, Underdale, SA 5032 Email: jenny.barnett@unisa.edu.au Helen Nixon is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Studies inLiteracy, Policy and Learning Cultures at the University of SouthAustralia. Her research interests include popular culture and education,and the connections between information and communications technologiesand changing sociocultural constructions of literacy and educationaldisadvantage. Address: Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and LearningCultures, University of South Australia, Underdale, SA 5032 Email: helen.nixon@unisa.edu.au Jane Pitt is a teacher in a country primary school. Her researchinterests include social justice and literacy with a particular focus onthe implications for rural education.