Literacy Now

During the annual conference in San Antonio, IRA announced the 2013 winners of the IRA Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards. This prestigious award focuses on promising debut authors; only first and second books by an author are considered. The award has a rich history of selecting authors whom become well-known names (Lois Lowry, Sy Montogomery, and Rebecca Stead, just to name a few), so check out the wonderful books below and watch for these new authors in the future. 

Primary Fiction Winner:
Larson, Deborah Jo. (2012). One Frozen Lake. Illus by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Larsen tells the touching story of a grandfather passing down the tradition of ice fishing with his grandson. Larson’s clever use of numbers and rhymes capture the immediate attention of young readers. As the fishing pair set up their gear inside the ice shack, they spend quality time together sorting tackle, drinking hot chocolate, playing cards, and making friends as they wait for that one big fish to bite. Finally… a bite, but the fish is too small, and grandfather advises his grandson to return him to the deep, dark waters underneath the thick ice. It appears that they are returning home empty-handed, but there is a stronger bond and a great memory of the day they went ice fishing together.

- Amy Vessel, Louisiana Tech University

 

Primary Fiction Honor:
Redmond, E.S. (2012). The Unruly Queen. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Minerva von Vyle is an impossible child! A spoiled rotten young girl left with house staff while the parents are always away, she stirs up a commotion each and every day. She commands and she demands. She refuses and she confuses. Her tantrums and fits make her seem impossible until the fifty-third nanny arrives. This nanny means business; Minerva has finally met her match! As the nanny crowns her the “Unruly Queen,” being bad doesn’t seem so wonderful anymore. We hope there is a sweet child underneath Minerva after all! E.S. Redmond’s use of vivaciously rich vocabulary with such rhythm and rhyme make this read aloud delightful to children of all ages.

- Amy Vessel, Louisiana Tech University

 

Primary Nonfiction Winner:
McReynolds, Linda. (2012). Eight Days Gone. Illus. by Ryan O’Rourke. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Linda McReynolds is …
Rumbling. Blasting.
Seizing fame…
with her first book, Eight Days Gone. Through the use of simplistic, retro art work by Ryan O’Rourke and verse brimming with robust vocabulary, McReynolds leads young readers through the historic event of Apollo 11’s moon landing. With minimal words, she touches on the most memorable moments and key figures from the world’s first space adventure. Eight Days Gone is sure to send children on their own quest to discover the mysteries of the 1968 journey into the “starry darkness.”

- Kellie Kostrubala, Ward Central Elementary, Ward, AR

 

Primary Nonfiction Honor:
Hale, Christy. (2012). Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building. New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc.

Stacking blocks, cereal, and toys around them encourages children’s fascination with building things. Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building is an awesome resource connecting children’s imaginative play with that of architects across time and geography. The book links photographs of well-known buildings (on the right pages) with illustrations of basic creations by children (on the left pages.) Written in concrete poetry, the poems’ printed styles match the architectural styles of the buildings. This resourceful book encourages creativity in boys and girls, helping readers of all ages see endless possibilities. The additional information lends itself to further investigation of the architects and their buildings.

- Deb L. Marciano, Valdosta State University

 

Intermediate Fiction Winner:
Verrico, Susan. (2012). Privateer’s Apprentice. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.

Susan Verrico’s debut novel, Privateer’s Apprentice, is a historical fiction treasure. Set in 1712 in the Carolina Territory, readers will be immediately drawn into the rich story world and become attached to its multi-dimensional characters. Jameson, the 13-year old son of a printer, has been recently orphaned, imprisoned, and sold into indentured servitude to the local baker. Just when he thinks his life could not get much worse, he is kidnapped by pirates and forced to live a life at sea. As Jameson proves his worth and finds his own place within the brigand of pirates, Verrico highlights the depth of humanity in her complex characters and reminds readers that one cannot judge people based on perceptions or first impressions.
- Kara Coffino, University of Minnesota

Intermediate Fiction Honor:
Krumwiede, Lana. (2012). Freakling. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

Freakling is often described as a dystopia novel for readers who are not quite ready for The Hunger Games. With twelve year old Taemon as the novel’s central character, Freakling is a perfect fit for readers age ten and up. Lana Krumwiede creates two worlds. In Deliverance, the members all have a power called psi – a form of telekinesis that allows them mentally to move and manipulate objects. This privileged society contrasts sharply with the other world called Powerless Colony. Taemon finds himself between two worlds when he loses one power and has to hide that fact; while he discovers another, he is not sure he wants to share. Freakling is the first of the Psi Trilogy and readers now can be quickly guided to Archon – the second book in the series.

- Michael Ford, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

 

Intermediate Fiction Honor:
Lorenzi, Natalie Dias. (2012). Flying the Dragon. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Natalie Dias Lorenzi’s Flying the Dragon is told from the points of view of the two co-protagonists, Skye (Sorano) and Hiroshi. Although they are first cousins, they meet for the first time when Hiroshi and his family move from Japan to Virginia so their grandfather can receive cancer treatment. American-born Skye knows little about her Japanese heritage and resents having to give up soccer in order to attend a language school on weekends so that she can communicate with her Japanese family. Hiroshi, who struggles to learn English and to fit in with his American classmates, finds great satisfaction in spending time with his beloved grandfather and flying their dragon kite.  Both cousins resent each other and vie for their grandfather’s affections. Is it possible for them to ever find common ground?

- Terrell A. Young, Brigham Young University

 

Intermediate Nonfiction Winner:
Doyle, James. (2012). A Young Scientist’s Guide to Defying Disasters With Skill and Daring. Illus. by Andrew Brozyna. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith.

Interesting facts and survival tips for natural catastrophes, weather phenomena, and dreadful beasts that young scientists might encounter are presented in short chapters. A humorous undertone blends well with riveting details to make brief expository articles students will clamor to read. Between sections, experiments related to the topic are quickly explained. Each experiment could be easily conducted at home or school with everyday materials.

- Lauren Aimonette Liang, University of Utah

 

Young Adult Fiction Winner:
McNamara, Amy. (2012). Lovely, Dark and Deep. New York: Simon and Schuster.

After a tragic car accident leaves her boyfriend dead and her world upside down, Wren retreats to the safety of her father’s home, secluded in the Maine woods. Seeking escape from overwhelming sadness and guilt, Wren isolates herself from everyone and everything, until she meets Cal Owen. Cal has his own issue, increasingly debilitating multiple sclerosis. At first, their connection is based upon their personal experiences with grief and loss. As time goes by, Wren must decide whether to remain imprisoned within her solitude or risk the vulnerability that accompanies building a relationship with Cal. McNamara paints an honest picture of the reality of bereavement through lyrical, poetic prose. Told in first person, one can’t help being drawn into Wren’s world, hopeful she will find a way out of her self-imposed prison, yet terrified if she tries. Beautifully written with well-developed characters and a compelling story, this novel is truly as its title describes: lovely, dark and deep.

- Kelly Killorn, Minnesota State University- Mankato

 

Young Adult Fiction Honor:
Arcos, Carrie. (2012). Out of Reach. New York: Simon Pulse.

How do you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved? Rachel grapples with this question after she receives an anonymous email that her brother, Micah, is in trouble. Lost to the world of drug addiction, Micah has not responded to intervention attempts, and now he is living in the streets of Ocean Beach. Rachel and Tyler, Micah’s friend whom Rachel doesn’t entirely trust, decide to find him and bring him home, but their search yields no results. In the end, Rachel must learn to let go of her brother; but in her search for Micah, she has found a new friend.

- Sue Corbin, Shaker Heights Middle School, Shaker Heights, Ohio

 

Young Adult Fiction Honor:
Kokie, E.M. (2012). Personal Effects. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

The search for a brother forms the heart E.M. Kokie’s realistic fiction novel Personal Effects. Seventeen year old Matt Foster goes on a journey to learn more about his brother TJ recently killed in Iraq. As he copes with grief, Matt grows frustrated by events at school and home. His questions about TJ intensify when he uncovers personal effects returned to the family after TJ’s death. Those clues lead Matt from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin where he finds another family obviously important in his brother’s life. The discovery forces Matt to look closely at his views of war and peace, racial and sexual identity, love and loss. This compelling character and his amazing journey will challenge readers and should provoke conversations about important contemporary issues.

- Michael Ford, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

 

Young Adult Nonfiction Winner:
Levinson, Cynthia. (2012). We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.

Audrey, James, Wash and Arnetta, alongside thousands of other young people, braved angry pedestrians, fire hoses, attack dogs, and even jail as they changed history marching for their freedom.  Through their experiences, eyewitness accounts, and historical documents, Levinson weaves together the story of the 1963 Children’s March to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Photographs bring faces to the participants and the opposition they encountered while textboxes and timelines help contextualize events surrounding the march. The book concludes with a map of routes taken by the marchers, an afterword with additional information about many of the children featured in the book, and a bibliography of nonfiction books, websites, and other texts for further study.

- Dawan Coombs, Brigham Young University

 

These reviews were submitted by members of the International Reading Association's 2012-13 Children’s and Young Adult Book Award Committee. More reviews of recent, outstanding children’s and young adult literature are published weekly on Reading Today Online by members of the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG).

 

Over the past several years I have developed a strong interest in the literature relating the findings of recent brain research and its implications for improving student learning. Though the list of effective, “brain-friendly” practices recommended by the research is long and varied, three particular types of strategies stand out to me as unusually engaging and powerful: those involving movement, music, and storytelling. I refer to this collection of strategies as the “3 Game Changers.”

p: Kieran Gillard via photopin cc

As I have worked to incorporate brain-friendly practices into my teaching, I have found that children simply react differently to activities that include elements of movement, music, and storytelling. Even when compared to other research-based, effective practices, the 3 Game Changers offer unparalleled novelty, interest, stimulation, excitement, and joy. As a result, students become emotionally involved in these activities, pay more attention, remember better, and, in short, learn better. Strategies that incorporate movement, music, and storytelling also improve class morale, build self-esteem and enthusiasm for learning, and increase feelings of student “connectedness” to the class and to one another.

My belief in the effectiveness of music, movement, and storytelling is so absolute that I dedicated myself to gathering, adapting, and creating as many strategies and activities as I could that feature these elements. I put over 100 of these ideas into ROCK YOUR STUDENTS’ WORLD, my soon-to-be-released teacher resource book.

Here are two of my favorite ideas for improving student learning in the area of reading, one that incorporates movement and another that involves music.

The first features a specific type of movement that I call “concept-embedded” movement, in which the activity itself features a type of movement that represents, matches, or embodies the meaning of the content students are expected to learn. Thus, when students move around and participate in the activity, they are actually bringing the content to life.

The second capitalizes on the finding shared by Jerry Evanski in his book, CLASSROOM ACTIVATORS, that “music can...be used to ‘entrain’ information into the brain.” By entrain, Evanski means that teachers can set academic content to music to help students learn and memorize information. The best way to do this is through the use of familiar tunes that Amy Schwed and Janice Melichar-Utter, authors of BRAIN-FRIENDLY STUDY STRATEGIES, GRADES 2-8, refer to as “piggyback songs.”

Reading Around the Room

Comprehension often suffers when children read too quickly or fail to follow punctuation signals. To address these issues, my kids and I love to use a variation of a strategy suggested in Sharon Tate’s WORKSHEETS DON’T GROW DENDRITES and Patricia Wolfe’s BRAIN MATTERS.

Students stand in a large circle with a common text in their hands. On the “Go” signal, everyone reads aloud, in unison, from a predetermined starting point. While reading, everyone slowly walks forward. At every comma, students stop walking and pause in their reading for one second before resuming their walking and reading. At every period, exclamation point, or question mark, the kids stop and pause in their reading for two seconds before resuming their walking and reading. (You may need, of course, to add other movements or features should you encounter different types of punctuation.) The fact that the whole class does this together provides both a strong physical and vocal structure and helps children who may struggle following these rules on their own.

During our Reading Workshop’s fall “Reading Aloud Well” unit, this activity is an important part of my effort to help everyone read with fluency, volume, and expression. I try to have my students read around the room for a few minutes at the end of each Reading Workshop period. Even just three minutes per day for a couple weeks makes a huge difference in student reading proficiency.

The Cause and Effect Song

Understanding cause and effect is one of the most important reading comprehension skills children are expected to learn. The two scenarios that lead off the following song should help your students remember that the cause happens before the effect and that the effect cannot happen without the cause. (If you are interested, you can find a video of children performing this song on my YouTube channel.)



My untied shoelace made me trip (cause & effect)
The rainstorm made me go inside (cause & effect)
The cause happens first
The effect happens next
The effect happens beCAUSE of the cause (cause & effect)

If you find these two activities helpful and share my belief in the potential of movement and music to improve student learning, I encourage to ask yourself the same questions that I began to ask myself a few years ago whenever I needed to teach content that my students were likely to find abstract or confusing or that would otherwise require rote memorization. Ask yourself, “Is there a way that I can use or create a type of movement to help my students learn this material? Is there a way I can use music?”

Once you begin thinking along these lines, you are bound to unleash your creativity and come up with powerful lessons that children will remember for a long time.

Steve Reifman is a National Board Certified elementary school teacher, author, and speaker in Santa Monica, CA. He has written several books for educators and parents, including CHANGING KIDS’ LIVES ONE QUOTE AT A TIME, EIGHT ESSENTIALS FOR EMPOWERED TEACHING AND LEARNING, K-8, and the soon-to-be-released ROCK YOUR STUDENTS’ WORLD, which features classroom strategies that incorporate movement, music, and storytelling. Steve is also the creator of the award-winning Chase Manning Mystery Series for kids 8-12. For Teaching Tips, articles, and other valuable resources and strategies on teaching the whole child, visit www.stevereifman.com. You can also follow Steve on Twitter (@stevereifman) and subscribe to his “Teaching Kids” YouTube channel.i>

Steve is offering Engage readers a 50% discount on his two new professional development courses on Udemy.com. You can view his available courses here and here. To take advantage of this offer, enroll by May 15th. You don’t need to complete the courses by then; you simply need to enroll.



Learning by Ear

Study: Musical training tones the mind, enhances learning

by Jill Castek

Tablet devices such as the iPad promote anytime, anywhere learning and provide educators dynamic opportunities to connect school and home learning activities. Apps have unique affordances that promote maximum levels of interactivity. Coupled with tablets’ multi-touch screens, drawing capabilities, and the integration of audio across a seemingly endless variety of applications, the learning possibilities are endless.

This article showcases apps, specialized programs for tablets and other mobile devices, that help students access information, interpret and share information, and create their own multimedia products. The apps featured actively involve students in reading, writing, listening/speaking, illustrating and creating to support synthesis of ideas, and meaning making. For classroom examples illustrating how to use these tools strategically to enhance literacy and content learning, see Castek & Beach, 2013.

Concept Mapping with Popplet

Concept-mapping apps help students visually represent logical or causal relationships between ideas. Using concept-mapping apps, students identify a variety of keywords associated with an experience, topic, or issue and visually organize the logical relationships between these words. Students may insert the words into circles or boxes, drawing lines between ideas with spokes to which they insert subtopics. These connecting lines serve to define the logical relationships between ideas, for example, whether a subtopic serves as an illustrative example of a major topic.

In content area classrooms, concept mapping offers an important means of tracking concept development and supporting reflection. Popplet offers students a blank canvas on which to create connected nodes within a concept map and an interface that makes the revision process simple. The connected boxes can include images as well as words and can be easily moved around, connected/reconnected, and color-coded to show relationships. Popplet Lite is free at the iTunes store; the full version is $4.99.

Evidence Sorting with iCard Sort

In science and social studies, students are often asked to think in terms of a claim-evidence framework to frame an argument or express understanding. By providing opportunities for students to sort pieces of evidence to determine which pieces of evidence might be organized together to support the claim supports students emerging understanding of content. iCardSort allows students to sort, group, and order, ideas in preparation for writing or discourse activities. This app is offered for $5.99 at the iTunes store.

Annotating an Article with DocAS to Promote Active Reading

Reading actively promotes greater reading comprehension. DocAS is a tool that supports students in marking up reading material to show their emerging ideas. In this process, students are exposed to questions and connections that differed from their own, resulting in their acquisition of new ways of interpreting texts. The result of students’ active reading is a personalized archive that shows their thinking. DocAS can also be used as a personalized notebook for drawing, writing, and making connections. DocAS Lite is free at the iTunes store; the full version is $4.99.

Supporting Implementation

While apps can enhance curricular goals and support students learning in new and transformative ways, we need to be mindful about how to use these tools strategically in ways that best enhance our students’ learning.  It is important to recognize that the learning potential of these apps does not lie within the apps themselves, but rather is fostered by how teachers exploit them to achieve particular learning objectives such as collaboration, multimodal creation, and shared productivity.  Keeping in mind best teaching practices will help facilitate acquisition of content while also supporting the use of 21st century technologies that are essential to our students futures.

References

Castek, J. & Beach, R. (2013). Using apps to support disciplinary literacy and science learning.  Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 56 (7), 554 – 564.  Article podcast.

Jill Castek is a Research Assistant Professor at Portland State University with the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research Group. She can be reached at jill.castek@gmail.com.

One of the many criteria for good fiction are characters that are so real they practically jump off the page and sit next to you while you read their story, voraciously turning the pages to see what happens next. But, what if those characters really did come off the pages in all their life-size glory?

I asked myself that very question and here is what happened:

My students and I were reading A WRINKLE IN TIME as a whole class; I read aloud while they followed along with their own copy of the book. As we read we also took notes about key story elements in the beginning, middle, and end; who the characters were and their particular traits; and the settings where the story took place. Each day we looked forward to our reading time together and spending time with Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin.

By the time we were finished reading the book we each had a deep understanding of the story as a whole. And then the fateful day finally arrived when we turned the last page in the book. We felt a melancholy that comes when all good things end. But we were not ready to leave our friends just yet.

That’s when I pitched the idea of making dioramas. The class was super excited about the project. But then I told them the dioramas would be life-size. “Cool!” and “Awesome!” were a couple of the many positive exclamations from my students. Yes, this does sound crazy and it is a daunting project at first blush—but trust me when I say it does all come together, and the end result is priceless in so many ways!

Below is a supply list and the process for completing the project from start to finish.

SUPPLIES

1. Large box—think super-size shoe box. I got three from my local bicycle shop. They are constantly getting new shipments of bikes. You can also try stores such as Lowes, Home Depot, and other similar stores that sell large appliances.
2. Paper Mache paste OR rolls of masking tape
3. Newspapers or other larger pieces of recycled paper
4. Poster paints (primary and secondary colors work best)
5. Paint brushes
6. Containers for paints and water for brushes
7. Old towels
8. Kids’ clothing and shoes
9. Yarn
10. Scissors
11. Butcher paper in blue, green, brown (if you can’t find them locally, they can be purchased online here)
12. Rulers and yardsticks

GETTING STARTED

Divide your students into three groups. Each will represent the beginning, middle, and end of the book. I let my students choose their own groups because at this time of the year, they all knew the rules about how to choose—namely, no one gets left out. However, I know sometimes it is better for the teacher to assign the groups, for whatever reason. Use your best judgment for your class.

Once you have the three groups, each will write a short summary of plot points for their portion of the story. Then, they will select a scene from their summary to diagram on paper. This is their “blueprint” for their diorama. Each group will also create a list of items they need, i.e., clothing for their characters, colors of paints, yarn for hair, etc. Let your students know that it is better to have too much detail rather than too little. It is easier to take away than to add.

CREATING THE DIORAMAS

The students will let you know what color butcher paper they will want on the background of their cardboard box. All you need to do is cut the pieces to the size of your boxes. For example, for a sky you would like the top half in blue and perhaps the bottom half in green or brown for landscaping. The students will then paint on the paper any additional items to complete their scene’s setting. Perhaps a house painted in the background, some trees, etc.

Using the newspapers, instruct your students how to make limbs by rolling up newspapers into a tube. The feet and hands are created by bending the tubes at one end. Bodies and heads are created by crumpling newspapers into a ball and adding to it until you have a sphere the size you want, then secure the ends with masking tape. Some spheres and tubes will be smaller, for the child characters for example, and others for the adults will be larger. I had one group include the family dog so that required a little extra creativity on their part but they did a fabulous job!

Originally, I’d planned to use papier mâché for this part of the project, but then I realized that was not really necessary. Good ol’ masking tape was equally suitable, far less messy, and readily available. And the cleanup was nil!

Next, let your students select the colors of paints they want to use for painting faces and hands on their characters. Then they will select from the items of clothing an outfit for each character to wear. The yarn is used to create hair. Be sure to either use butcher paper or paint to create the “ground” or floor your characters will stand on. Some of ours were outside so the students made grass out of green butcher paper. Others were indoors so the students painted a pattern for a floor. Once the characters are fully dressed they are ready to mount onto the bottom of the cardboard box.

For mounting I used more masking tape to tape the feet to the box. I also used rulers and yardsticks to prop them up from behind. After each diorama is complete, ask the members of each group to reconvene to write a short synopsis of the scene their diorama is portraying.

SHOW AND TELL

Now is the moment you have all been waiting for—sharing your dioramas with the rest of your school! I was able to display ours on the stage, which was also in our cafeteria. They were a wonderful conversation piece for all the students to engage in while eating their lunches. When they were finished eating they needed to walk by the stage to throw away their lunch trash, which gave them an opportunity to see the dioramas up close and to read the synopsis for each.

AFTER THE SHOW

Your students will have had a creative, hands-on lesson in many subjects and they won’t even know it! The level of engagement and learning for each student will be priceless. Not to mention, you will have covered many curriculum requirements before the end of the school year including the five components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension), writing, art using a variety of media, cooperation, and organization.

After the dioramas have been on display, they will need to be dismantled. All the materials can either be recycled. Or, if your students are like mine, they will want to take their characters home with them. I happened to use the book A WRINKLE IN TIME, but this project can easily accommodate any book and grade level.

I hope you have as positive an experience as I did with my fourth graders and their life-size book characters!

Kathleen A. Hunter, MS is a literacy tutor and aspiring children's book author. You can visit her online at www.KathleenHunterWrites.com.



Building Classroom Community, One Township at a Time

Using Music to Inspire Young Writers

by Nell Duke
University of Michigan
April 16, 2013

The Education Commission of the States has recently released analyses of state policy in Pre-K and K. Given the importance of these years of emergent literacy development, this analyses may be of strong interest to IRA members.

In State Pre-K Funding: 2012-13 School Year (PDF) by Michael Griffith, we learn that despite state budgets growing only 2.2% and many cuts to K – 12 schooling, 24 states increased funding for Pre-K in 2012-13, most by percentages in the double digits. Eight states maintained their previous funding levels and only 8 decreased funding.

Eleven states still do not provide funding for Pre-K—Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming—despite strong evidence of its positive impacts, though Griffith notes some forthcoming changes in some of those states. Further, President Obama’s pledge in the State of the Union address to work with states to “make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America” may result in further increases in funding for Pre-K.

For the literacy education community, the challenge is to take fullest advantage of this increased support for Pre-K through instruction that fosters literacy development and motivation in ways that are appropriate for this age group and respectful of the need for attention to other areas of academic and social-emotional development.

Inequalities at the Starting Line: State Kindergarten Policies (PDF) by Emily Workman presents findings on six key aspects of state policy around kindergarten: availability, length of day, student assessment, quality of instruction, standards and curriculum, and funding. The major finding is that there is considerable variation across and within states in policies related to kindergarten, which may exacerbate inequity in educational opportunities. For example, despite research supporting the impact of quality, full-day kindergarten, many states require only half-day kindergarten, and five states require no kindergarten. Moreover, what constitutes full-day or half-day varies within and across states. Minimum requirements for half-day programs can be as little as two hours or as much as 3.75 hours, depending on the state, and requirements for full-day programs can be as little as four hours or as much as seven hours depending on the state. Similarly, despite research support for small class sizes for young children and students of low-socioeconomic status (SES), some states allowed teacher-student ratios of 30 to 1 in kindergarten, while others require ratios as low as 15 to 1. There is also within-state variation in teacher-student ratios, with students of low-SES sometimes experiencing higher average teacher-student ratios.

For the literacy education community, there is good reason to advocate for kindergarten policies and practice that result in the most robust growth for children and that address inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.

For discussion of pre-K and K and the larger context of literacy policy, please see Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century, an issue of the Future of Children, Volume 22, Number 2, Fall 2012.

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