Literacy Partnerships Research Articles

“A Taste of College”: Children and Preservice Teachers Discuss Books Together

Partnerships where preservice teachers work with children have been found to be effective in providing real world feld experiences for university students. However, little is known about what children gain from these collaborations. This research attempts to rectify this by analyzing a year-long literacy partnership in which 30 children and 55 preservice teachers participated in literature circles together, looking specifically at what factors influenced the children during this engagement. Through observations, free writes, interviews, and pen pal journals, the impact of the collaboration was examined. Results from this study suggest that the children had significant relationships and personal advocates, the children gained confidence in talking in literature circles and managing them, the children considered different perspectives and issues, and the children gained perspectives on college. Ultimately, the children's worldviews were enlarged.

The Evolving Roles of Faculty Learning Communities: A University/High School Literacy Partnership

This article is a descriptive account of a professional learning community established among university professors, university teacher candidates, a school district instructional supervisor, the high school principal, a high school literacy coordinator, and teachers of a Mid-Atlantic high school in the United States. This learning community created a literacy vision for the high school and restructured the school and the curriculum to reflect these literacy goals. The university instructors and their students became an integral part of the learning community with the high school personnel through their university coursework, practica, and student teaching experiences. Through their literacy vision, this learning community transformed and enhanced the literacy experiences of adolescents within this high school campus.

Principles and Challenges for Forming Successful Literacy Partnerships

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004, our nation has an explicit mandate to put reading first. Recognizing the fundamental connection between language and literacy, teachers and speech–language pathologists have become more collaborative in the provision of literacy instruction. This article provides a set of guiding principles for forming successful literacy partnerships and offers suggestions for responding to challenges, such as a school philosophy that does not support collaboration, separate goals and expectations, limited time for interaction and planning, inadequate communication systems, and lack of professional preparation. Appropriate responses to these challenges by coequal literacy partners will result in dynamic collaborative practices, which are characterized by mutual problem solving and shared responsibility, common goals and priorities, respect for different perspectives, realistic expectations, and celebration and sharing of successes related to student outcomes and the literacy partnership.

From the Editor

“When three people are walking together, there must be a teacher for me.” Chinese proverb. Confucian Analects. (The Columbia World of Quotations, 1996) This Chinese proverb reminds us of three ways this issue of Topics in Language Disorders (TLD) on literacy partnerships provides a timeless message. First, different learners require varied forms of instruction. Not every individual with a language disorder benefits from the same teaching and therapeutic approach. Children of different ages, with varied strengths and needs across language systems and modalities require individualized intervention targets and approaches to fit their unique literacy-learning needs. Secondly, “walking together” can be taken as a metaphor alluding to enhancement of learning opportunities through cooperative planning by professionals and others who share a common goal but varied perspectives and training. Third, the proverb intimates that teaching–learning interactions can be situated in the walk of everyday activities. The authors of this issue describe approaches in which language-literacy activities are explicit but embedded within natural learning contexts. In this issue of Topics in Language Disorders, Drs. Froma Roth and Diane Paul bring together a group of authors known for their work as clinician-researchers. As explained by the issue editors, this group's collaborative work was stimulated by discussions about partnerships for literacy in the context of a committee of the Division for Communicative Disabilities and Deafness of the Council for Exceptional Children, chaired by Diane Paul. True to the topic of this issue, the authors collaborated in conference calls to outline an address to the complex topic of best methods for supporting literacy learning by children with special needs. The group also planned presentations at national conferences of the Council for Exceptional Children and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Those activities led, in turn, to the design for this issue under the able leadership of issue editors Roth and Paul. Readers will find reviews of the limited scientific evidence for collaborative approaches to literacy interventions. In addition to reviewing relevant literature, the authors use case examples to illustrate collaborative methods for working with children and adolescents across age ranges and targeting varied aspects of language-literacy learning. Thus, consistent with Confucius' saying, the issue provides a teacher for everyone—from readers interested in the background principles of literacy partnerships, to readers working to foster emergent literacy-learning and sound and word awareness, to readers helping students through the supports of writing lab instruction and assistive technology, to readers working to help high school students comprehend complex written texts as they read. In other words, we think that each reader interested in the topic of literacy-enhancing partnerships will find at least one teacher in this issue for him or her. In introducing this issue on partnerships, long-time editor Dr. Katharine G. Butler and associate editor Dr. Nickola Wolf Nelson take this opportunity to comment on our partnership as well. Over the 25 years of the journal's existence, numerous issue editors, authors, and readers of TLD have benefited from Butler's generosity as a mentor and have admired her breadth of knowledge and collaborative partnerships that cross international as well as discipline boundaries. Nelson is one of many who has benefited from Butler's formal and informal teaching and mentoring. Our formal partnership in editing TLD began with the 25th anniversary volume in 2005. With the publication of Volume 26, Issue 2, the partnership will continue, but with a seamless shifting of titles. Butler will continue her leadership role at the helm of TLD as Editor Emerita. Nelson will assume the formal role as Editor. We do not expect the nature of our partnership to change or any dramatic changes in the journal its readers have come to know and respect. As always, we welcome reader input and ideas for topics you would like to see addressed in future issues. We invite your continued communication with either or both of us. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer you this issue full of ideas and examples of partnerships for literacy. Katharine G. Butler, PhD, Editor Nickola Wolf Nelson, PhD, Associate Editor

Assistive Technology and Literacy Partnerships

Assistive technology (AT) has the potential to support the literacy skills of students with disabilities as they participate in the general education curriculum. Empirical evidence is presented to support the use of AT, at least for some students. A case study interwoven within the article illustrates team decision-making regarding software and hardware options for reading and writing skill support. Today’s technology can support students with needs in reading, understanding curricular materials, and in writing skills, such as planning, drafting, editing, and publishing. The need for expertise in AT and team knowledge of the student, the environment, and the curriculum is emphasized. The case study illustrates how positive outcomes can result from team collaboration, involving the student, the family, special education and general education teachers, and school administrators.

Building a Foundation for Collaboration

ABSTRACT The authors have developed collaborative partnerships with K-12 educators and school library/media specialist students to promote information literacy. This article traces the history beginning with on-site workshops collaboratively developed by K-12 and university library staff; a continuing education course in information literacy for teachers and school librarians; an in-service workshop prepared collaboratively by a high school staff and university librarians; and a graduate-level library science course in information literacy for school library/media specialist students. Suggestions are provided for promoting information literacy partnerships between K-12 schools and universities, known as K-20 information literacy.

Existence and Coexistence in Acre: The Power of Educational Activism

This article presents a five‐year action‐research project of systemic change toward coexistence in Acre, a mixed Arab‐Jewish city in Israel. Educational activism was the basis for this project. Because education in Acre was closely interwoven with discriminative politics, this project used a citywide systemic approach consisting of three layers: (a) work in schools that used cooperative learning to increase achievement, (b) work with parents in school‐family literacy partnerships, and (c) work with the city's educational and political leadership for citywide change. Data presented for each layer show the potential of this long‐term holistic approach to bring coexistence to the community even though regional and political factors worked against community coexistence.

LITERACY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Literacy has become a sitefor playing out the unjust social arrangements of hierarchy and inequity in our educational institutions, where minorities and marginalized 'others' predictably fail (Gilmore, 2003: 10). It isfor this reason that this paper examines teacher attitudes to obstacles to the establishment of literacy partnerships with parents of children of poverty. The intersection of such altitude with issues of equity of access to and participation in educational service has become the main focus. Teacher altitude is explored along eight dimensions grounded in the psychological literature. In terms of research, this paper discusses also the forces that contribute to failed or failing partnership efforts.

Using inquiry methods to foster information literacy partnerships

By broadening the definition of information literacy to include classroom activities, the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRLs) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education challenge academic librarians to reach beyond the library to teach critical thinking. This article explains how the American Social History Project’s New Media Classroom initiative fosters active utilization of primary sources on the Web. After placing NMC’s inquiry activities within educational, school librarian, and academic librarian debates, their use within women’s studies classes at Salem State College is demonstrated. It is argued that such activities help academic librarians to achieve parity with discipline faculty members by encouraging librarians to become integrally involved in classroom activities.

COMMUNITY & COLLABORATION: Sharing a vision: Information literacy partnerships (K-16)

Partenariats entre etablissements d'etudes secondaires (correspondant en France aux colleges et lycees) et bibliotheques universitaires aux fins de developper la culture en information

Literacy, Education and Arts Partnership: A community-system programme integrating the arts across the curriculum

The Community Arts and Education Partnership (CAEP), a community-system arts and literacy programme for every student at all grade levels, began in four different schools during the initial 5-month pilot period of a 5-year cumulative project. In a large board of education in metropolitan Toronto, Canada, professional community artists and generalist classroom teachers delivered a sequential, integrated curriculum to over 500students of diverse ethnicities. Grounded theory analysis of data collected via video and audiotapes, observations and interviews revealed key infrastructure issues that coalesced into a pivotal implementation principle. Teacher observation suggested literacy gains at the grade VI level although no systematic assessment procedures were implemented. Literacy gains by grade I students may be specifically attributed to experiences within this programme. This learning through the arts across the curriculum model offers promise as an effective methodology for multicultural classrooms.

Winners and Losers’ in the Development of Home-School Literacy Partnerships: An Analysis of Discourses of Power

In the past decade, family literacy has been the focus of considerable research. This work has suggested multiple understandings of involvement, and that many schools tend to work within a definition of parent involvement that does little more than seek to conform parents and their children to the literacy practices of schools. This paper reports research that has considered how parents take strategic action on their own and their children’s behalf to increase their educational opportunities. It looks closely at the ways relationships between families and schools are constructed, and presents two ‘telling cases’ of families’ responses to school literacy practices assigned for work at home. In doing so, it attempts to bring voices from Australia to the dialogue on ways of viewing parental involvement. It does this from a community centred perspective with the focus on the process of constructing shared meanings and understandings. The research examines the specific literacy practices that are honoured and dishonoured in the name of ‘parent involvement’. In doing so, the paper attempts to make visible the potential ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the development of home-school literacy partnerships.