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This occasional paper updates and extends earlier papers in the Monitoring the Future project. It provides a detailed description of the project's design, including sampling design, data collection procedures, measurement content, and questionnaire format. It attempts to include sufficient information for others who wish to evaluate the results, to replicate aspects of the study, or to analyze data that is archived. Although there have been additions to the study design and procedures, the basic study design described in a 1978 paper has remained constant in its fundamental characteristics, which is considered the key condition for its ability to successfully measure change. Following an introduction and overview, this paper presents the scope, purposes, and rationale for the nationwide sampling of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students. In the measures section, an overview is presented of the conceptual framework of the study, the outline of questionnaire content, the questionnaire organization, and the consent and format of the 8th- and 10th-grade questionnaires. Sampling and data collection procedures are included in the next section, which is followed by the representativeness and validity. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures, and 16 appendixes.)

In 2004 the Monitoring the Future study marked its 30th year of conducting national surveys of substance use among American young people. Beginning with the first survey of high school seniors in 1975, the study has provided the nation with a window through which to view the important, but largely hidden, problem behaviors of illicit drug use, alcohol use, and cigarette smoking. It has thus enabled the nation to gain a better understanding of the changing nature of these problems, as well as some of their causes and consequences. This annual monograph series has been the primary vehicle for disseminating the epidemiological findings from the study. It has grown substantially over the years in both coverage and size, in part because of the proliferation of substances being used. This latest two-volume monograph presents the results of the 30th (2004) national survey of drug use and related attitudes and beliefs among American high school seniors, the 25th such survey of American college students, and the 14th such survey of 8th- and 10th-grade students. Results have also been reported for varying intervals on young adult high school graduates, as well as adult high school graduates into middle age (currently through age 45), who have been followed from high school graduation through a series of panel studies. Appended are: (1) Prevalence and Trend Estimates Adjusted for Absentees and Dropouts; (2) Definition of Background and Demographic Subgroups; (3) Estimation of Sampling Errors; (4) Trends by Subgroup: Supplemental Tables for Secondary School Students; and (5) Trends in Specific Subclasses of Hallucinogens, Amphetamines, Tranquilizers, and Narcotic Drugs Other Than Heroin. (Contains 71 tables and 97 figures.) [For Volume II, see ED489469.]

Substance use by American young people has proven to be a rapidly-changing phenomenon, requiring frequent assessments and reassessments. Since the mid-1960s it has remained a major concern for the nation. Smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use are leading causes of morbidity and mortality, both during adolescence as well as later in life. How vigorously the nation responds to teenage substance use, how accurately it identifies the substance abuse problems that are emerging, and how well it comes to understand the effectiveness of the many policy and intervention efforts largely depend on the ongoing collection of valid and reliable data. Monitoring the Future is designed to help provide an accurate picture of what is happening in this domain and why; and it has served that function for 30 years now. First results from the Monitoring the Future study's 2004 nationwide survey of nearly 50,000 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students are given in this report. Recent trends in the use of licit and illicit drugs are emphasized. Trends in the levels of perceived risk and personal disapproval associated with each drug are also presented; this study has shown these beliefs and attitudes to be particularly important in explaining trends in use. In addition, trends in the perceived availability of each drug are presented. Following a brief introduction, the report presents a synopsis of the methods used in the study and an overview of the key results from the 2004 survey. Next is a section for each individual drug class, providing figures that show trends in the overall proportions of students at each grade level (a) using it, (b) seeing a "great risk" associated with its use, (c) disapproving its use, and (d) saying that they could get the drug "fairly easily" or "very easily." Trends for the interval 1991-2004 appear for all grades and for 1975-2004 for the 12th graders. The tables at the end of this report provide the statistics underlying the figures; in addition, they present data on lifetime, annual, 30-day, and (for selected drugs) daily prevalence. (Contains 13 tables.)

This report summarizes the results of the Planning Introductory College Courses study which examined influences on course planning among U.S. faculty members. The study was built on exploratory interviews conducted in the 1986-87 Course Planning Exploration survey with 89 faculty members. Major findings show that when planning introductory courses, faculty members are influenced most strongly by their discipline orientations, scholarly and pedagogical backgrounds, and beliefs about the purpose of education. They are also influenced, but less strongly, by contextual influences that depend on the local situation. It was concluded that influences on course planning vary substantially by teaching field but minimally by type of college. Four chapters discuss the evolution of the survey and its results, including such aspects as content considerations, contextual influences, and steps in course planning. A subsequent chapter describes and confirms the usefulness of the refined contextual filters model of course planning, showing how it can be applied to diverse academic settings. The report concludes with a discussion on practical applications of the course-planning model and suggests areas for further research. Included are five appendices, including the course planning exploration survey form, 85 detailed tables, 39 figures, and 24 references. (LPT)

Educators and politicians in Texas have played significant roles in pushing early reading instruction from one extreme position to another through shifts in textbook adoption requirements. These policy actions are shaping a national curriculum for reading. The current study looks at changes in texts for beginning reading instruction that resulted from the Texas state mandates for more literature-based teaching practices and materials. It posited the following research questions: What are the general features of the first-grade pupil texts in the Year 2000 programs with respect to instructional design, accessibility, and engaging qualities?; and in terms of these features, how are the Year 2000 programs different from the programs approved in the Texas 1985 and 1993 adoption cycles? This report describes some of the ways in which these changes have influenced instructional practices. The report focuses on the Texas state basal reading adoption for the year 2000 and the impact of these new mandates on program features. It states that analysis of the data for the Year 2000 focused on the three major factors identified as theoretically important: instructional design, accessibility (decodability and predictability), and engaging qualities. Appended are: CIERA Text Analysis Variables; and Texas Education Agency Text Analysis Procedures. (Contains 1 figure, 13 tables, and 32 references.) (NKA)

Policy domain study highlights the effect of location on network influence. Previous research has indicated a relationship between the groups and individuals with the strongest influence reputation and the location of these groups within the environment. In the reading policy environment such groups interact with one another in formal joint projects and informal collaborations. But regardless of the type of interaction, the relationships that these actors form with one another have an effect on their prominence--their centrality and prestige--in the national reading policy domain. Using this rationale, the hypothesis guiding this study is as follows: Central policy actors will be perceived to be more influential than peripheral policy actors in shaping national reading policy. This study of influence and domination employed social network analysis, a methodology commonly used for policy domain study. Social network requires specific procedures (outlined in the study) for data collection, boundary specification, and data measurement. Data included interview transcripts, archival documents, and previous research. Findings show the variety of affiliations among network actors. For example, one clique was composed of five government groups, while another clique comprised a group of policy makers and interest groups. The membership of still another clique illustrates the extent of collaboration between reading content groups, government offices, educational coalitions, and professional organizations. (Contains 5 tables and 27 references.) (NKA)

A study examined the alignment between state standards and assessments in elementary reading. The impetus for the study was a request by the National Research Council's Committee on Title I Testing and Assessment for information on the extent to which students' performance on state assessments could be assumed to provide evidence of their level of achievement of state standards. Concerns about alignment arose from the context surrounding Title I legislation. The sample for the survey of the alignment of state standards and assessments in elementary reading comprised all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data were collected in late 1998 and early 1999. Criteria for evaluation originally developed for math and science were adapted for this study. Results were categorized according to current status, characteristics of standards and assessments program, and alignment. Several state case studies are presented. Findings suggest that the issue of alignment between state standards and assessment in elementary reading is more complex than it appears at first glance and that it means different things in different states. Appended are the interview protocol, sample coding sheet, cognitive levels rubric, and structure of knowledge rubric. (Contains 1 figure, 20 tables, and 6 references.) (NKA)

This study focuses on how a statewide reform initiative, when envisioned as a professional development opportunity, affected teachers' capacities to become change-agents in their classrooms and districts, and how individual district contexts shaped the development of those capacities. The interview and artifactual data used for this study were gathered from teachers and administrators in four demonstration districts that were involved in a standards-based professional development initiative within the federally-funded Michigan English Language Arts Framework (MELAF) project. These data reveal that teachers experienced changes in their personal literacy practices and views of themselves as learners, and felt an increased ability to evince change in a variety of educational contexts, including their classrooms, buildings, and districts. Across these changes in teachers' practices, district patterns emerged that spoke to the individual districts' capabilities to support teacher growth and foster reform. These differences suggest that the changes that took place were a function of many factors, including the size and structure of the district, the district's "readiness" for change, and the source of language arts leadership within the district. One implication is that particular histories and competing forces on both the individual and district level help shape the implementation of new policy. (Contains 23 references.) (PM)

Drawing on interviews with 103 policy actors who are active in shaping national reading policy, a study examined the levels of interest groups' perceived influence in the national reading policy arena, and their beliefs on reading instructional approaches. Employing thematic analysis and analysis of variance, the study finds that the interest group community in the national reading policy arena is composed of groups with various levels of perceived influence. The study also reveals that those interest groups and policymakers show stronger support for a balanced approach than they do for phonics--or whole-language-only approaches to reading instruction. The findings from the study suggest that an assessment of various groups' influence is needed in order for policy actors to make sensible judgments when choosing policy allies or building coalitions for policy actions, and that a consensus about how reading should be taught has been emerging, or may already have emerged, in the national reading policy domain. (Contains 4 tables of data and 68 references.) (PM)

Research has offered evidence that teacher candidates are continually frustrated by a perceived conflict between the ideas expressed in methods course and the practices they see in classrooms where they carry out their observations and practicums. The hypermedia tool Reading Classroom Explorer (RCE) was developed in response to this problem. Though RCE is beneficial, the program's efficacy was constrained by its format. Capitalizing on recent advances in video streaming on the Web, a new iteration of RCE was developed--one that allowed interaction among teacher candidates who were learning about the teaching of literacy. The purpose of this study is to explore how a more conversation-friendly technology would scaffold teacher learning. This paper provides evidence of the benefits of such conversation, by presenting findings on the increase in students' understanding of teaching and learning after using the RCE. It also describes the move from a CD-ROM to a Web-based product, and the benefits and requirements of doing so. The paper concludes with a discussion of RCE's implications for research on pre-service teaching and educational technology, and raises additional questions about how conversations can be sustained and supported with technology. (Contains 2 tables of data and 36 references.) (PM)

This work investigates the relationship between the programmatic and classroom instructional factors of schools and students' reading and writing achievement in 14 high-poverty schools. The study finds that schools which rated higher on a scale of collaborative leadership showed greater student growth in reading fluency and writing. Classroom observations revealed that telling students information and engaging them in recitation were negatively related to reading growth in grades two through six, whereas active responding was positively related to reading growth in grades four through six. In grades one through six, asking students higher-level questions about text after reading was positively related to student growth. A high level of phonics instruction was negatively related to reading growth in kindergarten and grades two and three, whereas a high level of phonemic awareness instruction was positively related to growth in phonemic segmentation and blending ability in kindergarten. In grades four through six, the practice of coaching children in the use of word recognition strategies during reading was positively related to reading growth. Engaging students in small group instruction was positively related to reading growth in kindergarten and grade one. An appendix contains the rubric for rating interview responses. (Contains 25 tables, 5 notes, and 40 references.) (PM)

This article reports on the relationships between ecocultural features of 18 Latina/o families and their children's motivation to read. Five ecocultural features emerged as salient in families' daily living: immigration; culture and language; nurturance; instrumental; and workload. Ecocultural features were examined in relation to children's perceptions of themselves as readers. Nurturance related to how much children valued reading, culture and language related to how children viewed themselves as readers, and workload was inversely related to how much children valued reading. The findings indicate that questions about how and why children read are seen more clearly through a sociocultural lens, as the expression of culturally, historically, and socially mediated processes. (Contains 3 tables and 39 references.) (PM)

This study examines how parents and teachers in a Central Los Angeles Mexican/Central American immigrant community talk about "successful development" for children. In order to examine how parents and teachers talk about children's academic and social development, the report draws from multiple data sources, such as field notes based on participant observation in homes, classrooms, and community programs; transcriptions of four focus groups with parents; and notes on informal and semi-informal interviews with parents and teachers. The report suggests implications for teachers and researchers working in immigrant populations, such as: teachers will benefit from more specific understanding of families' daily lives; sociocultural studies of literacy can help teachers; and teachers should explore how they can build in their literacy classrooms on the concrete practices in which families engage. (Contains 26 references.) (PM)

This study examines the year-long process in which a teacher and her fourth- and fifth-grade students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds implemented Book Club, a literature-based instructional program. Data analysis reveals a gradual release of responsibility from the teacher to students in carrying out book conversations. Five features highlight the practice in this classroom. First, the teacher believed that all students brought with them rich experiences and knowledge to contribute to the discussions and the classroom learning community. Second, time and space were created for the students to discuss their responses to literature. Third, students were pushed to think critically and reflectively about what they read by responding to challenging questions. Fourth, the teacher employed multiple modes of teaching: telling; modeling; scaffolding; facilitating; and participating. Finally, the teacher persisted in maintaining high expectations of the students. Three appendixes contain: a list of books read during the school year; students' gains from pre- to post-Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT) scores; and an analysis of paired mean differences for pre- and post-test scores in the Metacomprehension Strategy Inventory (MSI). (Contains 2 figures, 5 tables, and 62 references.) (PM)

This paper presents a comprehensive framework for examining book use in early childhood settings, including the following dimensions: the book area; the amount of time provided for book reading; integration of books into the broader curriculum; the nature of the book reading events; and the nature of the home-school connection with respect to book use. Data from four studies conducted in New England are used to assess the quality of book use; each dimension shows significant evidence of the need for improvement in how books are used in preschool classrooms. (Contains 4 tables of data and 41 references.) (PM)

A study discusses the effects of a second year of one-on-one intervention on the literacy development of struggling second graders. Twenty-six children participated in the study and were assigned to either a second year of intervention or a control group that received no further intervention services. Participants in the intervention group attended 45-minute tutorials from October through May of the school year. Lessons include reading for fluency, word study instruction, and integrated reading and writing instruction. On all outcome measures, the intervention group means were higher than the control group means, although statistical tests did not yield significant differences between the groups. Additionally, all of the children in the treatment group were reading on or above grade level by the second year of intervention. The findings from this study suggest that many children identified as struggling readers early in their school careers may need at least two years of intense intervention to achieve grade level expectations. An appendix provides a sample lesson plan. (Contains 3 tables of data and 42 references.) (PM)

This study analyzed the cultural conflicts of Latina educators as they emerged from descriptions of their literacy acquisition at home and school and of their teacher education experiences. These tensions were examined in terms of conflicts between authoritative discourses, describing various processes of negotiation that these educators engaged in as each constructed their own discourse as a Latina teacher. Participants were five teachers at two schools that were part of a larger project involving teachers and paraprofessionals at two large, urban California elementary schools which examined how Latina teachers' school experiences related to their instructional practices in their own classrooms. The schools had predominantly Latino, low-income students. Data collection involved focus group discussions and individual interviews that examined teachers' experiences in the classroom. Results indicated that teachers experienced significant conflict between expectations of school success and expectations at home. Teachers tended to receive rather than question the authoritative discourse expectations from both home and school. Resistance was usually individual, not collaborative. There was a common idea that education was a positive goal, yet, there were regarding how education would occur and who would receive it, as well as where, when, and for how long it would continue. (Contains 29 references.) (SM)

Two series of case studies were carried out following a multiple baseline design across individuals. The first series of eight studies included 4- to 5-year-old Dutch kindergarten children, and the second series examined 5- to 6-year-old kindergarten children. Each child wrote approximately 16 stories in the natural classroom environment over a 2-month period. During the last month of the experiment the teacher or a researcher promoted invented spelling by modeling this strategy for the children prior to their second series of writing sessions. The two series of case studies tested how children harmonized knowledge and understandings, represented by early-developing forms of writing such as random letter strings or pseudo-cursive scribbles, with an emerging understanding that letters represent sounds. Even when children understood the alphabetic principle and adults promoted the use of letter-sound rules to represent their story, children were not inclined simply to drop early-developing forms such as pseudo-cursive scribble or random letter strings. They often produced combinations of early forms and invented spelling. Invented spelling gradually increased over earlier forms, but only among a group of older kindergartners. Contains 4 tables, 3 figures, and 24 references. (Author/NKA)

This report examines the teacher-reported early literacy behaviors of 2,759 preschool children who participated in a state-supported, early intervention preschool program. Preschool teachers (N = 240) completed the Literacy Competence Checklist for all children in their classes. Teachers reported growth in childrens literacy behaviors from Fall to Spring and shifts in commonly displayed behaviors from general verbal language in the Fall to word-level skills in the Spring. Teachers ratings of verbal comprehension and letter knowledge skills in the fall predicted whether they thought individual children would have difficulty learning to read in kindergarten. The findings showed that teachers see young children as developing pre-literacy skills rapidly, even those children who are expected to have difficulty in the primary grades. (Contains 54 references.) (Author/KB)

This paper provides an overview of evidence on education in South Africa provided by household survey data, with a particular focus on large national surveys such as the 1993 South African Living Standards Survey and the annual October Household Survey. These surveys indicate that racial gaps in schooling persist in South Africa, although they have declined steadily over time. There is essentially no gender gap in schooling, however, with almost identical schooling outcomes for men and women in all racial groups. The racial gap in schooling can be largely attributed to a high rate of grade repetition for Africans, with only small differences in enrollment rates across racial groups. School quality has an important effect on both grade attainment and adult economic outcomes and is clearly an important component of the racial gap in schooling. Survey data demonstrate a large effect of schooling on earnings beginning in late primary years, with a higher rate of return to schooling for Africans than for whites. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/SM)

The Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL) is an instrument that measures skills identified as critical in the New Standards for Speaking and Listening. In 5 to 10 minutes and without prior training, teachers can assess an individual child's current standing with respect to skills that research has identified as critical for literary acquisition. Skills assessed include language, reading, and writing abilities. TROLL has been used with over 900 low-income children. The instrument is reliable and has strong internal consistency. Its validity has been established in numerous ways; TROLL correlates significantly with scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Early Phonemic Awareness Profile given to the same children by trained researchers. Fall TROLL judgments of the literacy skills of these same children correlate with fall but not spring assessments of literacy skills obtained with the Early Literacy Profile. TROLL also displays instructional sensitivity. An appendix contains "Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy" (Education Development Center, 1997). (Contains 3 tables and 24 references.) (PM)

This article investigates differential investment by men in children by using a biosocial perspective to examine their financial expenditures on their genetic children and stepchildren from both current and former relationships. It uses a sample of 635 children age 0-12 years drawn from the Albuquerque Men Study 1990-93, which involved interviews that examined marital, reproductive, and employment histories and expenditures on children. This article also examines selection efforts by restricting the sample to men with children in more than one category (e.g., men with both genetic children and stepchildren in current unions), explaining that selection effects are important. Results indicate that men with both genetic offspring and step-offspring in current relationships invest similarly in children, but the differences between offspring from current and previous unions are greater when comparing men with children in both categories. The results are consistent with the biosocial model advanced in the paper. (Contains 73 references.) (SM)

This report addresses how literacy teachers can teach everything that their students need to develop the foundational skills and strategies of literacy, without sacrificing a focus on higher-level thinking about substantive content and good literature. It also addresses the impact on student learning when teachers use a literature-based reading program framework. The authors/educators and members of the Teachers Learning Collaborative present the results of a 3-year collaborative effort to create an innovative literacy curriculum framework that would support teachers' dual--and often competing--commitments in literacy instruction: (1) to make sure that all students have the opportunity to learn literacy skills and strategies with texts that are at their instructional level; and (2) to make sure that all students have access to, and instruction with, texts that are appropriate to their age level, even if the students are unable to read such materials without support. The report describes the result of their efforts, the Book Club Plus instructional framework. It first details the framework's conceptual foundations and the problem that it was designed to address, before describing the implementation of Book Club Plus in a third grade classroom. It concludes by presenting three cases, reflecting the diversity of students taking part in the program and the ways in which those students benefited from their participation in Book Club Plus and related activities. Includes 5 figures and 19 citations of children's books. (Contains 31 references.) (NKA)

The question explored in this report is whether electronic networks are effective tools for creating and sustaining reflective teacher communities. Over the past two decades, computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies have been used in a variety of efforts aimed at fostering teacher learning and teacher collaboration. A study sought to closely examine the literature on the use of electronic networks for creating reflective teacher communities. Limiting the analysis to those publications that addressed at least some aspect of teacher discourse supported by telecommunications yielded approximately 50 papers, and after eliminating those papers of general discussion of electronic networks, 28 papers were left. It was found that many teacher networks pursued the goal of building learning and reflective communities for teachers, and much was expected out of these networks, both as a practical solution to the stubborn problems in teacher professional development and as a new agent to create what is difficult to realize in face-to-face situations. However, it was also found that there is a general lack of rigorous research on the subject. Little is known about the effectiveness of CMC for teacher learning. Few researchers have seriously examined the degree to which these networks indeed were "communities" that promoted reflective discourses. (Contains 54 references and 3 tables of data.) (NKA)