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To analyze some of the processes through which student voices and lived experiences can be either excluded or included, a study focused on elements of the classroom environment already addressed in previous analyses, examining "texts and talk" in two middle school English classrooms. The study analyzed how the classroom environments that the teachers constructed--through literature choices, classroom pedagogy, interactions with students, and responses to linguistic and cultural diversity--work in ways that either affirm or exclude the voices and lives of nonmainstream students. The research site was Arnhem, a small upstate New York city, struggling with problems typical of urban communities in the deindustrializing Northeast. Younger Hispanic families moving into the area where older citizens of Polish and Italian descent already lived occasioned a prolonged debate over the role of the schools. A New York State Education Department team investigated charges of racism in the public schools. Administrators mounted an initiative to encourage English teachers to incorporate more multicultural literature selections in class. Transcripts from classroom interactions show general patterns of student-teacher interactions, assumptions about textual authority, and treatment of language difference. Findings suggest that taken-for-granted assumptions about language learning that have undergirded language arts teaching are being called into question; whole language or process approaches to writing and reader-response approaches to literature offer promising alternatives to traditional teaching methods and can provide opportunities for students to bring their own perspectives to their reading and writing. (Contains 60 references.) (NKA)

This report describes a longitudinal evaluation of an on-going 5-year program at the University of Michigan to improve minority student retention and academic performance. The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) creates research partnerships between first- and second-year students and faculty researchers, and provides peer counseling, workshops in learning skills, and research peer groups. The evaluation compared students in the program with students matched for grade point averages and college entrance examination scores who had applied to the program. Among evaluation findings are: (1) UROP students had an attrition rate 32 percent lower than underrepresented students university-wide; (2) African-American students in UROP showed an attrition rate 51 percent lower than control group students; (3) participation in UROP resulted in grade point averages some 6 percent higher than all students; and (4) UROP appeared to positively affect student self-esteem, coping strategies, learning behaviors, and expectations about academic performance. Individual sections of the report present an executive summary, an overview of the project, and a description of the project's purpose, background and origins, major components, and evaluation/results. Appendices include the UROP brochure, newsletter, and faculty handbook, the survey instruments, and a draft paper titled "Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Partnerships Affect Student Retention" (Biren A. Nagda and others). (DB)

An ongoing investigation on the nature of literature-based instruction in schools that serve large numbers of economically disadvantaged children is in the process of describing various aspects of literacy teaching and learning in four schools, two rural, one urban, and one semi-urban. The investigation is qualitative in nature, longitudinal, and involves close collaboration with 10 teachers who participate regularly in focus groups set up by the researchers and in interviews with the researchers. A study which is part of this investigation used primary data from interviews with 49 children in 8 teacher-collaborator classrooms in grades 1 through 4. Interviewers asked children to describe themselves as readers and writers and how they go about reading and writing. Findings showed that in none of the classrooms was it common for students to engage in discussions of the reading and writing processes. Nor was it common for them to be encouraged to assess their own abilities. A discussion, included in the study, of 3 main issues--self-assessment, assessing teaching and learning, and the range of conceptual frameworks for understanding the nature of literacy activities--provide deeper elaboration on the results. Excerpts of some of the children's opinions illustrate the results. In general, the study concludes that from an assessment standpoint, educators must be concerned about the theories children hold about literacy and about themselves as literate learners. Current standardized assessment practices obscure rather than reveal the complexities of children's literate constructs, and do not support self-assessment. (Contains 12 references.) (TB)

A national survey was undertaken in 1993 to discover what approaches and materials state agencies recommend in the teaching of reading and literature to students in elementary and secondary school bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs. The report summarizes the study methodology and findings in these areas: existence and content of a state curriculum guide of framework for bilingual/ESL programs; enrollments of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students; instructional support offered by the state in the form of teacher handbooks, materials addressing specific LEP populations; adherence to local control in bilingual/ESL instruction; alignment of bilingual/ESL programs with English language arts programs; use of multifunctional resource centers; workshop and conference offerings for bilingual/ESL teachers; use of core instructional materials lists; and common issues encountered by state ESL/bilingual program directors, including reorganization and reduced resources, lack of trained teachers, difficulty in collecting and disseminating useful "fugitive" material within the state, and time pressures. A brief bibliography is included, and summaries of survey findings and lists of relevant state publications are appended. (MSE)

An in-depth ethnographic study of an upstate New York Middle School in an ethnically polarized community investigated teacher and community response to multicultural literature initiatives. Most of the data for the study came from interviews with and observations of teachers in the school; it was collected mostly over the 1991-92 school year when members of the community were engaged in a conflict between a growing Hispanic population and the town's Euro-American senior citizen population over adapting school practices to meet the needs of the minority youth. In addition to the teachers, 23 minority students were interviewed in depth, as well as a range of parents and politically active community members. Follow-up interviews were conducted in the 1992-93 school year. Results show the importance of recognizing the teacher as the key link in the process of broadening school curriculums through multicultural materials. While teachers used multicultural texts, they drew upon their own experiences and popular understandings in ways that silenced particular discourses--for example, through omission of particular types of selections, avoidance of classroom discussion, or subtle reinforcement of societal biases. These practice were not intended to be harmful to any particular group; most of the teachers were very interested in acting in the best interest of their students. Reasons for this shortcoming could be attributed to the fact that most teachers received their degrees before multiculturalism became an agenda at universities. Also, working conditions can prevent teachers from working through new ideas. Essentially isolated behind closed doors, they do not observe each other teach and do not continue their education usually beyond the courses required for a master's degree. (Contains 70 references.) (TB)

Response-based approaches to teaching and learning literature provide alternatives to objectifying literature. Where traditional approaches champion close readings of texts and "correct" interpretations, response-based theorists regard readers as active meaning-makers whose personal experiences affect their interpretations of literary works. Response pedagogies encourage the exploration of multiple perspectives and the construction of defensible interpretations and make the quality of students' critical and creative thinking the focus of assessment. They place student-generated questions at the center of learning, encouraging a "problem-finding" as well as problem-solving approach to critical thinking. There is reason to believe that response-based approaches might be facilitated by multimedia applications; the computing medium seems to represent cognitive processes in ways that support their internalization as habits of thought. Therefore, 25 graduate students, most of whom were teachers, evaluated 45 multimedia literature programs to determine their suitableness to response-based pedagogy. They rated the programs on a 10-point scale in several different categories, but reviews were essentially narrative. Results showed that while programs are of high technical quality, the pedagogical approaches taken are not response-based. Programs designed for elementary students equated literature education with reading instruction; programs for high school students adopted a traditional text-centered approach. (Contains 33 references.) (TB)

Although children's literature has emerged as a popular vehicle for fostering literacy development in elementary schools, few schools have a well-developed literature curriculum or have developed an articulated curriculum that differentiates between reading skills and literary understanding. To answer whether literature-based instruction means different things to different teachers, a study explored literature-based instruction in six schools that enrolled significant numbers of low-income students. District administrators were interviewed, as were 26 teachers. Twenty-eight other teachers agreed to both classroom-based interviews and classroom observation across the school year. Perhaps the most surprising finding was the lack of any substantial differences in the time allocated for reading and language arts instruction in schools with differing curriculum plans. Writing was not linked to reading, and students seemed to spend relatively little time composing. Although trade books were available, the range of complexity and genre was fairly restricted; most classrooms did not have an individual library. The most striking finding was the extent and breadth of change occurring in elementary schools, the literature-based curriculum being only a part of the larger movement. However, the most significant constraints to change were largely situated outside the classroom--in federal, state, and school-district offices. (Contains 52 references.) (TB)

A study investigated access to books for children in schools that described their literacy curriculum as "literature-based." Six schools that served economically disadvantaged children exhibited a wide variation in the number of books available in both school libraries and classrooms. Two of the schools depict the influences on children's access to books. George Washington Elementary School is a large, urban school where almost all of the 700 students are from minority families that have incomes below the federal poverty standards. Playfield Elementary sits 50 miles west in a rural community and enrolls approximately 300 children, most of whom are white, and 70% of whom are from economically disadvantaged families. The library at Washington Elementary has only about 10 books per child, very few recently published reference materials, and virtually no computers for student use. The library at Playfield Elementary has about 20 volumes per child, many new books, and a variety of computers and other technological support. Classroom libraries at the two schools showed a similar disparity. Findings suggest the need for the following supportive conditions: (1) children need a plentiful supply of books, a variety of books, and time to read in school; (2) teachers need financial support for book purchases, curricular support for the use of books, and support through professional development; (3) children and teachers need support from the library; and (4) teachers need to use all that is available. (Contains 15 references.) (RS)

A series of three studies investigated how school book clubs fit into the elementary language arts curriculum and how they contribute to children's literacy. Study 1 interviewed 71 administrators, teachers, and parents by telephone and also interviewed parents and students in urban, rural, and suburban schools in different parts of the United States. Study 2 examined the contributions of 12 children in 6 elementary schools over a period of one year. Study 3 analyzed the entire offerings of the three major book clubs (Scholastic, Troll, Trumpet). Results from all three studies indicated that (1) the school book clubs played a large role in the provision of books and other materials to children, teachers, and parents; (2) while book clubs still regarded their primary purpose as supplying children with books and other material, they appear, in the past few years, to have become a major supplier of literacy materials to classrooms; (3) some teachers and parents complained about the presence of what they call "junk" and "fad" material; (4) some teachers were uneasy about the intrusion of commercial enterprises into their classroom; and (5) lack of parental funds was a major problem for classroom teachers. Results also indicated ways in which book clubs played a role in children's literacy growth: book clubs were putting books directly into the hands of large numbers of children across the country; and book club books were used to promote literacy development among all children in the class, not just those who participated in the clubs. (Contains 12 references, 22 tables, and four figures of data.) (RS)

A study examined curriculum decision-making in the classrooms of accomplished teachers of English in grades 9 through 12, focusing on aspects of structure, content, and ways of knowing and doing that combined to create a sense of a "curriculum" rather than a series of disconnected lessons. Four classrooms were studied each semester for two years at two high schools, one in New York State and the other in New Jersey. Selection of participants emphasized diversity rather than representativeness. Data included interviews with teachers and students, classroom observations, and institutional and classroom artifacts. Results indicated that (1) the establishment of a set of conventions for what was appropriate to discuss and how discussion would be carried out was a critical first step in creating a sense of coherence and purpose within the literature classroom; (2) such coherence existed in all classrooms examined; (3) another layer of coherence and a sense of direction was established in some classrooms, in which experiences that came later in the curriculum were informed by those that came earlier and which led to a rethinking and reshaping of earlier experiences; (4) teachers varied from class to class in the extent to which they planned their curriculum around relationships within a larger conversational domain; and (5) students' engagement was highest and their perceived understanding of the domain was greatest when domain structure and discussion conventions worked together to support students' entry into significant conversations about interesting issues. (Three tables of data and questions on the student interview schedules are attached. Contains 29 references.) (RS)

Focusing on the local level where change is supported or resisted, an ethnographic study examined the response of a town in upstate New York to demands for broadening the curriculum within the context of altering the educational environment to better serve the needs of minority youth. The controversy began when a school board member refused to apologize to the Latino community for what many felt were disparaging public comments about Latin Americans and Latinos. Data on the conflict in the larger community included: a public forum in which community members were given the opportunity to present their views on the issue; data from news articles and letters to the editor in the local paper; community radio talk shows; discussions with community members; and observations of public events. Examination of the public discourse suggests sharply differing constructions of group identity and explanations for school failure between minority and senior citizen spokespersons. Analysis of the public discourse provided the framework for an examination of student and teacher responses observed formally and informally during the time that the school district began to respond to minority spokespersons' demands for educational change. Several key themes emerged in faculty discourse: (1) declining student/parent responsibility; (2) teachers as scapegoats; and (3) colorblindness. Findings suggest that the drive to reform the school curriculum to acknowledge cultural diversity challenges popular assumptions and comes up against obstacles both within the schools and within local bases of power, such as school boards. (Three figures representing conceptual frameworks and 22 footnotes are included; 38 references are attached.) (RS)

Imprecise definitions and indeterminate effects of schooling have plagued the field of writing and have led to a persistent antagonism between the professional teacher and the professional assessor. Into this historical situation entered portfolio assessment in the 1980s. Can portfolio's be used in lieu of standardized tests and other forms of state and national assessment? One impediment would be the apparent discrepancy between the purposes of portfolios at the classroom level (how teachers use them) and at the district or state levels (how portfolios can be used to measure learning). A study attempted to document how different teachers used portfolios in their literature classrooms, with an eye to exploring implications for large-scale uses. Results took the form of case-studies of four teachers in New York and self-reports written by eight others in Connecticut. Analysis of the results focused on the metaphors that teachers used to describe their use of portfolios. Teachers of course did not use the metaphor implicit in many discussions of educational assessment, that of the factory and assembly line, but on the other hand they were not in agreement as to what metaphor to use instead. A table shows a broad range of terms describing the portfolio process; portfolios are understood to be everything from diaries or meditations to museums or portraits. One analogy particularly worthy of exploration is that between the hypertext and the portfolio--both challenges to traditional classroom ways. (Contains 16 references.) (TB)

Based on the premise that portfolios form part of a process to enable the teacher more truly to become a facilitator, this report presents the narratives of an 8th-grade reading workshop teacher and a 12th-grade honors course teacher. The report begins with a brief section explaining the principles of the project. The format of the report is a rearrangement of these teachers' narratives into a topical framework interspersed with comments by Alan Purves. Sections of the report discuss the context for the work, getting students started through negotiation, developing a mentoring strategy, and judging and grading. The report concludes that teachers need to balance the tendency to do things for students with the tendency to serve as the judge, and that this duality is the crux of the portfolio approach. Contains eight references and a goals chart. (RS)

This paper describes the kinds of talk that children in three different preschools typically experience during storybook read-alouds and other interactions with print. The paper situates these experiences within everyday classroom life and describes the ways these contrasting experiences may be related to the development of literacy and literary understandings by discussing the story telling and story writing of three precocious children from low-income families. Despite support at home with resources, limited classroom resources (in terms of the number and varieties of books and limited opportunities to participate in literate activities) impoverish the storyworlds of the students. Three figures of children's drawings and writings are included. Contains 24 references. (RS)

A preliminary study set the groundwork for exploring the challenges secondary school teachers and students face in reading texts drawn from their own culture and from cultures quite different from their own. Interviews were conducted with 89 secondary school students, and also with university teachers and secondary school teachers of African American or Anglo-European descent (or who taught courses devoted to one or more of these groups) concerning their understanding of the course aims and objectives and of specific texts of one or more of the target cultures (African American, Asian, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, and Anglo-European). Results indicated that (1) students reacted to the story or characters and did not look at the text as a cultural artifact; (2) teachers and students had few problems reading the text as long as they did not raise cultural issues concerning the texts; (3) problems understanding what they read were seen as problems with the writer or with themselves as readers, not as problems in their cultural knowledge; and (4) many teachers believed that students need to like something to be able to comprehend it. Findings suggest that teachers have not yet come to terms with how they can best influence students to see the same cultural concerns that they have, and that unless some attempt is made to give students some factual information about the background culture of texts, then the cycle of one voice, rejection of unknown voices, could continue. (The interview schedule is attached.) (RS)

To better understand the nature of students' approaches to literary understanding, a study compared the meaning-making approaches of traditionally judged above and below average readers. In all, 144 protocols were analyzed from 24 students (12 seventh graders and 12 eleventh graders, half in each class judged as above and half as below average performers). Think-aloud tape recordings were transcribed and analyzed. Findings suggest a similarity in better and poorer readers' overall approaches toward meaning. They seemed to move from a search for initial ideas into a meaning-development mode at similar points in their reading. However, the quality of their envisionments differed markedly, and the difference seemed to be influenced by their differing expectations about the kinds of understandings they would gain from each kind of reading experience. From early on, the better readers set a primary purpose for reading (to engage in a literary experience or to gain discursive understanding), and these expectations guided the kinds of information they sought and the meanings they developed. In contrast, the poorer readers seemed less aware of the different representations that were appropriate for each particular type of reading. While poorer readers arrived at discrete local meanings, there was no overriding end toward which they were building, leading them to create more fragmented envisionments from which they were more easily dislodged. (Seven tables of data are included; 64 references are attached.) (Author/RS)

A study examined the language and interactions that occurred in classes where teachers felt they were providing an environment that fostered reasoning about their coursework. The discourse within the diverse classrooms of eight high school teachers (two each in American literature, American history, biology, and physics) was examined. In each discipline, the teachers' instructional styles differed, with one placing more emphasis on the content and the other on the students' ways of thinking about that content. Results indicated that: (1) reasoning was taught and learned in academic classes; (2) such reasoning was subject-specific and embedded in the pragmatic routines of subject-driven lessons; (3) the specifications of such reasoning were implicit and therefore unavailable for overt use in lesson planning or as strategic knowledge to be taught; (4) this kind of discipline-specific reasoning may or may not be sufficient for successful participation in disciplinary learning; and (5) certain types of pedagogical approaches or styles may inhibit or support such discipline-appropriate thinking. Findings suggest the need for additional studies involving more teachers before explicit suggestions for the recasting of instruction along discipline-specific lines can be made. The categories identified may provide a useful place to start an investigation leading toward productive instructional reform. (Two tables of data are included; 39 references are attached.) (RS)

This report contains the results of a survey designed to gather information on issues and concerns in portfolio assessment and on the use of such types of assessment to determine student performance and program or teaching effectiveness. The survey, which contained nine questions, was conducted in three phases. First, the testing directors of each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and each of the 8 Canadian provinces were surveyed by telephone. Phase 2 of the survey examined more specific questions: individual contact people provided by the state testing directors were mailed abbreviated surveys requesting answers to questions 8 and 9 concerning, respectively, the forms and uses of portfolio assessment and how these uses relate to program objectives. Phase 3 consisted of telephone conversations with 10 respondents who indicated that they were using portfolios in the assessment of literature learning and a review of articles and descriptive information provided by those 10 respondents. Results indicated that: (1) in Canada, only Quebec was using portfolios for provincewide use in the 1990-91 school year, while in the United States, Kentucky and Vermont were planning to implement statewide use in the near future; (2) greater use was being made of portfolios at the classroom level, and, in a few situations, portfolios were being used at the school and district level; (3) there was little universality in the manner in which portfolios were being used; (4) writing as a response to literature was a component of about 25% of the portfolio programs; and (5) assessment by the use of portfolios exemplified program goals which stressed active learning. (Two tables of data are included; the list of interview questions, the list of respondents to the survey, and an appendix of data are attached.) (RS)

A professional development model for teachers of literature (K-13) was conceived in the context of the current disjunctions between literary theory and pedagogical practices in the teaching of literature on the one hand, and a different set of disjunctions between teaching practices in literature and in composition on the other. Recent developments in Postmodernist or Poststructuralist theory have challenged and puzzled almost two generations of teachers schooled under the old New Critical paradigm. The development of the model was begun when a community of experienced English and language arts teachers representing all grades from elementary school through college collaborated through a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored Literature Institute for Teachers to study a number of difficult literary texts. The institute demonstrated how powerfully the fundamental pedagogical principles that inform practice in writing programs apply to the teaching of literature. The participants were placed into reading groups as a means of resolving certain social and hermeneutical crises. Through techniques of believing and doubting, the competitive dynamics of argument were replaced by a dynamic of collaboration. Attempts were made to expand the repertoire of reading and teaching practices of the participants, especially those classified under the heading of re-reading practices. Many other reading strategies were fostered among the teachers, such as ways of problematizing a reading, ways of fostering collaboration, and methods of building fluency for students. In short, the Institute demonstrated how contemporary theory can transform literature teaching practices in many compelling and useful ways. (Contains 42 references.) (HB)