January-February Highlights: Literacy 2.0

Adults often see technology — cell phones, video games, iPods — as distractions from learning, but the integration of technology into instruction can help students improve their reading and writing skills and master the "new literacies" required by the technology-driven global economy.

21st Century Literacies

This policy brief from the National Council of Teachers of English offers an excellent introduction to the concept of "new literacies," debunks some common myths, and provides research-based recommendations for effective instruction.
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Synching up with the iKid: Connecting to the 21st Century Student

"There's something about changing over to an electronic medium, something about that screen. It's psychological. It's a generational thing," says teacher Diane Hamstra on the incorporation of technology into traditional lessons.
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Reading Software: Finding the Right Program

Need advice on how to choose the appropriate reading software for your child or classroom? Here are some suggestions.
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Digital-Age Assessment

Learn about electronic portfolios — comprehensive, digitized collections of student work that require student self-assessment and build digital literacy.
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Our Video Interview with Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick's most recent book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret — a marvelous combination of novel, graphic novel, and picture book — was named a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category. Selznick's other books include The Houdini Box, The Robot King, and The Boy of a Thousand Faces. In this interview, Selznick shares how his childhood love of drawing and story-telling evolved into a career, and he explains how he conceives his projects.
Watch the interview >

Ask the Experts

"I'm a special education teacher who has wavered for six years about whether to test my own son for a learning disability. He doesn't want to be a "special" kid with "special" teachers. How do I know if it is right to test and risk my son being mad at me?"
See the answer >

Do you have a question for our experts?
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Tell Us What You Think

Take our brief survey about the new AdLit.org website and your name will be entered in a random drawing to win one of two $20 Amazon gift certificates.
Go to the survey >

Research and Other News

New National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

On January 3rd, the Library of Congress named Jon Scieszka, award-winning author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, as the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Watch a video interview with Jon on our sister site Reading Rockets.
Watch the video >

Twilight of the Books

Read an interesting piece from The New Yorker riffing on the findings in the National Endowment for the Arts' To Read or Not to Read, which reported on Americans' declining interest in reading and deteriorating reading skills.
Read the article >

Passing or Failing? A Midterm Report Card for No Child Left Behind

This analysis from the Rand Corporation examines two options afforded parents of students in schools classified as needing improvement: transfer to another school and the use of supplemental educational services.
Read the analysis >

Quality Counts 2008: Tapping into Teaching

Education Week's annual report on states' efforts to improve public education assigns each state both an overall grade and individual grades for six subcategories: K-12 achievement; standards, assessments, and accountability; transitions and alignment; the teaching profession; and school finance.
Read the report >

Book List of the Month

Dragons

With wizards, dragons, magic, lots of action and adventure, and fanciful illustrations, the fantasy genre can really engage young, creative minds. All the stories chosen by AdLit.org's literature advisor Jamie Watson feature mythical creatures, but these are also tales of bravery, romance, friendship, and coming-of-age that pre-teens and teens will relate to.
Go to the list >

Featured Partner

The Newspaper Association of America Foundation

The Newspaper Association of America Foundation is a nonprofit organization which helps develop tomorrow's readers by encouraging students to acquire and value information from newspapers and other media. The Foundation's programs are concentrated in three major areas: Newspaper in Education (NIE), youth content, and student newspapers, and are targeted to students in elementary school through early college.

Foundation research has revealed that students using newspapers in class score significantly better on tests than students who do not use them. Find out how to build partnerships between newspapers and schools by contacting your local Newspaper in Education program.
Go to The Newspaper Association of America Foundation website >

Memorable Quote

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home." — The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

About AdLit.org

AdLit.org is a national educational service of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital. The goal of the project is to provide literacy resources to parents and educators of students in grades 4-12. Learn about easy ways you can link to us to let others know about the many free resources available from AdLit.org. AdLit.org is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author(s).

All the best from AdLit.org

• Noel Gunther, Executive Director
• Katie Chase, Associate Editor
• Kelly Deckert, Web Producer
• Susannah Harris, Manager, AdLit.org
• Sun Kim, Web Coordinator
• Alan Lundy-Ponce, Director, Learning Media Websites
• Joanne Meier, Ph.D., Research Consultant
• Rachael Walker, Outreach Consultant

Newsletter editors: Joanne Meier and Susannah Harris