Opinion 2006-07

by Michelle Porche, Ed.D., and Stephanie Harris, M.A.
From the Fall/Winter 2007 Research & Action Report

Is Literacy Enough?, which we co-authored with Catherine Snow and Patton Tabors, we explore the continuities and discontinuities of early literacy skills on adolescent achievement. In this book, we describe the original 83 low-income students who began participating in the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development at the age of 3, and we conclude with the outcomes for the 47 participants who continued in the study until they reached young adulthood. When this study began, Dr. Snow, the Principal Investigator, set a groundbreaking path into the importance of language as a foundation of early literacy. Results from this study have influenced conceptual and practical approaches to early reading instruction, helping to set national standards. At the end of the 16-year study many hypotheses were borne out, even as new questions were generated about our most vulnerable children. 

by Ellen S. Gannett, M.Ed.
From the Spring/Summer 2007 Research & Action Report

Afterschool practitioners and youth workers play a critical role in today’s society, serving as positive adult role models, mentors, coaches, tutors and friends for young people, and a vital support for working parents. Too often, however, these practitioners do not receive the recognition or resources they need to feel valued in their work by the public and, more importantly, by their employers. While most youth workers are educated, satisfied and committed to making a difference in the lives of the children and youth they serve, too many report being underpaid, underappreciated, and at times overworked, often holding down multiple jobs just to make a living wage. Stress and burnout are all too real and recruitment of qualified administrators and staff remains challenging. For our most vulnerable youth who depend on quality out-of-school time programs, it is imperative that private and public policy makers understand the domino effect that results from underpaid youth workers.

Letter to the Editor submitted by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D. to The New York Times in response to "The Complaint Gap" op-ed which ran July 15, 2006. (unpublished)
July 17, 2007

Letter to the Editor submitted by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D. to Newsweek magazine in response to "The Boy Crisis" article which ran January 29, 2006. (unpublished)
January 30, 2006