Tag Archives: reading
26 result(s)
Mind the (Diversity) Gap in Kids’ Digital Media
January 27, 2015
Despite the fact that 37 percent of the U.S. population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published over the past 18 years contain multicultural content. Today’s celebration of Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCCBD) is a direct response to this diversity gap that exists in the world of children’s books. Started by two blogger moms and reading and play experts, MCCBD — anchored by the hashtag #ReadYourWorld — is meant to “not only raise awareness for the kids’ books that celebrate diversity, but…
Four Surprises in Scholastic’s National Survey of Children’s Reading
January 13, 2015
Last week Scholastic released the Kids and Family Reading Report, its annual survey of children’s reading, and some of the results run counter to conventional wisdom about how much children love electronic books and desire independence. The responses provide hints of nostalgia for cuddling up on the couch turning pages of paper with their parents by their side. Parents responded to the survey via the Web, although the sample of respondents were first identified through random selection and contacted by…
What’s in Store Today: A Snapshot of Kids’ Language and Literacy Apps (Part 1)
August 15, 2014
Apps for social communication, learning, and play are a prominent part of nearly every family’s life today. Are they having a similar impact on how families and educators help their children learn to read? And if so, what kinds of apps are they using? As part of Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and New America are analyzing the app marketplace to answer these questions. In 2012, we conducted a baseline…
Kids Need Truly Interactive Experiences
July 15, 2014
“Interactive” is one of the most overused words in the 21st Century, a label attached to thousands of digital devices, apps and TV shows for kids. Interactive tablet apps will read a book to your kid and interactive cartoon characters will invite your kid to dance during a TV show. The word “interactive” can make anything sound more educational. But what does it mean, really? Digital devices generally provide solitary experiences for kids, but these tools are marketed to parents…
Introducing Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age
June 23, 2014
Today’s children are surrounded by digital media of all kinds. How will they ever learn to read? That question is at the heart of Seeding Reading: Investing in Children’s Literacy in a Digital Age, a new series of articles and analysis brought to you by New America’s Education Policy Program and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Over the next six months, we will be exploring early education and parenting initiatives that are harnessing new technologies; scrutinizing the…
Our Favorite Children’s Books
May 15, 2013
To celebrate Children’s Book Week, the oldest literacy initiative in the country, we asked Cooney Center staff members to reflect on their favorite children’s books: the books whose spines we wore out, even if we knew the words by heart; the books that sparked hours of laughter and debate with our parents and friends and the books that helped us to become life-long readers. Did your favorites make the cut? Executive Director Michael Levine’s childhood favorites were Where the Wild…
Creating Solutions for Literacy Problems is Not for the Faint of Heart
March 7, 2013
What really matters for early-grade reading? That’s a question we tackled in a recent paper for policy makers and other non-academic audiences, titled “Launching Successful Readers: The Role of ICT in Early-Grade Literacy Success.” Our aim was to help guide and frame discussions about how to have more effective investments in technology for early-grade literacy, in both developed and developing countries, based on research about what really matters for literacy growth. No one disputes that many investments in technology for…
Writer’s Quest – Explore New Worlds. Read.
March 2, 2012
A brief message from our friends at Reading Rockets and AdLit.org who are working with the Library of Congress and the Ad Council to help support the Explore New Worlds. Read. It has been 100 years since Edgar Rice Burroughs first introduced readers to Tarzan and “John Carter” — a hero whose Martian adventure hits the big screen this month in the new Disney film of the same name. Give K-12 readers the chance to learn more about Edgar Rice Burroughs and…
Bringing Speech Recognition to Reading Instruction
December 5, 2011
Marilyn Jager Adams’s report, “Technology for Developing Children’s Language and Literacy: Bringing Speech Recognition to the Classroom,” was released this fall by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. This commentary was recently published by Education Week. As everyone who follows such things knows, U.S. students, as a group, do not read very well. Yet, if you are among those who have read about this-indeed, if you are among those who are reading this Commentary, then you (and most of your…
Meeting Kids Wherever They Are
May 15, 2011
Scholastic has a 90-year history of helping kids learn to read and encouraging them to love to read. A recent New York Times editorial asks, “Should we be alarmed?” about the availability of e-books. I would respond, quickly and succinctly, no — and yes. No—because at Scholastic, we are committed to meeting kids where they are. If they are reading traditionally or electronically, they have the opportunity to be informed and inspired by the power of the book. When we…