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Summer 2009: Table of Contents
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Issues in EducationBack to top
“Education Or Incarceration: Zero Tolerance Policies And The School To Prison Pipeline”
Nancy A. Heitzeg
Abstract
In the past decade, there has been a growing convergence between schools and legal systems. The school to prison pipeline refers to this growing pattern of tracking students out of educational institutions, primarily via “zero tolerance” policies, and , directly and/or indirectly, into the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. The school to prison pipeline has emerged in the larger context of media hysteria over youth violence and the mass incarceration that characterize both the juvenile and adult legal systems.
While the school to prison pipeline is facilitated by a number of trends in education, it is most directly attributable to the expansion of zero tolerance policies. These policies have no measureable impact on school safety, but are associated with a number of negative effects” racially disproportionality, increased suspensions and expulsions, elevated drop-out rates, and multiple legal issues related to due process. A growing critique of these policies has lead to calls for reform and alternatives.
Oral language and beginning reading: Exploring connections and disconnections
Susan Hill
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to explore the connections between young children’s oral language vocabulary and children’s reading of written language in beginning reading books. Oral language has been viewed as the foundation for emergent reading development as it provides the semantic base, syntactic base and phonological base for successfully moving from oral to written language. In fact in the years before school the development of children’s oral language in the home environment is viewed as an important factor for early reading success.
The research reported in this study involved children in their first year of school in a socioeconomically diverse community. The findings revealed disconnections between children’s receptive oral language vocabulary and early reading. Children with English as a Second Language scored low on oral language vocabulary but high on reading levelled texts. Children with high scores on oral vocabulary scored low on reading levelled texts and a small group of Aboriginal children scored low on both oral and written measures. This study raises questions about the view that oral language neatly underpins reading development and suggests that learning to read is akin to learning a second language for all children.
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