Story Time During the Pandemic
October 26, 2020
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray Go throw your TV set away And in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall. — Roald Dahl in his classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Though published in 1964, Dahl’s words continue to reflect the attitudes …
Read More
Seaford, Delaware: Fast Improvement in Delaware
December 9, 2019
School of Education professor and Professional Development Center for Educators Director Sharon Walpole is featured on the latest episode of the ExtraOrdinary Districts podcast. She discusses her open-access literacy curriculum Bookworms K-5 Reading and Writing. Closing the achievement gap between school districts depends on several factors, many of which are …
Read More
Joshua Wilson Wins Mangone Young Scholar Award
November 25, 2019
The University of Delaware’s Francis Alison Society has selected Jason Gleghorn, assistant professor in the College of Engineering, and Joshua Wilson, assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development, as the winners of the 2019 Gerard J. Mangone Young Scholars Awards. The award recognizes promising and accomplished young …
Read More
New study shows early reading in any language helps children learn to read English
September 24, 2019
A new study co-authored by the University of Delaware’s Steven Amendum has found that children who had strong early reading skills in their native Spanish language when they entered kindergarten experienced greater growth in their ability to read English from kindergarten through fourth grade. Importantly, when the researchers factored in …
Read More
Learning To Be “Bookworms”
August 8, 2019
Not that long ago, some of Delaware’s lowest-performing schools could be found in the neighboring school districts of Seaford and Laurel, both of which serve rural, high-poverty communities in the southwestern corner of the state. In 2014, Seaford ranked last in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, according to assessments by …
Read More
Reading to Children
April 29, 2019
In the eyes of a child who is learning how to read, touchscreen tablets and “smart” technology are no substitute for a living, breathing adult. At least, that’s according to new research by University of Delaware doctoral student Daniela Avelar. The cognitive benefits a child experiences when reading with an …
Read More
From Students to Scholars
March 27, 2019
As an assistant professor in the University of Delaware’s School of Education (SOE), Joshua Wilson frequently employs undergraduate assistants to provide support for grant-funded research projects. For some projects — as with a recent $400,000 research grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) — Wilson may need to assemble …
Read More
Faculty Awarded $3.3 million Dept. of Education Grant
February 15, 2019
Research grant will fund professional development to benefit English learners Steve Amendum and colleagues from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are seeking to develop a comprehensive teacher professional development (PD) program aimed at increasing collaboration between classroom and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) teachers to benefit young Latinx English …
Read More
Spencer grant to improve assessment of students’ writing skills
October 20, 2017
Josh Wilson’s Spencer Grant will allow him to expand his research to develop a new computerized formative assessment model that identifies student language skills at the word, sentence, and discourse level through automated evaluations of the essay’s word choice, syntax, and cohesion. He will examine results across multiple genres of student …
Read More
Improving ELA instruction in DE classrooms
August 30, 2017
Literacy professors Josh Wilson and Charles MacArthur received an IES grant to study the effect PEG Writing software has on nearly 3,000 students from Red Clay School District in grades 3-5. The grant partners them with Gaysha Beard, supervisor of Red Clay’s English language arts (ELA).
Read More
Bookworms improves literacy outcomes in Cecil County
April 7, 2017
Bookworms curriculum introduced into Cecil County Public Schools UD professor Sharon Walpole and her colleague, Michael McKenna* developed Bookworms in response to the increased reading and writing expectations in the Common Core State Standards. Bookworms is a free, online, open-source database of reading lesson plans and resources for elementary school teachers …
Read More
Assessing effectiveness of PEG Writing software
March 7, 2017
Imagine an elementary classroom where students could write an essay on their computer and receive instant feedback on its organization, word choice and accuracy. They would then be able to correct errors, make revisions and resubmit their essays, allowing their teacher to focus on developing their critical thinking and higher-level writing skills. …
Read More
