Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report - S22

S22

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EDUCATION WEEK: DIGITAL CURRICULA > www.edweek.org/go/digital-report

Reading Apps
Tend to Target
Basic Skills
CONTINUED FROM PAGE S22

the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.
That focus is not necessarily a bad
thing, as long as educators and parents
recognize the potential limitations of
those apps, Ms. Guernsey said. If the
market is “heavily tilted” toward one
set of skills, Ms. Guernsey said, educators and parents also need to recognize
that various tools are “not going to be
everything they need.”
A report by the National Early Literacy Panel, a group convened by the
National Center for Family Literacy, a
nonprofit in Louisville, Ky., concluded
that skills-driven instruction in preschool, including teaching the alphabet
and letter sounds, increases children’s
odds of becoming successful readers
later on. That report, released in 2009
and based on a review of available
scholarship and evidence by leading
researchers, drew praise for offering direction to educators and policymakers.
But it was also criticized in some
quarters by those who said it emphasized too narrow a foundation for
young learners.
One of the reasons that little is
known about the quality of apps and
some other technology platforms focused on literacy is that little rigorous
research has been conducted on their
effectiveness, and numerous hurdles
stand in the way of that work, said
Michael Kamil, a professor emeritus
of learning, design, and technology at
Stanford University’s graduate school
of education.
Some apps, for instance, do focus on
building appropriate literacy skills in
children, Mr. Kamil said. But those
free or low-cost products tend to not
get field-tested to the same extent that

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MAY 22, 2013

REVIEWING TECH PRODUCTS
Children’s Technology Review presents reviews
of technology products in a monthly PDF to paid
subscribers, and it offers a searchable Web database.
It judges apps, games, and other products on the basis
of ease of use, educational value, and other factors.

ABC FARM I I I I I
Platform: iPad, iPhone
Price: $2.99
Ages: 3 and 8
Teaches/Purpose: language,
English and Spanish, reading,
letters

MARVIN K. MOONEY
WILL YOU PLEASE GO
NOW! I I I I I
Platform: iPad, iPhone, Android
Price: $4.99
Ages: 4 and 8
Teaches/Purpose: reading

WAR HORSE I I I I I
Platform: iPad | Price: $13.99
Ages: 9 and up
Teaches/Purpose: history, reading, horses, music,
World War I, Germany, England

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ENDLESS ALPHABET I I I I I
Platform: iPad, iPhone
Price: Free for a limited time
Ages: 3 and 6
Teaches/Purpose: alphabet, ABC song, reading, letter
recognition, music

LETTER SCHOOL
IIIII
Platform: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Price: $2.99
Ages: 3 and up
Teaches/Purpose: handwriting,
letter formation, numerals,
upper/lower case

SOURCE: Children’s Technology Review
http://www.edweek.org/go/digital-report http://www.shu.edu/go/execedd http://www.shu.edu/go/execedd
Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report
