Dive Brief:
- The International Literacy Association surveyed more than 1,500 literacy leaders from 89 countries for its 2017 What’s Hot in Literacy report, finding gaps in the topics leaders found important versus those getting the most attention.
- Among the key findings were that parent engagement, teacher professional learning and development, and access to books and content were all seen as very important to advancing literacy for all but much less “hot” when it comes to attention in the classroom, among educators and in the media.
- Digital literacy and assessments/standards were both seen as trending in educator circles, but they both ranked much lower in assessments of importance by literacy leaders.
Dive Insight:
Sometimes people latch onto issues that aren’t necessarily the most important and this fixation distracts from efforts that may actually make a bigger difference. Surveys like the International Literacy Association’s offer an important chance to recalibrate priorities in schools, districts and state education agencies.
Similarly, though on the topic of bullying, YouthTruth found surprising results about cyberbullying that should encourage schools to rethink their priorities. In an analysis of survey data from 80,000 students in grades five through 12, YouthTruth found cyberbullying was the least likely form of bullying to be experienced by student respondents. Cyberbullying has gotten an immense amount of attention from educators and parents, but it may not be the best place to focus efforts, especially because students who are victims of cyberbullying are very likely to be bullied in person as well.