Vocabulary Tied to Text

Julie Pack, Director of Secondary Education for ACS, sent me the article below from The Forum's The Friday Report.  Please read it as it provides additional evidence for why vocabulary should not be taught in isolation.  I also added an infographic on 10 Principles for Effective Vocabulary Instruction from Eye on Education.
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NAEP Data on Vocabulary Shows Achievement Gap and Emphasizes Relation to Reading Comprehension

    

    The recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress report found further evidence to back research that vocabulary knowledge is important to text comprehension. In 2011, 4th and 8th graders performing above the 75th percentile in reading comprehension on NAEP had the highest average vocabulary scores. Likewise, those 4th and 8th graders scoring at or below the 25th percentile had the lowest average vocabulary scores.

    The NAEP report also revealed stark achievement gaps in vocabulary across racial and ethnic groups, as well as income levels. The achievement gap shown in vocabulary follows trends of the gap shown in other reported assessments of the NAEP. In 4th grade, there was a 31 point gap in vocabulary on a 0-500 scale between students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch and those who are not. In 8th grade, the gap was 28 points.

    Previous NAEP assessments have included some vocabulary questions, but the revised framework for reading set new criteria for developing vocabulary questions and increasing their number in order to allow the test to measure students' vocabulary performance and report it as a separate item.

    Words selected for inclusion in vocabulary test questions were specifically selected to be characteristic of written language (as opposed to everyday speech), used in a variety of content areas, generally familiar concepts, feelings, or action, and necessary for understanding part or all of the passage in which they appeared in the test. For fourth graders, words such as "barren," "Detected," and "eerie" were problematic, with fewer than half of students identifying their meaning correctly. "Urbane" showed the same results for 8th and 12th grade students. North Carolina students scored in line with the national average on vocabulary scores. (Erik Robelen, "NAEP Data on Vocabulary Achievement Show Same Gaps," EDUCATION WEEK, 11/6/12)

Article source:

The Forum:  Public School Forum of North Carolina.  The Friday Report.  15.23 (14 Dec 2012).  Online.