The importance of writing is recognized in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). CCSS places emphasis on both foundational skills (e.g., spelling) and writing applications such as planning, editing, and revising a variety of texts (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).…

This study explored the knowledge elementary teachers need for one core practice: reading and responding to students' writing. Forty-five preservice teachers read and responded to an elementary student's narrative writing sample. Using teacher noticing as a framework, we first decomposed the practice into five components indicative of differences…

This study investigated the complexity of leveled passages used in four classroom reading assessments. A total of 167 passages leveled for Grades 1-6 from these assessments were analyzed using four analytical tools of text complexity. More traditional, two-factor measures of text complexity found a general trend of fairly consistent across-grade…

The paper presents a model for addressing the critical question of opportunity to learn for students with disabilities. The model was tested through a two-year study with schools and teachers in three states. Opportunity to learn analysis is critical in this educational era of push toward access and inclusion. The study results indicate that…

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS/ELA) focus on building student capacity to read complex texts. The Standards provide an explicit text complexity staircase that maps text levels to grade levels. Furthermore, the Standards articulate a rationale to accelerate text levels across grades to ensure students are able to…