During the 2004-05 school year, Parkview Elementary School experienced a dramatic shift from a focus on authentic assessment and responsive, individualized teaching to a one-size-fits-all approach to literacy assessment and instruction. In an effort to boost test scores, the district mandated the use of Open Court Reading, a scripted language arts…

Describes how a remedial instructor joined forces with a regular classroom teacher and developed learning contexts that would enable students with learning difficulties to experience success at academic tasks through shared learning. (HTH)

Explores the cooperation and resistance teachers often encounter as they begin to use a whole language approach in their classrooms, and discusses whole language as a teaching attitude--returning the freedom of learning to students, but still with requisite responsibilities for providing students with all the options from which they may choose.…