Mental health challenges are on the rise among today's youth. Recent reports have noted an acute and significant need for school-based mental health education and supportive interventions for children and adolescents. Among these approaches, a growing focus has centered on improving students' mental health literacy (MHL) as a foundational…

This study examines the impact of teachers' professional development on Canadian allophone students' learning and reading performance levels. We used the data from the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program 2016 involving Grade 8/Secondary II Canadian allophone students (N = 2,244) and teachers in French and English Language Arts (N = 598). Our…

In this article, we focus on two components of the Online Curriculum Consortium for Accelerating Middle School (OCCAMS) project: the curriculum frameworks and the curriculum development process. The frameworks include the Integrated Curriculum Model (advanced content, unit themes, and process/product), culturally responsive curriculum, and talent…

In this article, I describe the challenges students faced in interpreting literary--or fictional--texts in the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement in the English learning area. I explain why it is important for students to learn how to interpret literary texts at school and consider why they might struggle with this important skill. I…

In this article, we describe a collaboratively developed information literacy curriculum that was embedded into three core 8th grade subjects: Algebra, American History, and English Language Arts. The curriculum was rooted in the concept of generalist literacy and supported students as they developed their curiosity, skepticism, commitment to…

The following designed-based implementation research (DBIR) study explores the impacts of a research-practice partnership (RPP) on two fifth grade ELA teachers and the researcher as they engaged with the designing and implementation of two critical literacy pedagogy (CLP) units through the adaptation of mandated New York State Common Core (NYSCC)…

Project OCCAMS (Online Consortium for Accelerating Middle School) developed and piloted an accelerated curriculum through a design-based research approach combining the Integrated Curriculum Model, principles of culturally responsive instructional design, and extensive compacting. The program created a pathway for diverse middle school students to…

Teachers face obstacles when executing prepared curricular resources in diverse classrooms, trying to provide quality fair learning opportunities to all students. Examining ten teachers' insights and experiences with the EngageNY language arts modules differentiation allowed presenting the phenomenon's comprehensive overview. Teachers from schools…

This study aimed to understand how a multi-tiered social-emotional curriculum could be implemented at the middle school level and its impact on student mental health, academic progress, and school culture at a public school in the Northeast. Many secondary schools quickly remediate academic skills rather than examining a student's social-emotional…

Teachers' ineffectively use research-based reading instructional strategies with minority students in an urban middle school district in the Eastern United States. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore teachers' perceptions, experiences, and challenges when using research-based reading instructional strategies…

In 2016, the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, the nation's 15th-largest school district, confronted two dilemmas common in U.S. education. First, a quality review had revealed weaknesses in its literacy curriculum. Although curriculum can have profound effects on student learning, not all curricula are rigorous and engaging…

This study identified the relationships among English Language Arts teacher teams, their collaboration in creating formative assessment, and its impact on the academic achievement of middle school students. The setting of this study was two urban private Nursery through Grade 8 elementary schools in 1 New York City district. The design for this…

This practitioner inquiry study investigates learning from the stories of emergent bilingual students as they complete project based learning units. This method of instruction created the space to have one-on-one conversations, listen in culturally responsive ways, and develop asset-based literacy curriculum. I argue that relationships formed…

Despite a 100-year-old history and the existence of schools in nearly every country in the world, Waldorf education is a little known and poorly understood educational model that was developed in Europe by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. For many years it existed in the United States in the form of private schools. Few of their teachers or…

At St. Joseph's School for the Deaf in New York, teachers worked together toward the common goal of developing and implementing a spiraling English Language Arts curriculum that would allow each teacher to build on skills students developed in earlier classes. They collaboratively developed instruction following the literacy workshop model…