Due to the implementation of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards, disciplinary literacy has become a vital component of social studies instruction in middle and secondary classrooms. This paper determines the degree to which nine middle and high school social studies teachers were successful in designing integrated learning…

Analytical reading and writing are embedded in a disciplinary approach to history instruction and present opportunities to extend students' literacy practices. U.S. educators and researchers have come to rely on the Document-Based Question (DBQ) to assess and develop students' historical knowledge and argument writing. However, this task has been…

This article examines the issues of how Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will impact adaptive teaching. It focuses on 2 of the major differences between conventional standards and CCSS: the increased complexity of text and the addition of disciplinary literacy standards to reading instruction. The article argues that adaptive teaching under CCSS…

The literacy practices of high school social studies teachers in the Jefferson School District were examined. Common Core State Standards highlight a focus on literacy skills in the content areas while also emphasizing the importance of developing critical thinking. Despite the identified links between social studies and literacy, reading and…

Twenty-first century literacy requires students to analyze and create images for communication across and within academic disciplines. Thus, literacy teachers are now responsible for supporting students as they engage with visual texts. We must carefully and intentionally choose images for teaching practice and consider the reader, instructional…

The impetus behind the design and implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was to establish nationwide criteria in preparing students to be college or career ready by the end of high school. The standards require students to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate text across a wide range of disciplines. Essential to the mastery of the…

Secondary teachers nationwide are encouraged by the Common Core State Standards and recent research to enact disciplinary literacy instruction. However, little is known about how teachers make sense of teaching disciplinary literacy skills to adolescents. To what extent might adolescents still need the kinds of foundational support provided by…

Finding materials to help students make connections is difficult for many teachers across all grade levels. Traditionally, the textbook is the primary resource for instruction. Textbooks, however, do not naturally support students in making connections across texts. To do this, teachers must find other resources. Finding other resources is…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) was created to support teachers in implementing college and career readiness standards in order to teach literacy skills throughout the content areas. Teachers work collaboratively with coaches to further develop their expertise and design standards-driven, literacy-rich writing assignments within their…

For middle and high school teachers facing the challenge of implementing the Common Core State Standards, disciplinary literacy instruction is a critical element--and one for which many are unprepared. Disciplinary literacy focuses attention on the reading, writing, and communication skills unique to each discipline (Moje, 2008; Shanahan &…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) call on science and social studies teachers to engage in literacy instruction that prepares students for the academic rigors of college. The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) designed a framework to address the challenge of literacy-content integration. At the heart of the intervention are fill-in-the-blank…

This article presents two innovative tools--the Mathematics-Literacy Planning Framework and Mathematics-Literacy Implementation Checklist--which are designed to help instructional coaches and specialists support teachers to meet the challenges of the mathematics-literacy integration goals of the Common Core. Developed with teacher input, these…

This volume in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Learners series was designed to deepen teacher's knowledge and provides instructional approaches and practices for supporting grades 6-12 ELLs as they meet the ambitious expectations of the CCSS for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. This…

"Adolescent Literacy in the Era of the Common Core" provides school leaders, teachers, and others with strategies and best practices for advancing adolescent literacy in the classroom. Exceptionally clear and accessible, the book addresses a full range of topics in this vitally important field, including disciplinary literacy; vocabulary…