Go in depth on Common Core Standards for middle schools to learn how they help students build on and extend skills acquired in earlier grades and prepare them for the nuanced communication and analytical work they will encounter in high school. Getting a copy for every teacher ensures they'll know: (1) The key focus areas of the Common Core…

High academic standards are an important first step in ensuring that all Alaska's students have the tools they need for success. These standards reflect the collaborative work of Alaskan educators and national experts from the nonprofit National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment. Further, they are informed by public comments.…

Today, increasing numbers of teachers at all grade levels are recognizing that inference is a powerful way of thinking and an important 21st century skill for all students to use and develop across the curriculum. Increasing numbers of teachers are also recognizing that developing and implementing integrative curriculum is important at all grade…

The New York City Leadership Academy represents a unique experiment by a large urban school district to train and develop its own school leaders. Its 14-month Aspiring Principals Program (APP) selects and prepares aspiring principals to lead low-performing schools. This study provides the first systematic evaluation of achievement in APP-staffed…

As literacy researchers, we are challenged to consider whether our instructional practices are sufficient to help students engage in literacy practices in our current and future society, such as reading from critical literacy perspectives. Teacher identities can be discursively constructed in different ways, given the contexts in which they work.…

Recent scholarship in genre studies has extended its focus from studying single genres to multiple genres, as well as how these genres interact with one another. This essay seeks to contribute to this growing scholarship by adding a new concept, "intermediary genre". That is, a genre that facilitates the "uptake" of a genre by…

The Bilingual Multicultural Education Bureau (BMEB) strives to serve all students participating in BMEPs so that all students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and education code, these are: (1) students become bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language; and (2) students meet all academic content standards…

Behavior issues in the classroom directly relate to the teaching style and the type of interactions between the teacher and students. In particular, Latino/a students need to be engaged in the curriculum content if they are to be successful, both academically and emotionally. If this does not occur, then behavioral issues will arise, which will…

With conceptions of literacy growing beyond the traditional print medium, new understandings of multiliteracy practices and pedagogies are needed to better inform the preparation of secondary English teachers. This article presents the findings of a study examining five first year teachers' understandings of and experiences with multiliteracies.…

"Literacy and the Common Core" offers K-12 teachers clear guidance on how to design units, lessons, and objectives to meet the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts; it's filled with practical strategies that teachers can use immediately to target key standards; and it describes how to analyze the standards to support…

Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is a set of research-based strategies designed to improve reading comprehension, enhance students' content area learning, facilitate access to higher-level texts, and to promote student engagement. The present study examines how fidelity of implementation of CSR is associated with reading outcomes for students…

A cross-age peer tutoring program was implemented in a small rural school in west central Belize, Central America. All students at the school were native Spanish speakers, and all general instruction was conducted in English. The program was devised to supplement existing reading and language arts instruction at all grade levels. Progress of both…

This accessible book will help elementary school teachers improve literacy instruction inside or outside the Common Core environment. The authors address teachers' instructional needs by introducing key concepts from current trends in literacy education--from high-level standards to the use of 21st-century literacies. Readers then follow teachers…

Many teachers ask: "What do I do for students who finish their work before everyone else? Is there anything I can use that doesn't require me to read a long textbook with complicated instructions?" If you would like to do more for gifted students and need simple strategies that you can use tomorrow, this book is for you. Inside are helpful methods…

Now that the Common Core standards are coming to just about every school, what every school leader needs is a straightforward explanation that lays out the benefits of the Common Core in plain English, provides a succinct overview, and gets everyone thinking about how to transition to this promising new paradigm. This handy, inexpensive booklet…