This article explores the place of teacher dispositions in English teacher preparation by contextualizing the issue of dispositions in English teacher preparation. This allows consideration for the importance of developing professional dispositions during English teacher preparation by recognizing that various stakeholders (teacher educators,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference between students' scores in comprehension (English Language Arts) tests when they are led in Brain Gym® activities before class instruction and when they are taught using traditional teaching strategies. The sample for this study consisted of 11 males and 9 females. Data were collected by…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects that high-stakes tests have on middle school teachers' morale and teachers' efficacy in the state of Mississippi. The participants in this study were teachers in the areas of language arts, mathematics, and science at the middle school level. The researcher used a correlational design,…

This report summarizes an evaluation study investigating the effects of participation in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) program on student achievement in mathematics and reading/language arts, for the cohort of students who participated during the 2013-2014 school year. The report is a supplement to the Office of Assessment,…

Important to issues of writing instruction are the ways in which teachers, specifically those who teach in the discipline of language arts and English, understand and see themselves as writers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how secondary English teachers positioned themselves and were positioned by others as writers through…

During the last several years as a teacher educator mentoring new teachers, the author has worked on two programs of research that included ways of focusing early-career teachers on students and their learning. These research programs shed light on needs of new teachers and ways mentor questioning and processes of classroom inquiry can have an…

Early childhood professional organizations support teachers as the best assessors of students' academic, social, emotional, and physical development. This study investigates the predictive nature of teacher ratings of first-grade students' performance on a standards-based curriculum-embedded performance assessment within the context of a state…

This article responds to two long-standing dilemmas that limit the effectiveness of language education for students who speak and write in African American Language (AAL): (1) the gap between theory and research on AAL and classroom practice, and (2) the need for critical language pedagogies. This article presents the effectiveness of a critical…

Within the field of writing teacher education, scholars and practitioners agree that effective writing instructors (at both the P--12 and postsecondary levels) are not simply cognizant of composition pedagogies, rhetorical theories, and their students' unique learning needs. Effective writing instructors also regularly…

Using an article about labor leader Cesar Chavez's grape boycott and hunger strike, students at Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, D.C., are doing a "close read," a skill prized by the new Common Core State Standards being put into practice in the District of Columbia. As an English/language arts teacher in the common-core era,…

This study investigated the use of Apple's iPads as a means to engage students in learning and help them to relate what they are learning in school to the real world. Research suggests students are increasingly disengaged from school because schools are out of sync with the digital world in which "Millennial" students have grown up.…

The research study was an evaluation of a professional learning community (PLC) and its effect on teachers and student achievement in a high school serving predominately Latino students. The study was a mixed research study that consisted of both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data included school-wide and Latino student…

Sections 9302 and 9303 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended in 2001 provide to States the option of applying for and reporting on multiple ESEA programs through a single consolidated application and report. Although a central, practical purpose of the Consolidated State Application and Report is to reduce "red…

Michigan students continue to fall behind their peers in other states in learning. According to 2013 national assessment data, an appalling 69 percent of Michigan fourth-graders cannot read on grade level -- an indicator of future academic success. Neither Michigan's students nor the state's economic future can afford to wait to turnaround our…

The purpose of this case study is to examine the ways in which the systematic teaching of poetry reading at Greek primary school enhances children's interest in reading and helps develop their oral skills by enriching their vocabulary and creative thinking. The present poetry project was implemented at a Greek public kindergarten in Rethymno,…