The debate surrounding how best to support African American student writers continues today as the gap between achievement scores persists. This qualitative analysis documents the classroom structures and instructional practices of two English Language Arts teachers working in a predominately African American public middle school, whose students…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were developed through an unprecedented, state-led initiative that drew on the expertise of teachers, parents, administrators, researchers and content experts from across the country. The Standards define a staircase to college and career readiness, building on the best of previous state standards in English…

Background: According to the Swedish curriculum teachers in all subjects have a responsibility to integrate a holistic perspective of sustainable development (SD) and teach according to an education for sustainable development (ESD) approach. However previous research has shown that teachers from different subjects perceive SD differently.…

This classroom narrative describes the transformation of one beginning English/language arts (ELA) teacher's perspective and practice as the teacher enacted multimodal inquiry activities that were the focus of both traditional and action research projects. Drawing on field notes, transcripts of classroom discourse, and student-produced artefacts,…

School policy on teaching and the school learning environment (SLE) are the main school factors of the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008). A longitudinal study in which 50 primary schools, 108 classes, and 2369 students participated generated evidence supporting the validity of the dynamic model. This…

Content-area literacy involves the use of research-based learning strategies that help students effectively and efficiently gain content knowledge. Its use is fundamental to all content areas, not just to those that rely heavily on printed materials. One of the major goals of content-area instruction is to produce critical thinkers and problem…

A year long study group brought teachers and researchers working in urban contexts in US public schools together to examine literacy practices incorporating students' community literacies into schooled tasks. The goal was to provide teacher development in making connections across their students' community literacies and the academic literacy they…

With the realities of standards-based accountability, it is imperative to model and demonstrate for students how subject areas and teaching methods transcend across traditional boundaries. In an effort to prepare future social studies educators to teach for global awareness and to meaningfully integrate critical literacy skills into their…

For over thirty years, research has been conducted on the relative benefits of integrating the sixth through eighth grades within the structure of the K-8 elementary school or of establishing a freestanding middle school structure. While the available research clearly supports the positive effects of the K-8 structure on academic achievement in…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if classroom configuration--departmentalized and self-contained--is related to the academic achievement of Grade 6 students in a large urban school district as measured by California Standards Test (CST) scores in mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) when controlling for prior academic…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the factors pertaining to socially, economically, and culturally disadvantaged students, and to relate how these factors do not prohibit these students from demonstrating academic progress in literacy if they are provided with additional academic assistance and resources. This study examined roles and…

This study explored how elementary educators implement iPad devices as instructional tools to enhance their language arts instruction. The study used a phenomenological qualitative design with a single-subject case study design coupled with an embedded rubric component. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews, classroom…

Since its first assessment in 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has made a unique contribution to our understanding of American education. It is the only national source of information on the educational achievement of U.S. students, and it is the only vehicle by which states can compare the progress of their students…

Under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the Texas Education Agency is required to establish Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs) for the English language acquisition and academic achievement of limited English proficient (LEP) students. This 2013 Guide to Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives provides AMAO…

The purpose of this issue brief is to provide a comprehensive overview of the policies behind the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and to outline some of the initiatives now in place to address the needs of English language learners (ELLs) in relation to the CCSS. This issue brief contains the appendices: (1) Assessment Consortia Time Lines; and…