Integrated Reading-Writing Instruction (IRWI) is an approach for English Language Arts (ELA) instruction that has gained much attention since the adoption of college and career standards. Previous studies have shown that connecting reading and writing during instruction positively affects students' literacy outcomes as related cognitive processes…

In this article, the authors introduce ways to use disciplinary literacy (DL) instructional strategies to foster civic engagement and reasoning for middle-grade multilingual students. Four phases of DL strategies--"framing," "reading," "discussion," and "writing"--are illustrated with examples from an…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers' constructions of youth inform their text selections, particularly as they relate to a problematic author. Design/methodology/approach: As part of a larger, national study, the authors use interview data from 18 participants -- 9 who still teach and 9 who no longer teach Alexie -- to…

The rapid growth of the English Language Learner (ELL) population in Indiana has raised challenges for English language arts (ELA) instruction. This research adopts collective case studies and mixed-methods studies to explore the quality and quantity of ELA instruction (time allocation to literacy components and group configuration) for ELLs in…

Two studies investigated the effect of departmentalized instruction on ELA and math achievement among 5th grade students in a large, urban school district. In 84% of the findings from the two studies combined, students in departmentalized classrooms produced significantly higher scores in ELA and mathematics, relative to students in generalized…

Alaska has implemented an innovative approach to a balanced assessment system called the Alaska System of Academic Readiness (AK STAR). The AK STAR summative assessments are administered each spring to students in grades 3-9. The AK STAR assessments were developed to provide information on student achievement, areas of strength and need, and…

Recent research links disparities in children's language-related brain function to poverty and its correlates. Such disparities are hypothesized to underlie achievement gaps between students from low-income families and more advantaged peers. Interventions that improve language-related brain function in low-income students exist, but evaluations…

Children learning Chinese must cope with an opaque orthography lacking transparent relations between oral pronunciations and written characters: a challenge heightened for L2 learners. Use of digital Pinyin input may facilitate connections between oral and written language by allowing learners to access vocabulary they cannot yet write. We…

The jigsaw classroom is a cooperative learning method designed in the late 1970s to improve the academic performance of minority children by reducing intergroup conflict and increasing self-evaluations. Despite its high popularity, the available evidence for the effectiveness of this method seems scant and mixed, with neither meta-analysis nor…

This Data Appendix provides the data behind the Fact Sheet, "California's K-12 Test Scores."

The Sustainable Development Goals, the Indian Constitution, and policymakers have emphasized the importance of providing elementary education for children aged 6-14 to achieve full literacy. This study develops a Performance, Infrastructure, and Equity (PIE) index for Odisha's districts to evaluate the status and quality of elementary education.…

This report examines the implementation of Summer 305, an enhanced summer program which operated from June 24 through July 26 during the summer of 2024 at 103 sites in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Twenty-two program offerings were provided to accelerate learning recovery, develop foundational skills, and address social and emotional needs.…

The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) designed a school accountability system in 2016 and 2017 to meet the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. The system was implemented in 2017 and 2018 for the first time and has been operating continuously since then, except for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Feedback is a cultural tool through which English teachers can facilitate secondary students' evaluative expertise in their writing development. While there is increased concern to use feedback to enhance learning at all educational levels, there is currently little empirical knowledge of how secondary teachers of English design feedback for…

Poor retention rates for Core French, combined with the federal government's action plan to increase bilingualism in Canada, have led to the introduction of Intensive French (IF) in Grade 6 as an alternative for learning French. While anecdotal reports suggest that IF has no negative impact on English language skill development, empirical evidence…