This article introduces a special issue dealing with selected aspects of writing disorders. It provides an overview of following articles and issues confronting the written language field, including definitional issues, assessment issues, neurodevelopment components, brain-behavior linkages, lifespan issues, and interventions. Recommendations are…

Forms part of a themed issue describing "Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators," a program in which parents, children, and teachers gather regularly to use language and literacy for action research projects. Explains the philosophy, assumptions, and intentions behind the program, and research that supports it. Offers action examples of how each belief…

Classroom observations and field notes were collected during group reading time in four southeast London primary schools to investigate the interplay between gender, teacher, and peer group influences. Reading behavior among boys differed in each classroom. English as an Additional Language (EAL) male students seemed highly motivated;…

This study aimed to develop a demographic profile of the typical student user of academic libraries. Subjects were undergraduate/graduate students (n=522) at two universities. Results are discussed in terms of: populations of student users, how the library is utilized, predictors of frequency of library use, gender differences, non-native English…

A study investigated whether the use of American Sign Language as an accommodation affected the validity of standards-based assessments given in 12 classrooms of students with hearing impairments. Findings indicate sign language translation can result in the omission of pertinent information required to answer test items correctly. Suggestions are…

Describes how a large urban university and K-6 classroom teachers collaborated to design an undergraduate teacher education program in elementary and special education, creatively combining subject matter curriculum with educational issues and pedagogy to better prepare teachers to succeed in diverse urban schools. The result was the team-taught…

The Circumpolar Women's Conference set an example for the world by emphasizing regional and international cooperation. The focus on reconciliation, healing, and respect for cultural diversity was a refreshing counterpoint to conservative policies affecting Aboriginal Australians. Justice systems and Native language programs in the Yukon and…

Brain research has strengthened our understanding of the first five years of a child's life as a critical period. Quality early care is important to the healthy development of young children, and their later success in school. Concurrently, many families depend on childcare outside the home. Programs that have knowledgeable and skilled staff,…

In the shadow of a Manhattan housing project, Public School 33 is coming back to life. A new principal has brought a wave of optimism, test scores are way up, and middle-class families who used to avoid the school are enrolling their children. In Brooklyn, teenagers who might have dropped out of school are getting diplomas through a special…

Films in English are extremely challenging for those studying English as a foreign language. In this study, an attempt was made to make an English film more comprehensible by asking subjects to read an abridged version of the novel the film was based on before seeing the film. Subjects reported that reading the book first increased…

This study investigated the contributions of initial literacy, oral language, and social adjustment to literacy achievement at the end of the kindergarten year. Data were collected across the kindergarten year from 48 children attending a school serving primarily children from low-income households with research-based curriculum and intervention…

This study investigated the influence of two different explicit instructional approaches in promoting more informed understandings of nature of science (NOS) among students. Participants, a total of 42 students, comprised two groups in two intact sections of ninth grade. Participants in the two groups were taught environmental science by their…

Teaching is a moral and educational enterprise. Therefore, teachers are expected to explain and justify the instructional methods and designs they use in their teaching to demonstrate how they meet the moral and educational ends of the teaching enterprise. To justify the use of particular instructional methods and designs goes beyond giving a…

It is often noted that the vast majority of students in pre-service teacher preparation programs may be poorly equipped to teach in urban schools because, in great part, they are disproportionately White, female and middle-class (Darling-Hammond, 1997 and 2001; Delpit, 1995; Sleeter, 2001). Typically, these students arrive at the university with…

According to enrollments in schools for the deaf and data from the national census and neonatal hearing screening programs, the incidence of severe and profound childhood deafness in Australia is, and has been, less than commonly assumed. Factors implicated include improved medical care, mainstreaming, cochlear implants, and genetic science. Data…